Into the Wild Paradox
(2018) 2018 Conference of the International Association for Media and Communication Research — Location: Eugene (United States) (20.June.2018)
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- Authors
Vanoost, Marie 
- Abstract
- Using Into the Wild (Krakauer, 1996) as a case study, this paper investigates how narrative journalism can be used to get the public interested in environmental matters. At the heart of Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer’s account of a young hiker’s journey and death in the Alaskan backcountry, lies a paradox. The book, which is probably one of the most famous pieces of narrative journalism about nature, had strong effects on readers and their relationship to the environment. Yet, contrary to what the title suggests, very little of the book is directly about “the wild.” The paper explores this paradox and analyzes the writing techniques Krakauer used to make readers care and think about the environment. Narrative journalism aims to engage readers by recreating the unfolding of events and vividly rendering felt experience (Franklin, 2002; Hart, 2011). Many journalists and scholars suggest that the narrative form makes news stories more memorable and that such stories have a deeper “impact” on readers (Kramer & Call, 2007; Stewart, 1998). Experimental studies did find an effect of the narrative form on readers’ attitudes and believes—though the effect seems to depend on the topic of the news story (Oliver, Dillard, Bae & Tamul, 2012; Shen, Ahern & Baker, 2014). Into the Wild provides a good example of the effects narrative journalism can have on the public. The book generated a sharp public debate on our relationship to nature and wilderness. It prompted dozens of readers to get outdoors—some “pilgrims” even undertook the exact same journey. Many fans shared how the book shaped their philosophy of life. And this is likely to continue, as Into the Wild is required reading in numerous high schools and colleges across the United States. These effects are all the more remarkable since only a very small part of the book is directly concerned with nature and wilderness. Landscape descriptions are scarce and most of the account of the hiker’s actual stay in “the wild” is based on the very brief diary he kept during that last journey, offering readers limited insight into his experience. The paper details how Krakauer nevertheless manages to create a story that reinforces the cultural narrative about our need to reconnect with the environment—by embodying abstract ideas into flesh, making an extreme experience relatable to a large public, providing parallels with other experiences and multiplying intertextual references.
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Citations
Vanoost, M. (2018). Into the Wild Paradox. 2018 Conference of the International Association for Media and Communication Research, Eugene (United States). https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/125461