Into the Sophomoric

Guess I'm not the only one who wonders why juvenile pursuits are applauded. Jeffrey M. Anderson points out the obvious problem with Into the Wild...

Penn, in his zeal for the character, very simply misses the obvious: this is a spoiled brat who has become disillusioned with his parents, as every young person eventually does. (He's angry because they're no longer perfect.) However, this kid takes his disenchantment to an inflexibly psychotic level at which he is willing to sacrifice himself as well as everyone else.

It seems the creative class can't distinguish between suicidal quests for escape with true responsible recreation. Something's wrong here.