II. INTRODUCTION
The film “Good Will Hunting” follows the story of Will Hunting (Matt Damon) a self-taught genius who works at one of the most prestigious technology schools; MIT, as a janitor. Will is an orphan with a criminal record of Assault, grand theft auto, assaulting a police officer, etc. Will solves a complex math problem, which leads to him being discovered by professor Lambeau (Stellan Skarsgard) as a genius. Professor Lambeau makes a deal with the judge when Will is incarcerated to be on parole under Lambeau’s supervision and Will is ordered to see a therapist once a week. Will Outsmarts many of the therapists, which forces Lambeau to go to his last resort, college friend and psychology teacher Sean Macguire (Robin Williams).
…show more content…
(Erikson, 1980) Erikson’s psychosocial stages of development theory are in my opinion one of the best ways to look at Will Hunting’s changing personality and behaviour in the movie. Will’s avoidant and defensive personality is due to his abusive foster parents, he never received sympathy from his foster parents which made him accept the abuse as well as him becoming the abuser, as we see in the film when Will fights a former classmate that bullied him in kindergarten years ago. Another example of abuse is in the form of psychological abuse towards the marriage of Macguire and his deceased wife in which Will continually insults. Will seems to fluctuate stages throughout the movie, due to being an orphan and abuse from his foster parents he is fluctuating between the stages of basic trust vs. mistrust, and Initiative vs. guilt. Then when he meets Skylar (Minnie Driver) his development shifts to intimacy vs. isolation. (Erikson, …show more content…
Will Hunting uses many defense mechanisms to cope with his stress, anxiety, anger, and fear some example of these defense mechanisms are denial, because Will blocks his true genius potential from entering his consciousness. A second example would be sublimation, due to him satisfying his anger and stress by smoking cigarettes, which Will does frequently throughout the movie. The third example is probably one of the most common defense mechanisms, repression, Will represses the memories of his foster parent not caring about him, showing no sympathy towards him and using him as a scapegoat and abusing him physically and psychologically. We see the result of Will’s repressed memories burst into his consciousness when he sees the pictures of his bruised body, then he bursts into tears showing a lot of emotion, which from that point on, lets him begin to heal from his traumatic
The Big Five Theory can be used to identify Clark’s low conscientiousness, demonstrated by his irresponsibility, low self-discipline, and erratic behavior. The psychoanalytic approach, with a particular emphasis on regression as a defense mechanism, helps explain why Clark has such enormous emotional and mental breakdowns when his idea of the “perfect Christmas” fails to come to fruition. Of the two, the trait approach is preferable due to the ability to better predict Clark’s personality and future behaviors, though additional analysis from Bowlby’s Attachment Theory would offer useful insight. Given personality is a complex combination of factors that converge to create the unique identity of each individual (also applicable to entertaining and unpredictable characters such as Clark Griswold), it makes sense that multiple approaches and analyses can yield useful insight regarding
Will is an innocent, level-headed child who's only goal in the beginning of the novel is to relish in childhood. Jim, on the other hand, is impulsive, reckless and usually thinks about himself before others. For instance, when the train came bearing the carnival, Jim stole off in the middle of the night to go investigate, leaving Will behind all alone. This shows that Jim thinks he is independent enough to venture off by himself. Jim is also inquisitive and in some cases, more mature than Will, who is content with staying
Some people dream of wealth, happiness, or genius, but is any of that easily attainable? An intellectual young man from the movie Good Will Hunting has an unusually high IQ that is shrouded by emotional problems. Will Hunting is arrested after yet another case of physical assault in Boston, and this time it was a police officer. When he is arrested, his genius is discovered by a college professor, Gerald Lambeau, who sees potential in Will despite his flaws. Instead of jail time, Labeau offers him a fair bargain. As long as Will attends mandatory therapy, he will be allowed to work alongside the professor. But education isn’t everything, because under Wills sarcastic wit and mathematical genius, he hides his true self. Will scares off five different therapists before he finds himself stuck with Sean Maguire, who ends up using personal and profound forms of therapy to crack Wills shell. Sean delivers this speech to help Will realize his ignorance of his insecurities and other people by using ethos, logos, and pathos appeals; Sean addresses that true knowledge and perspective can only
This paper explores the need of adding Reminiscence Therapy to the National Joint Commission’s list of safety goals for long term care facilities. It links scientific research of psychologist Erik Erikson’s ‘Integrity vs. Despair’ theory as relative to the new goal. It examines research conducted by psychologist Jonathan Gerson in relation to the benefits of Reminiscence therapy in preventing feelings of despair in elderly patients showing its relationship to safety. National Awareness of Mental Illness facts are included to show the correlation of despair (that leads to depression) which in turn creates a plethora of safety risk factors that could potentially lead to significant patient injury. The discussion will also include the
An example when an adult was scaffolding an infant during the time I was observing Lab 1 would be when George of 1 year and 3 months was wobbly walking and exploring his surroundings and worryingly one of the instructors said “no, no” and instead he walked towards another designated play era and uncertain he looked back and made eye contact with the same instructor. She reassured him that he could go play into the area by gesturing and saying “that’s okay ” so he proceeded to play in that area.
Good Will Hunting is the graceful tale of a young gentleman’s struggle to find out where he belongs in the world, by first finding out who he himself is. In this film, Matt Damon takes on the role of a disturbed genius that has a keen understanding of the deepness of human character. The film is a voyage through the mind of Will Hunting as he is required to undergo psychotherapy as an alternative to serving jail time. With the assistance of a psychologist, played by Robin Williams, Will learns about himself and recognizes his individual worth in the world by comprehending what is most important to him in his own life. This motion picture serves as a source of superb example for film technique. Gus Van Sant’s directing ability joined with the writing skills of Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, who also plays Will’s best buddy, Chuckie, is a vibrant mixture of technical features used to induce sentiment and compassion amongst the viewers of this heart-warming film. Characteristics of the color, angles, shots, camera movement, editing, and distortions are all each particularly noteworthy to the general composition of Van Sant’s Good Will Hunting.
