One thing I found very prevalent and interesting about Tim was the irony in so many of his statements and ideas. Before the documentary started, we were informed that Tim was illegally hiding on a National Park, where all the animals on the land are protected by the government. However, despite this fact Tim early on in the documentary states that he is there to protect the bears; This statement is ironic because him being there trying to protect the bears (who are already protected) actually did more harm than good to him and to the bears. Another ironic twist was his love for the bears and his acceptance that "they" (the bears) could hurt him. Initially, Tim stated "I would die for the bears but not at their claws and paw," which is in fact what happened. He didn't die for them, he died at their "claws and paws." Tim also claimed later on that he would "die for these animals," but then added "I do not want to be hurt by a bear."
The irony in so many of his claims makes it hard for us to read Tim as a character. Sometimes I feel so bad for him because you can tell that on some level he's crazy, he has to be in order to put his life in danger to become "friends" with bears and protect them on already protected land. It's sad because he is clearly so in love with these animals to the point that he wants to "mutate" into one. On the other hand, he admits countless times that he could in fact get hurt or even killed by the bears, so on some level, he knew what he was getting himself into.
I think the fact that Timothy states that he would be willing to die for a bear, but not be killed by a bear is interesting- not just because he is in fact killed by a bear, but also because I think his conception of a world in which he would be put in a position to 'die for the bears' further demonstrates a level of insanity within Timothy's conception of his advocacy. Not only are the bears in the preserve safe, demonstrating his confusion over his position in his advocacy, but his belief that there is a situation in which something other than the environment into which he's thrust himself would be the cause of his death shows the level of his delusion.
ReplyDelete