From “Into the Wild” to “Sorry, Haters”

Once a while I catch myself thinking about a common idea that link two (or more) movies. Nothing special, just a starting point for discussion. I’m no specialist in anything — what I’m looking for is that tiny spark that can feed further debates and thoughts. That’s what I found after watching “Into the Wild” and “Sorry, Haters”. I don’t intend to discuss the movies themselves, in special I’m not considering all the delicate affairs and matters involved in the terrorist acts presented in Sorry, Haters. No, I just would like to think a little bit more about some very humane characteristics that emerge from these plots. I’m also considering their experiences as shown in the movies, not the real stories upon which the films might have been based.

It’s also necessary to remember that some spoilers may show up during my comments, so if you haven’t seen these movies, beware...

Into the Wild (2007) is based upon the true story of Christopher McCandless, a young American who decides to abandon family, career and money to endeavour a “real” experience of life, without the bounds and chains of his middle-class existence. After visiting many places in the USA, he finally reaches his goal, Alaska. There, he faces the crude reality of a hostile place. What was meant to be the liberation of his soul turns into a deadly trap.

Although filled with amazingly beautiful scenery, the plot gets quite dense and suffocating as he advances in his journey. The joy of achieving his goal gradually looses its shine, until he realises that “Happiness is only real when shared". When he decides to leave the abandoned bus that served him as home, he finds that the trail back was blocked by the river waters, much higher and swifter than when he crossed months earlier. Hopeless, starving and severely injured, he struggles to survive, as long as he can. Well, that’s the whole idea. I liked the movie very much.

Sorry Haters (2005) tells the story of the encounter of two persons in New York. Ashade is a Syrian cab-driver living in the USA for several years. PhD in Chemistry and devoted muslin, Ashade is fighting for the freedom of his brother, arrested at the JFK Airport and sent to Guantánamo under the accusation of connections with criminals. The woman, who identifies herself as Phyllis, claims to be the Head of Programming of a hideous TV show called “Sorry, Haters”, in which new millionaires exhibit their luxurious cars, fancy houses and other possessions — always despising the low and mid-class audience.

One night, the woman enters Ashade’s taxi and asks him to drive to the suburbs, while she apparently had a previous happy life with her husband and daughter. Talking to Ashade, the woman understands his situation and offers help, besides telling him how strongly she’s been suffering since their nanny took her husband from her.

What appeared to be a mutual understanding turns into a hell of threats and menaces. The woman asks Ashade to perpetrate a terrorist attack, which would be especially “convenient” for him, since he and his people had been victim of mistreatment and abuse by the US government. He denies her proposal, which makes the tension between them much worse. By this time, we start to perceive the intense hatred the woman nourishes against, well, almost everything in life... I think it’s not necessary to remember how dark and obscure the conduct of the woman becomes, as well as the consequences of her attitude towards Ashade.

Sorry, Haters is fictional, whereas Into the Wild is based on the true experience of Christopher McCandless. Here, I’m taking into account only the characters that emerge from the movies themselves, not what they could have been in real life.

So, where’s the link?

Both McCandless (Into the Wild) and the woman (Sorry, Haters) show all signs of having common lives, average lives, lives that could be as productive and fertile as any other. If they had problems and difficult moments in their lives, they were probably no worse than those all of us have to face. Nevertheless, as the movies evolve and we get closer to them, their internal suffering start to show up. This is quite obvious for the woman, but probably a little controversial when we turn to McCandless, since the movie depicts so many dazzling natural spots and breathtaking moments of freedom that we sometimes forget his motivation for being there. The point here is that McCandless only took that insane trip to Alaska based upon an eagerness to break free of, say... what exactly was he trying to leave behind? And why to leave that behind? Back to the woman, why to canalize so much energy in a so mean behaviour? How come, how come that she felt so relieved when the whole country was agonizing after the fall of the twin towers?

Would I ever be subject to the same fate in a certain point of my life?

Those questionings always remind me of a nice talk I once had with a wise doctor. I was kind of hopeless about some matters that sounded to me as dead ends. Without diminishing my “enormous” problems, she pointed out that grown-ups have the necessary tools to handle any kind of situation. Man, is it that simple? No, of course not. It’s complicated. But, take McCandless: couldn’t he face his anguish in a more, well, reasonable way? Rewind the tape. He had plenty of options, but somehow decided to take the most self-destructive way. Destructive not only to himself, but for those who were around him. I think it applies to the woman too. Among dozens of paths, why to choose the most childish strategy of destroying everything to lessen her sufferings?

Both McCandless and the woman didn’t take the correct path to deal with their internal affairs. By neglecting their responsibility for overcoming those matters in the expected way, they ignited an avalanche process. The result, as we saw in both movies, was not good at all.

Going from macro to micro scale, it’s easy to see how we are so undeveloped in terms of self-understanding. Traffic arguments, silly fights at home, envy, jealousy, it’s not difficult to see ourselves taking the wrong path to deal with our internal affairs. Will that turn into an avalanche? Well, it’s up to us to take control of our lives, to find the right way to respond.

Working with frustration, loss and hatred may be one of the most difficult tasks in our lives. That’s what seemed to me to be the seed of the misbehaviour of McCandless and the woman. Would it be easy to avoid all the evil that came in consequence of their previous bad decisions? No, I don’t think so. Would it be impossible? Of course not. Would it be worthy fighting for it? Oh, yeah, I bet it would. That’s the point!

Rogerio Maciel,

April, 2011.