The ability to choose is a gift for all of humanity. No matter the circumstances, you can always choose, for the better or sometimes, for the worst. Will Hunting navigates life differently and faster than most all people. His intellect protects him in his life almost as much as his best friends do, but it ultimately cannot save him from the pain that multiple foster homes and a violent upbringing cause. His isolationist view of the world keeps him from pursuing a life with Skyler and doesn’t allow him to leave his minimum-wage job where he can drink beer and joke with his friends until the end of time. Will has something nobody else does, something that guarantees a successful life, but it is overshadowed by the fear of abandonment. Good Will Hunting focuses on the importance of self-worth and confidence and their omnipotent control of the direction of Will Hunting’s life, regardless of his unearthly intellect.
Matt Damon and Ben Affleck build a convincing world full of characters and imagery of Boston to build sympathy for Will. Apart from their authentic accents, the portrayal of Will’s friends participates in building a sense of belonging for the viewer. Each and every story they tell, whether it be about a dirty flight attendant joke or a drunk uncle stealing a police car, it enhances Will’s connection to the dirty, humorous tone of the streets of Boston. It provides a break from the heavy thematic premise of the movie and allows for a realistic look at the way he lives his life. A simple minute-and-a-half scene of Will and Chuckie at the batting cages doesn’t majorly move the story forward, helping Will find true happiness, it just serves as a way to get a deeper look into how he lives his life, providing more context to sympathize with Will later in the movie. The same idea is applied to Sean’s wife farting in her sleep story. It takes away from the professor trying to mold Will into something he is not while also providing contrast in the type of humor displayed between Sean and Will and the other therapists and Will. More than is traditional, Damon and Affleck add fewer flat characters than there are round characters. Every character has their moment with Will where they step back and say what they really think. The long monologues and uncut nature of these scenes lend themselves to creating sympathy for Will from different people in his life. Skyler wants him to admit his love, Professor Lambeau wants him to be great and admits his inferiority to Will, and Chuckie expresses his anger about Will’s refusal to do something with his talent. Each one of these provides various reasons and choices whilst providing more reasons to sympathize with Will in his journey to decide what to do with his life.
Sean and Jared’s characters are ultimate foils of each other and ironically juxtapose and parallel Will’s friends. Both parts of his life are seemingly opposite as one side is a group of intellectuals and the other a bunch of street kids. However, they all want something for Will. This joining of dichotomous worlds symbolizes not only the universal aspect of Will’s choice but also the fact that for Will, there are endless opportunities for him to succeed through different lives. He could joke around and say he wants to be a Shepard or just lay bricks the rest of his life with Chuckie, but every character knows what he is capable of. What separates this movie from other 90s feel-good movies, however, is its dialogue. Without all the untraditional lengthy stories and monologues, the audience can’t possibly resonate with the characters. Each and every character has a quotable line that pertains to their worldview. All the juxtaposing lines from foil characters like Sean and Jared are only effective in deepening the character because each character is given the correct amount of time and pacing throughout the movie to develop into their own, believable person contributing their own opinion on the choices and paths of Will Hunting.
All characters serve a role, but Sean is the first to present the theme of choice. To present the idea that a long-lived long explored life is forever more valuable than memorizing the brush strokes of the Sistine Chapel. His monologue in the park is powerful to Will, but only because Damon and Affleck humanized him at his first meeting with Will where he makes fun of his wife. Sean teaches will how to love something or someone. He misses one of the most famous home runs in history for a woman. He risked it all and before Will met Sean, he never would’ve risked anything.
Will Hunting would never have achieved anything if it wasn’t for every single character in this movie. Even the flat characters like Chuckies brother Morgan and Bill gave Will a car for his birthday, allowing him to drive across the country to “see about a girl.” The movie’s logline is most popularly summarized as “A genius kid who struggles to live his life to the fullest” but that fails to recognize the world-building and the characters that ultimately contribute to his freedom at the end of the movie. A better line would have to be “A genius kid begins to recognize the beauty of his world as he gains the confidence needed to enjoy it.” It doesn’t sell as well as the first one, but it accurately taps into the world that Damon and Affleck create and communicates the importance of community and tough love from Affleck's construction site speech in finding a life Will loves to live and is ready to risk it all for.
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