Grizzly Man Sparknotes

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Grizzly Man (2005) is a documentary directed by Werner Herzog. It details the life of Timothy Treadwell, and how he spent thirteen summers in the Alaskan wilderness with grizzly bears, only to lead to his demise by the bears that he cared about so much. In a way it could be a documentary about a documentary. Herzog’s Documentary consists of several interviews of family, friends, and acquaintances, and several pieces of film shot by Timothy Treadwell himself. Grizzly Man as a films toys with several modes of documentary defined by Bill Nichols. The film as a whole is shown through reflexive mode, though through the film shot by Timothy, the documentary would also go towards an observational mode. From the rough, and in a sense, improvised camera …show more content…

With all of that said, Herzog presents Timothy as looking both foolish and in a sense irresponsible for going to the Alaskan wilderness alone to watch and study grizzly bears without any prior training with the animals. Never shying away from how Timothy died, Herzog had an obligation to document ethically and truthfully, but in a way did not to the full extent. Though even the national park rangers claimed he was harassing the wildlife, Timothy truly believed in what he was doing and was wrongfully portrayed for who he was. In Introduction to Documentary: Second Edition by Bill Nichols (pg. 138), Nichols even states that “Grizzly Man explores the life of a specific disenfranchised and/or marginalized individual, …show more content…

And it wasn’t until Herzog listening to the audio of Timothy’s death did he make the ethical choice not to put it within the film, realizing that his death does deserve both dignity and privacy. There is also the possibility that Timothy was a different person when his camera wasn’t rolling. He stated that he was always alone, but in his last expedition, he decided to bring his then girlfriend along with him, and several different expeditions prior, it is noted that several women accompanied Timothy on his expeditions over the course of the thirteen years as well. And the only way we got to see him was through Herzog’s point of view, learning about Timothy along with

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