Concepts & Criticism

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A conversation about Good Will Hunting

Tuesday, May 11th, 2010

Good Will Hunting

I’ve learned from the best that a good blog isn’t afraid to bring you right into the conversation, into the formation of its ideas as they are being constructed and processed.

So I figured I would go ahead and share the following online conversation I recently had with a friend, former Bostonian Dave C.

Good Will Hunting

I bring you a discussion of life, masculinity, and the conceptual underpinnings of Good Will Hunting.

Dave: i didn’t know that blog will hunting was your blog
i thought it was just something you linked to a lot
me: nope, it’s mine!
Dave: i read all of it on sunday
what i love is that you don’t even think it’s an objectively great movie
me: yeah
it would never go in my top anything list
Dave: so what is it?
me: but it feels very culturally/personally significant
and it feels like Bostonians are sort of grasping at straws to find themselves reflected in film and that’s the best they can do
I’ve never quite written the definitive post answering that question, but it’s an important one: what is it about Good Will Hunting?
That I saw it senior year of high school, and that it felt very indie and masculine, meant a lot
Dave: masculine interesting
a lot of manly love it’s true
interesting that the “girl” robin williams had to see about is dead
me: there was some dumb book a while ago that explored “male spaces” — it was essays and photos, and talked about barber shops and dugouts etc
and GWH inhabits a lot of those spaces
Dave: are the spaces just for hiding from chicks
or do they have merits
me: I think merits
I think simply they are “safe”
Dave: in that context the baseball scene is interesting
because bleachers are really for moms
me: so yeah maybe there’s some hiding there
Dave: but they are reclaiming it as a safe man space
me: yeah!
also, the therapy scene when they are talking about baseball
there’s a shot from above that shows that they are sitting essentially in a baseball diamond of chairs
and then they reenact the game 6 scene
Dave: so how about this for a way of looking at it
what he’s doing is incrementally expanding his safe man space
me: so it’s this baseballification and male-ification of the potentially girly, feelings space
Dave: going to therapy fine, but still with the safety blanket of baseball
me: yeah
Dave: he will engage in an intellectual discussion, fine, but only in the context of threatening someone
etc
always the safety blanket
me: yeah
Dave: you know this already
i’m getting there slowly
ok here’s a question
me: the strength of the movie is by far the friends scenes
Dave: what is “Boston” about the movie besides the fact that it is filmed at au bon pain
why could it not have been filmed in any other city, with lots of shots of scenery of the city
me: good question.
well
I will answer that by paraphrasing Robin Williams in the film
Will argues that there’s pride in work, in labor
in being a janitor even
and Williams’ character counters, why are you a janitor all the way in Cambridge when you could just be a janitor around the corner
Harvard and MIT are the poster children for smart kids
and the tensions and rewards of university/townie relations
Dave: bam
great answer
me: the mythology of the damon-affleck friendship is also critical to the film’s success and staying power
Dave: also i think it has something to do with the red sox
i don’t know if that movie can be as good if the red sox won the world series in 1995
me: yeah
definitely
there’s a pride in not succeeding
Dave: ok here’s something i find weird
the scene where williams says he can bench a lot
me: yeah
so weird
Dave: A of all, he clearly can’t, look at him
B of all, who cares?
me: yeah, I always thought he was bullshitting
Dave: interesting
me: just playing along with the one-up-manship
Dave: how old is will hunting
me: he turns 21
towards the end
Dave: oh snap that young
how old is skylar
me: yeah, his friends give him the car
she is supposedly about that age
though she’s all European so maybe she took some time off before college
Dave: ok heres a question
why this dichotomy between genius and construction
why cant he be a rich genius AND be best friends w chuckie
me: hmm
well, having both is not a very good story, and that self-consciousness seems important to him
he also seems to genuinely believe he can’t have it all
the film’s psychology would have us believe it’s because of his abusive upbringing
Dave: that he has what he deserves
me: or perhaps more accurately, those who have more don’t deserve it
ok, I’m gonna go to the library, and then the gym

Good Will Hunting

Posted in Analysis, Boston, Concepts & Criticism, Masculinity, The Film | 2 Responses »

It’s a good car; the engine’s good.

Tuesday, July 14th, 2009

I think my favorite scene in Good Will Hunting is the short sequence towards the end where Will receives a car from his friends for his birthday. After a bunch of tedious plot wrapping-up — the unloading of “it’s not your fault,” some introspective scenes with Will thinking quietly, Will accepting an ambiguous corporate math job with “MacNeil” — the birthday scene is a welcome breather, and a reminder of what is exceptional about the film.

A few years back, I declared I would have a Good Will Hunting Renaissance. It was on my list for the summer. Friends talked it up for weeks. We had not seen the film for years, and in particular, we had not seen it since working in Harvard Square every day.

I can’t say we weren’t disappointed. The chummy therapy, the romance, the arc of self-forgiveness — it’s forced and clumsily stitched together. In the scene that immediately proceeds the birthday scene, Will meets with Sean for his final therapy session — “You’re a free man” he says to Will. And we are to believe he is…

Since it’s “not your fault,” you just have to get a job, a car, a girl, and follow your dreams.

But when Will and his friends gather, the film is understated, charming even when distasteful, and focuses on characters that seem to actually inhabit the world — all this plus blow job jokes.

Will’s pals surprise him with a gift that will complete his process of self-actualization — it’s a clunker of a car but it will get him on the road to see about a girl; he’s no longer restrained to the T or to carpooling (though admittedly, as Chuckie points out, “Morgan wanted to get you a T-pass.”) The exchange is typical of the four guys’ loving and pervasively insulting relationship.

“This is the ugliest fucking car I’ve ever seen in my life,” Will jokes with genuine gratitude.

The character Bill, whose role as fourth-friend is generally “guy passing out drunk in the corner” delivers the oddly heartfelt, half-mumbled, “It’s a good car. The engine’s good.” Compared to “you’re a free man” or “I had to see about a girl,” I much prefer this line as a summary for what Will has learned over the course of the film. It’s a good engine — it’ll get you places — and that’s what matters.

It’s a good birthday.

Posted in Concepts & Criticism, Fanhood, Plot Points | No Responses »

What’s so good about him?

Sunday, June 21st, 2009

An addendum to previous post, Good Will Hunting II: It’s Hunting Season

Okay, I would be remiss not to praise the GWH2 moment wherein Mr. Ponytail intones the film’s somewhat obtuse before-and-after title.  Really, is anyone in the film really hunting for “good will” — “an attitude of kindness or friendliness; benevolence”?

Will Hunting is actually surrounded by this sort of unobtrusive support; what he ultimately needs is “to meet his match” (according to the trailer) — the kind of challenges he receives from Minnie Driver, Robin Williams, and Math. I would argue he’s “It’s Not Your Fault” Hunting.  But that is not the same as good will.  Will needs tough love, not merriness and good will towards men. (Though I guess he claims to need no one but the dead academics he so relishes…)

The other understanding of the play on words is that Will is just plain Good, as in Good [at Math] Will Hunting.  Good [at Burying it Deep Inside] Will Hunting.  But that’s stupid, right? But I digress — the film’s title is a compelling discussion to come.  Let’s just cut back to the punchline… “Applesauce, bitch.”  (And who doesn’t like applesauce?)

Posted in Blogging, Concepts & Criticism, Plot Points, The Film, Ya Suspect!! | No Responses »