Intellectual Diversity And Psychological Issues In The Film Good Will Hunting

The movie Good Will Hunting is a one dealing with intellectual diversity and psychological issues. A young man working in an elite college solves a mathematical theory that has taken professors years to accomplish. His genius is finally discovered after much anonymity and a professor at this college wants to encourage the young man, Will Hunting, to use his abilities to the fullest, and go on to use it for good. Unbeknownst to the faculty that is pushing him to success, Will is being held back by his emotional hang-ups, and a haunting past.

As we learned, there are many kinds and many levels of intelligence. While Will wasn't necessarily tested for his ability or aptitude in the movie, it is apparent he has a natural gift. One might assume he is a savant, as he had no formal upbringing and wasn't pushed to learn math. We might use this fact in a nature vs. nurture discussion. There was no nurturing in Will's case, so it would seem that this gift has occurred naturally. His upbringing had no noticeable encouragement to his successes.
Along with his mathematical genius came emotional walls.
It was discovered through his social life with his friends and particularly his love life that he was very defensive and on guard of his emotions and his peers. He ends up meeting and eventually exclusively dating a woman named Skylar, and when she wants to take their relationship to a higher level, he becomes defensive and aggresive. He doesn't want her to know about his past, and when she pushes to know, he leaves her. He is fearful that this step will reveal himself, and he is not proud of what his past has turned him into, so he abandons the relationship. Will is denying and repressing thoughts and feelings of his past and will not let him, let alone a woman, remind himself of
it.

Will succumbs to seeing a therapist...or 2, or 5. However, he is finally seen by one psychologist Sean Maguire, and he is emotionally pushed and challenged, as is Sean in the very beginning. We find out that Will is an orphan and had a hard and abusive life growing up. He didn't have many people he could trust growing up. The primal needs during his impressionable years, possibly during Erikson's 1st psychosocial stage of learning trust, were not met, or poorly if at all. This may make sense, due to the fact that Will was an orphan. Going by these stages, each one would be harder to deal with the other 4 stages of social development because he didn’t successfully meet the needs of the first.

At the end of the movie, after seeing Sean several times, he has a breakthrough. While Will is learning about Sean's life, he relates to his past, and in turn he opens up and begins to confront his demons. A wrenching moment is when Sean tells Will, "It’s not your fault. It’s not your fault.", as if the words are being drilled into Wills head. These words finally tear down his walls, and Will can begin to life a new life. He now knows he isn’t confined to become a construction worker in his home town of Boston, he is free to live a life he pleases math genius or not, and his love life is allowed to advance. He can live his life unshackled and free of emotional bondage.