Jon Krakauer's non-fiction book Into the Wild depicts the life of Chris McCandless and his journey in the back country of Alaska. McCandless was an upper-middle class recent college graduate that never got along with his parents well and felt like an outcast in society. Deciding to abandon his comfortable life in an Atlanta suburb, McCandless embarks on a road tripping adventure across the United States and eventually abandons his vehicle to continue on foot. Along the way, McCandless temporarily makes his home in places such as South Dakota, California and Mexico. Culminating in a final "great adventure" to Alaska, McCandless never makes it out alive. After becoming very intrigued with McCandless' death and life in general, Jon Krakauer researched for his book Into the Wild to uncover the truth about the life of Chris McCandless. When Sean Penn recreated Into the Wild on the movie screen, he took a slightly different approach to telling McCandless's story. Krakauer takes a very journalistic approach to telling the story by using McCandless's personal journal entries and interviews with people McCandless met during his journey. Penn uses various cinematic elements to romanticize McCandless's story for cinematic appeal. This stylistic split between Krakauer and Penn is very clear when depicting McCandless's death. Where Jon Krakauer uses a journalistic and fact-based approach to depict McCandless's death, Sean Penn uses camera angles, lighting, and sound to romanticize his death.

Throughout the novel, and especially in regard to McCandless's death, Krakauer presents the facts of the matter and allows the reader to form their own opinion of McCandless and his choices. Krakauer tries to limit his authorial input as much as possible in an attempt to not sway the reader one way or another. When depicting McCandless' death, Krakauer presents McCandless's deteriorating mental and physical state and his never ending search for a food source to stay alive. McCandless' cause of death was being poisoned from eating moldy wild potato seeds. In addition to the details about McCandless' death from moldy seeds, Krakauer allows the reader to see into the mind of McCandless through the use of his final journal entries. In the days leading up to his death, McCandless left entries such as, "IN WEAKEST CONDITION OF LIFE. DEATH LOOMS AS SERIOUS THREAT. TOO WEAK TO WALK OUT, HAVE LITERALLY BECOME TRAPPED IN THE WILD.  --  NO GAME" (Krakauer 195) and, "I HAVE HAD A HAPPY LIFE AND THANK THE LORD. GOODBYE AND MAY GOD BLESS YOU ALL!" (Krakauer 199). After including these emotionally packed journal entries from McCandless, Krakauer presents the facts of the moment of his death very bleakly and straight to the point. Shortly after presenting McCandless' final journal entry, Krakauer goes on to say, "He probably died on August 18th, 112 days after he'd walked into the wild, 19 days before six Alaskans would happen across the bus and discover his body inside (Krakauer 199). Krakauer's commitment to limiting his own voice in the book and presenting the story as factually as possible allows the reader to interpret McCandless' motives in their own way. Did McCandless venture into Alaska with no intention of coming out? Or did his master plan go horribly wrong? The journalistic approach utilized by Krakauer allows the reader to decide this for themselves.

 In addition to allowing the reader to form their opinion of McCandless, Krakauer's journalistic approach to the novel conveys the story of Chris McCandless in a much bleaker and depressing way than Penn's movie adaptation. Omitting emotion when depicting his death, Krakauer gives off a greater feeling of negativity and wrongdoing towards McCandless. By including McCandless' firsthand accounts of his final days, Krakauer removes himself from the equation and allows the story to speak for itself. In doing so, McCandless' death comes off as less glorified and heroic than if he conveyed the story in third person. Krakauer's journalistic and fact-based approach to depicting McCandless' death portrays his death for what it is and gives the details of his death in an unbiased and emotionless manner.

In the movie adaptation of Into the Wild, Sean Penn presents a very up-close and personal encounter with McCandless' death through the strategic use of camera angles. In the final scene of the movie, when McCandless is laid sprawled out in the bus, Penn utilizes an extremely close camera angle on McCandless' face. By doing this, the lifeless and blank expression of McCandless' face is very apparent. When McCandless is about to take his last breath, the camera begins to spiral around his blank face to show his life "spiraling out of control." In addition to this, Penn uses a close camera angle of McCandless' hand grabbing the window frame of the bus in his final moments. In this instance, McCandless is literally clinging to life and reaching out for help; which is expressed by the close up on his hand. By using close camera angles in this scene, Penn emphasizes McCandless' emotions in his final moments. The blank stare on McCandless' face portrays a sense of euphoria in his death. Close camera angles in this instance romanticize McCandless' death and make it seem almost as if it was the desired outcome of his journey. Penn's strategic use of camera angles in McCandless' death scene allows the viewer to see the euphoric state of McCandless in his final moments and put into question whether his death was accidental or not.

