#captain boyd

Part of what makes Boyd’s ending in the bear trap so great is that he never explains himself. Of course he can’t, he’s half dead, that would be impossible. But I do recognize, throughout the second half of the movie, he wants to feel understood. He’s constantly scapegoated for the murders of his traveling party by other people, and he wants people to understand that he is not the monster, Ives is. And this is why Boyd is easy to identify with as a character: we have all had a situation where we were misinterpreted, leading to us feeling isolated and lost. No matter how large or small of an event it is, it always feels frustrating. We want Boyd to explain himself, to be believed, to have someone have his back.

However, if this happened, and people believed Boyd, especially a character like Martha, it would not work thematically. Martha has no reason to trust him: in fact, it’s Boyd trying to explain himself that first establishes this distrust. He says he didn’t kill her brother, but really, why should she believe that about him? He already admitted to eating people. Any person in Martha’s shoes, especially an indigenous woman who has seen both the curse and the corrupting force of colonial power first hand, would be suspicious.

So, Boyd doesn’t need to explain himself. He doesn’t need to die feeling like Martha understands he’s the “good guy”. He can just die knowing that sacrificing himself was the right thing to do, even if it is never recognized as sacrifice. And that’s a beautiful thing. Because the whole story is Boyd balancing these two motivations within him: self preservation and morality. This bear trap scenario of “eat or die” is the ultimate choice, and he chooses morality! With no benefit to himself other than feeling like he still has a soul as he is drifting off to his death! And that can mean something for us, something for people: if you’d rather explain that you’re a good person than do the right thing, you should rethink your priorities!!

I watched Ravenous (1999) for the first time about a week ago and now I need EVERYONE to go watch it

I eat boys up, you better run