Good Will Hunting Psychology

Good Will Hunting, written by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, was released in December of 1997 by Lawrence Bender Productions. While the movie holds true to two hours, viewers do not notice the length as the film is filled with outstanding actors who evoke true emotions in anyone who watches this film. Some would describe a movie like this as a “crowd-pleaser”; since the outcome of the film is predictable, but the plot is revealed in a way that the director, Gus VanSant, can still leave the viewer guessing. The moments that were spent on the character’s individual stories are the moments that grab the viewer’s attention and cause them to feel emotions such as sympathy for Will Hunting’s attachment disorder and how he was brutally abused as a child.

Despite the bleak atmosphere of the film, viewing audiences walk away from this movie with an uplifted feeling borne of hope for Will Hunting and assurances that anyone can escape his past to achieve his dreams.

In this role, Matt Damon plays the character Will Hunting. Will is a janitor at MIT, a prestigious university geared toward STEM majors, but professors and students eventually realize they have a genius on their hands. Math was not work for Will so he did not find any intentions in pursing a job in this field. He is hard-headed and made an argument out of anything. Will sees nothing wrong with the limited life he was living and keeping a blue-collared job did not seem to bother him and his drinking ways. He would perform ridiculous math equations on the board and solve them without any problems at all. Will is a brilliant man with good intentions. He never hurts anybody to the point of death, but he often made the wrong decisions and did not want to put his knowledge in education to good use. Will would rather bar hop and follow his own code of conduct, which values brotherhood and loyalty far more than it values an upwardly-mobile life plan.

Why this movie should be called “Good” Will Hunting is not immediately clear; the main character uses his intelligence by turns as a weapon to humiliate others and as an excuse to stay securely in his band of brothers, for whom he feels the need to remain in his south Boston neighborhood and his dead-end job. He feels the need to watch over his friends and cannot help resorting to violence to make sure his manhood and their feelings are validated. Will is under the impression that his friends, who would literally lay down in traffic for him, need him to stay in Boston with them; it is only when Ben Affleck’s character release him that he is able to finally pursue what is right for his future, and his future alone.

Even though this particular movie was written by the two main characters, the outline and plot of the whole movie was determined by the director himself, Gus VanSant.

When reviewing movies, writers have to think of every possible reason for the way events and actions happen to ensure a realistic narrative. In order to achieve the gritty realism VanSant needed for this movie, he would have needed his actors to dig into the memories and acquaintances of their growing up in Boston; he would have needed Affleck and Damon to recall any kids or stories from their youth to evoke the emotions and situation of their characters. It becomes clear that the accents both actors use come easily to them, and the roles that these characters played could not have been more “real” and “in the moment”. The way the characters act does make the viewer feel that they are in the moment, and that Will’s story could be a real situation in life. The unlikely hero finds his way eventually, overcoming his past, his insecurities, and his ties to a life he needs to

escape.

After researching more about Good Will Hunting, I discovered that the original film that Matt Damon and Ben Affleck wrote was nothing like the movie itself.

The two originally wrote a script about a younger man who lived a rough and dirty life in Boston. The main character in their original film was targeted by the FBI, but the president of Castle Rock Entertainment strongly suggested that they drop the film and start over because they preferred that they focus on the relationship between Will Hunting and his psychologist. If the president had said that he enjoyed the original script and plot, the movie may not have received the same credit. At this point, the movie was in the president’s hands at Castle Rock Entertainment. After negotiating with their second screenplay idea, the executives decided that Damon and Affleck were not in their interest anymore and that they needed to find a new producer, one that would pay off Castle Rock Entertainment for the money that they had already invested into Affleck and Damon. The executives at Castle Rock gave Damon and Affleck thirty days to find a new buyer for their idea. Not only did they have to find a new buyer in thirty days, with the fear of losing their works to Castle Rock, but they also had to find a buyer that was willing to reimburse Castle Rock the money they had spent on this film. The idea was eventually bought out by Harvey Weinstein at Miramax. Weinstein read the script, loved it, and paid Castle Rock Entertainment

their dues. Miramax gave the men their green light to produce their idea and also star in their own movie.

Behind every movie is a magical number that shows how well a movie was written and produced. This “magical number” is the box office income. After using a budget of ten million dollars for film production, the box office grossed over two hundred and twenty-five million dollars. Say a standard movie ticket costs ten dollars. That means over twenty-two million people have gone to see this movie in theaters. Not only did people enjoy the movie, but the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognized the talent and creativity of this movie—renting it or streaming it in large numbers—is a testament to its resonance.

After watching the movie and reading a large amount of reviews about Good Will Hunting, I realized just how many opinions individuals across the United States could have. Will Hunting is not the golden child, and he sure does not have his priorities straight. Instead of achieving a goal many individuals dream about, he chooses to stay with his brothers, cause trouble, and continue bar hopping. His soul purpose in life was to watch over his friends and protect his brothers, which often led him to violence. Everybody has their opinions, but after watching this movie, I believe that the overall structure and storyline of this film was well put together, and while it was predictable, was able to draw emotions out of the viewer without much effort. This film will always be a classic because it does provide a sense of the American Dream and how individuals in Will Hunting’s day and age lived. No matter a person’s humble beginnings, he can always prosper if he is smart, has the right connections, education, or ambition.