Think the new movie "Wild" will have any impact?

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AlmostThere
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Re: Think the new movie "Wild" will have any impact?

Post by AlmostThere »

Vaca Russ wrote:We saw this movie last night. I didn’t read the book (reading is HARD) but apparently the movie does not follow the book. In the movie she starts out in the desert and hikes 100 miles to Kennedy Meadows. Once there she learns the trail is impassable at elevation (due to record snow levels) and many hikers are boarding busses to travel north to lower elevations to complete the trail.

Sounds like it did follow the book. That's pretty much what she did.
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Re: Think the new movie "Wild" will have any impact?

Post by SSSdave »

Week ago watched movie at our local cheap theatre for $5.50. I read a lot of non-fiction books especially science though little about people or culture. So did not read this book nor would be interested after reading movie reviews and especially after watching this movie. Low interest in spending time on the many people of this era with poor self control and emotional issues. Enough of that over decades with some of my own relatives, their associates, and acquaintences. Film will do little for thru hiking much less backpacking because as AlmostThere noted those scenes in the movie did not amount to much more than a setting for all her flashbacks and mulling over her problems. And for that reason scenery was not inspiring being mostly in Desert and then Great Basin sage brush with nothing of value in the Sierra.

I also very much get the relationship between someone with problems solo on a long backpacking trail and how that can be a vehicle to introspective self awareness. Without all the usual life distractions, solo hiking gives a person lots of time to think.

This recent era's explosion of the Internet will have far more affect on our sport than that film. That is especially the case for younger generation blog readers of those who hike the thru trails and then see themselves doing same. In any case there will certainly be some newbies who dabble into our sport after watching the movie. Some may start out as thru hikers and wake up to the magnificence of the high country and switch gears to where many of us our.

Generally I don't have an opinion or attitude about young thru hikers though am aware of that culture. Nor have I met many in wilderness areas as I simply spend little time along the big trails and if I do am quick to camp well away from.

Reese Witherspoon did an excellent job portraying the character, pulling it off in difficult field conditions. Despite the above was a worthwhile watch because I want to see how big media film makers portray our outdoor sport that is rather small in the public's eyes. And hope the movie is financially successful which may inspire film makers to not shy away from movies set in our outdoor lands. What would have most impact is if one of we enthusiasts as a discrete no-fee guide actually brought Miss Witherspoon and her husband on a real trip, something short to somewhere inspiring in the High Sierra and then they actually had an enjoyable time. The popular media would blabber all over something like that.

So Miss W go ahead and email me.
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Re: Think the new movie "Wild" will have any impact?

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More fuel to the fire: http://news.yahoo.com/wild-author-stray ... 10493.html
CORVALLIS, Ore. (AP) — Nearly 2,000 people thronged an Oregon college auditorium for an appearance by the author of "Wild," hours after a movie based on the best-selling memoir about a thousand-mile hike earned two Oscar nominations.

Cheryl Strayed wrote the book about her walk along the Pacific Crest Trail in 1995 and described it Thursday to an overflow audience at Oregon State University.

It was the largest crowd at the university's LaSells Stewart Center for such an event, college official Shelly Signs said. Hundreds watched on monitors in the lobby and another auditorium, the Corvallis Gazette-Times reported (http://bit.ly/1yr4phK ).

Oscar nominations were announced earlier in the day: Reese Witherspoon was named for her performance as Strayed, and Laura Dern for hers as Strayed's mother.

"How could this even be possible? It makes me want to cry," Strayed said. "It's astounding to me that one day people playing me and my mom would be nominated for an Oscar."

The book describes how Strayed reacted to her mother's death from lung cancer, and how she walked her way out of a dark time that included adultery and heroin use.

"When she died, I didn't know how to live," Strayed said. "In my sorrow I lost my way. I got married; I did a lot of things married people shouldn't do. ... Well, I did a lot of things single people shouldn't do, except in moderation."

Looking for a way out of her mental state, she hiked the California and Oregon segments of the trail that runs along the mountainous spine of the West Coast from Mexico to Canada.

The university audience cheered and clapped for Strayed's stories and asked questions about mother-daughter relations, her approach to writing and her work as an advice columnist, the Corvallis Gazette-Times reported (http://bit.ly/1yr4phK).

Strayed began writing "Wild" in 2008.

As the book was being prepared for publication, in 2012, Strayed sent a copy to Witherspoon, who bought the rights before it hit the shelves.

Six weeks after release, the film has taken in $30 million.

Strayed had a small part, as a pickup truck driver who drops off Witherspoon at the starting point of her hike.

And she had a line: "Good luck."
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Re: Think the new movie "Wild" will have any impact?

Post by sekihiker »

Oh brother! I might have made the wrong guess about the impact of Wild. Check out this link.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/adventu ... ailsignout
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AlmostThere
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Re: Think the new movie "Wild" will have any impact?

Post by AlmostThere »

It may entice people to start the trail. Fame of whatever kind being the lure. No guarantees any of them will get far.

A couple of people I know who did a thru were changed but not for the better. It's almost as though they have a kind of disdain for measly three day weekends.

I doubt I would make a very good thru hiker. I've had no aspirations that way and doubt that I ever will.


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Re: Think the new movie "Wild" will have any impact?

Post by ERIC »

Pacific Crest Trail expects more hikers thanks to 'Wild'

http://www.fredericksburg.com/entertain ... 8b179.html
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Re: Think the new movie "Wild" will have any impact?

Post by LMBSGV »

This was in Saturday's New York Times. It's an interesting read. The title is "What Wild Has Wrought. The comments are also worth checking out.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/17/opini ... egion&_r=0
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Re: Think the new movie "Wild" will have any impact?

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Met 4 PCT section hikers last night at Odell lake in Oregon. All 4 were motivated to hike at least part of the trail because of seeing "Wild." Two were a young couple from Iceland. I said I thought Oregon was the most boring part of the PCT, just lots of forest. The young man responded "We're from Iceland, we don't get to see many trees! This is great, I've probably seen more trees since I've been in Oregon than I've seen in my whole life!"

There you go! Just depends on your perspective!

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Re: Think the new movie

Post by Tom_H »

AlmostThere wrote:A couple of people I know who did a thru were changed but not for the better. It's almost as though they have a kind of disdain for measly three day weekends
I haven't done a thru, but did spend a number of summers leading 15-18 day trips with 2 days in between for turn-around. It does make your body become exceptionally lean and strong, particularly carrying first-aid/repair gear, extra fuel for the entire party, loads of climbing gear and often taking weight from newbies so they can make it. I got to the point that my body didn't even feel right with the pack off. It was like it had become part of me and I felt too light and off balance with the thing off. You also lose track of what day of the week or month it is. You're separated from the strictures of the civilized world and there's a completely different set of what matters and doesn't matter. So yea, I came to feel that I couldn't actually get into a real "wilderness experience" in only a handful of days. Not a disdain for short trips, but quite a different experience in what the longer ones induce psychologically. The long ones give more feel of isolation, tranquility, and living a bit like the pioneers did long ago.
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Re: Think the new movie "Wild" will have any impact?

Post by rlown »

I DVR'd the movie the other night. Struggled to watch it because it's not so much about hiking as it is about personal struggles. There were good moments in the film where at Kennedy Meadows the helpful cook tried to help cull her pack. The rest of the movie really sucked. I Did appreciate the scene where she kicked her MSR fuel can.. umm, just wrong harassing something that could actually save your life if you know how to work it beforehand. And she was off trail alot, meaning in town or at an angels house.

I think the impact will be short lived.

I liked the "Into the Wild" movie better.
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