The character this film is primarily centered around is Will Hunting. Will lives in a tattered house in a bad neighborhood in the city of Boston. He grew up in foster care where he sustained continual physical abuse as a child. Will has a few close friends he is always with but never opens up about anything below surface level. Will is incredibly gifted with intelligence however he works as a custodian at the highly prestigious school, MIT. Professor Lambeau teaches advanced mathematics at MIT and is the one who discovers Will’s incredible talent for solving advanced mathematical theory. Professor Lambeau has high hopes for Will and pushes him into getting jobs with prestigious employers so that his gift is not wasted working as a custodian. Chuckie Sullivan is one of the closest of Will’s friends. They’ve known each other for years and Chuckie drives Will to work every day. Chuckie cares for Will and realizes the gift that he has and tries to convince Will he should be doing something of greater importance with his life. Skylar is a college stu...
Upon watching the movie and understanding the concepts of these two theories it becomes apparent that William was in a state of anomie and he used all five of the modes of adaptation in order to adapt to his strain. William’s ability to enter into the four delinquent modes of adaptation, innovation, ritualism, retreatism, and rebellion, were a result of the breakdown of his social bonds, attachment, involvement, commitment, and belief.
Though our society has evolved regarding the profession and need of counseling services, many people remain with the stigma that only individuals who are “crazy” require counseling. For many years, the notion of counseling was rarely linked to or associated with mental health/mental illness. However, due to personal ordeals and societal demands the level, many people suffer with mental illness. There was a point in time where seeking counseling services was taboo. As individuals and a society, we fail to reflect on or are oblivious to the disadvantage of not addressing our mental state if and when necessary. In the film “Good Will Hunting”, I will describe the resistance of the character Will Hunting in building effective and meaningful
Will Hunting epitomises a punk prodigy. The 20-year-old delinquent works as a janitor at MIT, solving impossible equations, meant for students, in his spare time. He is soon recruited by one of MIT’s professors and made to participate in a rehabilitation programme with the hope of being employed by the university. Rehabilitation is made challenging as Will is a troubled individual; having grown up in abusive environments and jumping from different foster homes.
The Purpose of this Paper The purpose of this paper is to apply two developmental concepts, as proposed by Erikson, to the real life experiences of Joe Smith. This paper will emphasize the influence of social structures expressed as risk or protective factors and any traumatic experiences that have shaped their developmental outcomes. Concept #1 will include an exploration of Joe’s psychosocial development during puberty, tied in with Erikson's fifth stage of development: identity versus identity confusion. Concept #2 will include an exploration of Joe’s psychosocial development in middle adulthood, tied in with Erikson's seventh stage of development: generativity versus stagnation.
Good Will Hunting is the Miramax movie written by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, and directed by Gus Van Sant. Starring the two Academy Award winning writers Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, plus Academy Award winning actor Robin Williams, Academy Award nominee Minnie Driver, and Stellen Skarsgard the movie went on to be nominated for 9 Academy Awards and win two The movie is based around the life of Will Hunting (Matt Damon), who is a troubled orphan growing in the slums of South Boston, referred to as "Southie". A reviewer noted on the personal relationship between Affleck and Damon, based on having truly raised in South Boston: 'A good example of this is a brief transaction early in the film in which Affleck buys a hamburger for one of his moocher buddies. When the kid says he only has 16 cents, Affleck holds on to the burger, telling him that he can pay a few cents a week and put the sandwich on layaway. After some angry yelling, Affleck eventually gives in (as you're sure he always does) and forks the hamburger over. This innocuous little exchange speaks volumes about these two guys and their past history, and is funny to boot. It's honest and graceful.' (CNN Website)
Psychosocial development is development on a social realm. Psychosocial development is how one develops their mind, maturity level, and emotions over the course of one’s life. The rate of development depends on different factors such as biological processes as well as environmental factors. A man named Erik Erikson who was a psychoanalyst who believed that early childhood successes and failures were responsible for influencing later developmental stages developed this theory. Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development is based around the theory that social experience has an impact over an entire lifespan. There are eight stages developmental stages of development in the psychosocial theory and I will briefly examine all eight stages in this
Erikson was a developmental psychologist and he was very well known at the time of his psychosocial development among human beings. Erikson developed eight stages that show growth across a lifespan in every human being. Each of the stages that Erickson developed, build on one another and after every successful stage the outcome is called “virtue”. Erikson believed that difficulty on one stage can have a result later on in life. There is one main contradiction between Erikson and Freud which is Freud was an ID psychologist, Erikson was an ego psychologist. He emphasized the role of culture and society and the conflicts that can take place within the ego itself, whereas Freud accentuate the conflict between the ID and the superego. (McLeod, S. A. (2013). Erik Erikson) The eight psychosocial development stages that Erikson developed are; trust vs. mistrust, autonomy vs. shame/doubt, initiative vs. guilt, industry vs. inferiority, identity vs. role confusion, intimacy vs. isolation, generativity vs. stagnation, and integrity vs. despair.
The first stage of “Basic trust vs. mistrust” occurs during infancy (birth to 18th months old). At this stage, infants need to form a loving, trusting relationship with the caregiver, or there will be a risk of developing a mistrust and insecurity about the world. For me, I had a favorable outcome for this stage because my needs to survive, including food, love, warmth, safety, and nurturing were all met. For instance, because my mother was at home taking care of me, she was able to sensitively and appropriately respond to me whenever I cried for attention and food. This could be connected with my securely attached behaviors with my parents in the further stages. Thus,