Resistance to Materialism in Into the Wild : A Comparative Narratological study of the Biography and the Film Adaptation

Abstract: From an environmental perspective, the earth’s future has been, and is, a current and much-debated topic in today’s society. Consumerism and materialism are two reasons why earth’s natural resources run out earlier and earlier every year. One opponent of materialism whose life has been portrayed in Jon Krakauer’s nonfiction biography Into the Wild and later in director Sean Penn’s film adaptation with the same title was Christopher (Chris) McCandless (1968-1992). In Penn’s film adaptation, materialism is made more prominent than in the biography, which gives an effect of directing criticism against a materialistic society. The theoretical framework is based on narratology and adaptation theory. Moreover, the method proceeds from close reading and comparative method to detect differences and similarities and to make a comparative analysis of the texts. One significant aspect was detected as essential when close reading the texts, namely: intertextuality. Hence, intertextuality served as a key concept in the analysis.