Good Will Hunting Movie Analysis
Good Will Hunting Movie Analysis The movie Good Will Hunting is about Will Hunting, a janitor with an Irish background and a pure gift for math. He is the janitor at the notorious college MIT and often cleans near a prominent math/chemistry professor’s classroom. This professor assigns his class a task that would involve solving a very difficult math problem and the reward would be an automatic A in the class and the ability to work with the professor on research. Will, having an excellent background of knowledge, views the problem one day while cleaning in the evening.
With no surprise for himself, he completes the problem and leaves it on the board. The professor sees the problem finished the next day. He does not know who had completed it, so he asks the members of his class who completed it. None of them answer, so he is forced to post another problem because nobody claimed the first. Will again finished the problem and once again the professor is puzzled as to who had completed the problem a second time. The professor posts a third problem, but this time has his assistant closely monitor the board to see who completes it.
The professor catches Will posting the answer and stops him because he thinks Will is vandalizing on the board. To the professor’s amazement, Will is completing the problem and tells him to continue. Will completes it and walks away before the professor can find out who he is. The professor goes and finds out his name from other janitors and find out Will just got arrested for battery and assault and is being held on bail. With his MIT “power” and “persuasion” the professor gets Will on probation instead of jail time to work with and help use his knowledge for good.
Will initially does not say barely a single word in the probation time with the professor. The professor tells him that he could be jailed if he wants to, but Will knows he doesn’t want to go back to that. After a few sessions, Will begins to open up to the professor. After opening up to the professor for the first time, the professor soon understands Will’s situation. He is very poor, he does not have a stable financial situation on his home, and he has no other family than his “brothers”.
Will refuses to use his knowledge as a positive thing, and the professor has to send him to his college roommate, Sean (played by Robin Williams) who specializes in psychological practices of Will’s sort. He gets Will to realize that happiness can only come from inside and that if he wants to be happy he has to use his abilities and have fun with them. Will begins working with the professor on some not so basic problems and they get along quite nicely. Within the movie are some aspects of psychology that stand out and some that don’t.
One that stands out is the wanting from others for Will to succeed. Although Will may not see his potential in his future, almost every other character in the movie does. His best friend Chuckie, says “You’re sitting on a winning lottery ticket. It would be an insult to us if you’re still around here in 20 years. ” It seems everybody wants him to succeed but him. Will also falls in love with Skylar, which completely alters his perspective on life. He goes from not believing in anything but alcohol and bars, to believing in love and a future.
