Of Grizzlies and Man: Watching Werner Herzog’s Grizzly Man Through an Ecocritical Lens

The documentary film Grizzly Man (2005), directed by Werner Herzog, is of special interest among ecocritics and environmental advocates because it deals directly with the topic of wildlife depiction, conservationism and, above all the interspecies relationship between grizzlies and man. This article investigates five problematic elements of Grizzly Man as an ecological film: the wildlife documentary as a genre, the highly controversial figure of Timothy Treadwell who produced the original footage, the grizzlies in the background, the voice and hand of the director Herzog in this film, and the film’s ending. The analysis of these five areas may deepen the audiences’ understanding of both the film and the ecocritical approach to literature. Apart from highlighting certain contradictions in the film’s ecological message and its representation of wild animal, the article tries, in its conclusion, to examine the film’s potential to generate environmentally positive responses and create a better understanding of both wildlife and the key human figure in this film.