In the summer of 2007 I went on a European adventure. Late one evening, strolling the streets of Vienna, Austria, I encountered the above scene. It was a grungy video store with a Good Will Hunting poster in the darkened window. How odd it felt to encounter this very local-feeling film as a cheesy, sun-bleached cardboard display, four-thousand miles away from Boston.
There was also a slapdash tagline added to the poster — “Hol Dir Deinen Denk-Zettel an der Theke!” (Perhaps they simply swap in a language-appropriate tagline wherever in the world the display finds itself?) Here in Austria the tagline was German — and translates to “Get Your Lesson in the Bar!”
Now, this isn’t an entirely accurate summing-up of the film’s themes. American marketers used “Some people can never believe in themselves, until someone believes in them” and “Wildly charismatic. Impossibly brilliant. Totally rebellious. For the first 20 years of his life, Will Hunting has called the shots. Now he’s about to meet his match.”
“Hol Dir Deinen Denk-Zettel an der Theke” suggests a story of actualization through growing up on the street (and, well, yeah — in the bar.) Sure, the bar part does describe Will and his crew, but Will Hunting would be content to sit around the bar not really changing at all. He doesn’t really “learn his lesson” until confronted with his own potential, via Sean, Lambeau, and Skylar — none of whom are operating within his comfort zone.
So perhaps we should conclude that this is simply catering the film to a German market that likes to drink a lot (and likes its film protagonists to do the same)?
is that a poladroid??
It is indeed. I really did take this photo, but it was simple digital snapshot — polaroid effect by poladroid.net.
I love to punish beer.