Good Will Hunting

Good Will Hunting

Good Will Hunting is an unusual character portrait of a self-taught genius named Will Hunting, who grew up as an orphan in South Boston, suffered abuse at the hands of his foster father and engaged in gang violence because of his rough upbringing as a child. Will is a mathematical genius with a photographic memory but struggles to find his place in the world. Will works as a school janitor at M.I.T, one of the prestigious technical universities around, while working, he delights in anonymously proving theorems on the math building's hall blackboards. One evening, his secrecy was shattered when Professor Lambeau catches him at work solving a math problem that took him two years to solve. Will flees, but Lambeau tracks
him down. Unfortunately, by the time the professor finds him, Will was in jail for assaulting a police officer. The judge agrees to release Will under two conditions; that he spend one day a week meeting with Lambeau and that he spend one day a week meeting with a therapist. Eventually, once several psychologists have rejected the belligerent young man, Sean McGuire, a teacher at Bunker Hill Community College, agrees to take the case. After a shaky start, the two form a bond and Will begins to explore issues and emotions he had hidden in the past.
Good Will Hunting is a fascinating movie that shows a connection between intelligence, education and class through plot and character interaction.
In the movie, intelligence is a very valued concept. Will is a very intelligent young man who comes from a working class neighbourhood and spends a lot of time reading books and storing information in his photographic memory. Wills friends are aware of his gift and although they don’t always show it they all want Will to do the best he can in life. An example of this in the movie is where Chuckie (Will’s best friend) says to Will that if he doesn’t leave South Boston and make the most of his intelligence he will kill him. “You got somethin' none of us have, I mean; you’re sittin’ on a winnin’ lottery ticket. You’re too much of a pussy to cash it in, and that’s bullshit.” Will knows that he is exceptionally intelligent but is too scared to leave his friends that have always been loyal and like family to him. To some people like Lambeau, this is a wasted opportunity but for Will he thinks this is what he wants. Skylar, Will’s girlfriend is both intelligent and also emotionally aware of Will’s gift. She longs to have a relationship with Will, but because he has an attachment disorder and a fear of abandonment, this doesn’t happen till the end of the movie, until Sean gets through to
Will.
Due to his environment and background, Will developed an arrogant, cocky attitude that masks his basic insecurity.
He only trusts his roughneck friends, with whom he feels comfortable because of their uncompromising loyalty. Will dislikes anyone whom has an education and believes it’s a waste of time. When Will notices Lambeau’s challenge, it piques his interest. On the other hand, although he has a great affinity for mathematics, he has no love for it. It is just something he can do, but is too easy for him. An example of this is when Will sets fire to a mathematical report that he wrote, Lambeau dives to the floor to put out the flames on something that Will believes is meaningless. Will sees little value in education, an example of this is when he confronts the intellectual in a bar embarrassing Chuckie in front of some girls he was trying to pick up by sounding intelligent. Will mocks him for spending a hundred and fifty thousand dollars for an education that he could have obtained at the library for just a few dollars in overdue fees. Yet, Will’s own friends have a respect for the education they lack. Skylar struggles with her studies, but admires the ease with which Will can handle any
subject.
Will is a very self educated and intelligent young man; he outsmarts psychologists by making them feel small or questioning their own intelligence. Even Lambeau acknowledges Wills intelligence and dreams about being as smart as Will. An example of this is when Lambeau says to Will “Sometimes I wish I had never met you. Because then I could go to sleep at night not knowing there was someone like you out there.” Although Will is intelligent, he lacks life experience. Sean was able to form a strong bond between him and Will because he experienced the same upbringing as a child in South Boston and Sean is able to earn the respect from Will by outsmarting him through using his life experience that Will lacks.
In modern day society there are three types of classes that people can be categorised in. They are Capitalist (Upper Class), Bourgeoisie (Middle Class) and Proletariat (Working Class). Will is of lower class; He works construction for a living, he does recreational activities such as going to a cheap pub with his friends and mucks around at the batting cage. When he goes on a date with Skylar, he takes her to the dog races and shopping in a cheap toy store.
There is a class barrier overcome by education in the film. Will is lower class and he is considerably smarter than every upper class person he meets. Will has an opportunity to change his class by changing his job but prefers not to. Lambeau and Sean debate Will’s responsibility to society. Lambeau feels if one has the ability like Wills he must utilize it in a way that would advance human knowledge. Sean on the other hand believes that an individual must seek his own personal fulfilments first, since this is the essence of life. They are both right, from their own perspective view points and in the end are just trying to help Will be the very best he can.
Throughout the movie you see the connection between education, class and intelligence as the plot unfolds and the characters interact. Education is spoken of in money terms and there is a considerable difference between each class in the movie which is reconciled in the end. Good Will Hunting is a great example of the connection between Intelligence, Education and Class.