It is well known that Timothy Treadwell was an aspiring actor who worked as a waiter and bartender with problems of drug addiction and alcoholism in California. However, during the summer of 1989, he underwent a transformation so sudden and remarkable that it allowed him to survive thirteen summers of camping with brown bears before being killed and consumed by them. During this time, the world got to know Treadwell as the bear-man, the educator of children about bears, the author and film-maker, the actor and con-artist...

My observations might give some insight into his aspirations with the bears. I believe Timothy's main ambition was acting and film-making. Surviving his first summer amongst Alaska’s brown bears not only gave him a reason to live, it also provided him with an idea – this is how he would fund what he really wished to do; if he succeeded in making people believe these bears needed his protection, he would get the acknowledgment, the equipment and the economic support he needed to fuel his desire.

Additionally, there was, in my opinion, a deeper and more personal side to Timothy’s love affair with the bears. The latest movie, Grizzly Man, shows Timothy Treadwell as a lost soul, shy and insecure about his sexuality, an introvert, effeminate-mannered young man constantly seeking some form of recognition. This, he got from the bears, and so he found himself insatiably repeating the experience time and time again. The bears didn’t need his protection; he, however, craved for their tolerance and acceptance. Grizzly Man shows a Timothy Treadwell who is passionate about the bears. I’d say Timothy cared about them as much as any bear enthusiast or commercial operator along the coast of Katmai, but this was second place to his own fascination about himself as a so-called “bear-whisperer”. read more..... >>>