In the final scene of Penn's Into the Wild, the use of lighting plays a major role in romanticizing McCandless' death as well. As McCandless inches closer and closer to death, Penn uses the sun's brightness to illuminate his features and pale complexion. The bright light shining in the sky signifies heaven and "God's light shining down." In this moment, God is welcoming McCandless to heaven and shows that he is at peace with the manner in which his life is ending. The use of a brightly-illuminated and clear sky, as opposed to a dark and cloudy sky, shows Penn's desire to depict McCandless' death as romantic and euphoric. In addition to the bright sun shining down on McCandless as he approaches death, Penn uses brightly lit scenery in McCandless' fantasy scenario of returning home. In this scene, McCandless is contemplating the decisions he's made up to this point in his journey and wonders what his life could have been. His fantasy depicts him returning home to his parents' house, having them run up to him to hug him, and living happily in his normal life with his family. Penn exaggerates the fact that this is a fantasy by utilizing an extremely brightly lit backdrop. By doing this, Penn once again romanticizes McCandless' death by focusing on the "what-ifs" instead of reminding the viewer that McCandless died because he was underprepared and made a fatal mistake in eating a poisonous wild plant. The cause of death in the movie differs from the book in order to glorifying his passing and excite the story. Penn's romantic approach to depicting Chris McCandless' death is apparent through the bright light shining on McCandless to signify God "welcoming him to heaven."

The use of sound in the final scene of McCandless' death exemplifies Penn's attempt to romanticize his death. In the final scene, sound from the outside world is completely shut off. The only audible noise is coming from McCandless himself; in the form of his slow, sporadic heartbeat and shallow breathing. With no noise coming from the surrounding world, McCandless appears to be at peace in his final minutes before death. This is another attempt by Penn to paint the picture of McCandless' death being romantic, as if he is going out on his own terms in the way he had always intended. McCandless' final breath is greatly exaggerated and immediately cuts to silence for a split second. This leaves way to an upbeat drum soundtrack as the camera pans out of the bus window and into a panoramic shot of the vast Alaskan landscape. In doing so, Penn aims to make light of McCandless' death instead of portraying it as gloomy and depressing. The upbeat music utilized to end the movie reiterates Sean Penn's desire to glorify McCandless' death in order to make it seem like he was at peace with his manner of death.

Although portraying the same nonfiction story of Chris McCandless, Jon Krakauer and Sean Penn utilize vastly different styles in telling their interpretation of the story. In Krakauer's case, he takes a journalistic approach to depicting the life of McCandless. This approach allows the reader to put the pieces together and decide for themselves how to take the death of McCandless. Was this his intention all along? Or was he naive to think he would be able to make it out of the Alaskan Bush alive with such minimal supplies? In addition to allowing the reader to decipher McCandless' life for themselves, Krakauer's journalistic and fact based approach paints McCandless' story in a darker light. By limiting the emotionally charged rhetoric when telling McCandless' story, Krakauer presents his death as a matter of fact and does not sway the reader to feel remorse and pity towards him. In contrary to Krakauer, Penn allows for a much more emotionally rich response from the viewer in his movie adaptation of Into the Wild. Through the use of close camera angles on McCandless' face, Penn focuses on the emotionless complexion of McCandless in his final moments before death. In addition to this, the use of the bright sun shining down on McCandless symbolizes God's light welcoming him to heaven. The complete absence of sound apart from McCandless' sporadic heartbeat and shallow breathing shows emphasizes the euphoric end to his life and the serenity he experiences in his death. As the movie comes to a close after McCandless takes his last breath, upbeat music is played to set the mood about his death. The collective use of these elements romanticizes McCandless' death and aims to induce the viewer into being content with his death. In doing so, Sean Penn appears to portray that McCandless ended his life on his own terms and was at peace with the manner in which he passed. Although Jon Krakauer and Sean Penn take differing paths to depict the story of Chris McCandless, both are successful in sparking the conversation on McCandless' intentions for his journey to Alaska.

