Review of Good Will Hunting - Essay Example

Review of Good Will Hunting Good Will Hunting is a movie that centers much on the life of Will Hunting. His life is pretty much defined by routine daily activities. Hunting works as a janitor at the prominent Massachusetts Institute of Technology. After providing a solution to a seemingly untenable arithmetic problem, Hunting leaves his working place and heads home to relax with his pals. On his way, he stops off only to physically assault a police officer. This exposes the social and psychological challenges that Hunting appears to be enduring. He is undoubtedly a genius with an above normal IQ, and at the same time has various personal issues that he needs help to address. His only other option that would prevent him from serving the jail term is to accept the aid of Professor Lambeau, who appears to be the only individual who recognizes his real potential. He is also forced to accept a program of therapy with the one individual who appears to be able to get through to him. Generally, Good Will Hunting is a fantastic film that is both hilarious and funny. The movie successfully offers an intellectually and emotionally satisfying story. Delving deeper into the following topics, goals, commitment, potentiality, and turning point, this paper will critically analyze the role of Will Hunting in the development of the story. Body A goal can be described also as an objective. It is a set of standards an individual aims to attain. It is a visible and assessable outcome. Will Hunting is one person who focuses much of his attention on doing everything he has to in order to get by. His actions clearly have no intrinsic goal. He was abandoned and abused while growing up, and this appears to have a lot of effects on his life. He is a go-getter who strikes both physically and intellectually to protect himself and his buddies at whatever cost. Will Hunting solves complex mathematical problems on the main hallway chalkboard while carrying out his daily labor intensive chores at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His incredible mental capacity is no doubt, and this is exactly what prompted Professor Gerry Lambeau to reach out to him (Sant 5). Will is fully aware of his extraordinary abilities, but appears to be less interested in pursuing a course of action that would enable him exploit his full potential. Clearly, he is not focused on achieving any life dream or objective that would enable him leave behind any remarkable legacy. A man of his mental capabilities is naturally expected to be part of a greater course in the improvement of human life. Will appears to be intentionally ignoring this fact and ends up as a mere janitor at the famous academic institution. He only accepts to let Professor Lambeau offer his assistance when that appears to be the only option keeping him away from serving his jail term for assaulting a police officer. This is the point where the goal of progress in the film story is launched. It all begins when Will is presented with extremely minimal options to try and develop further both intellectually and psychologically to attain his potential. He either has to choose to go to jail or accept the help of professor Lambeau to work on his self progress (Howe 5). Will displays the inability to develop supportive relationships with other people apart from his close friends. This is clearly exhibited in his inability to open up to several therapists until he finally lands on Sean McGuire. The start of the therapy sessions between Sean and Will appear to be a little jittery. Will Hunting insolently and nastily makes assumptions regarding the therapist’s marriage. This unintentionally exposes Sean’s key focus which is crowded by his continual grieving for his wife. Here, Will Hunting exhibits the capacity to take on an individual’s measures. This is also visible when he attacks and exposes the therapist’s affectations. However, he does not possess real world experience to truly comprehend the consequences of his exploits. His potentiality is exposed at this instance. Potentiality is a concept in philosophy that Aristotle employed often in examining issues such as ethics. It can be used to describe the possible outcome that can be accrued from an object or a person. Aristotle in his philosophical works clearly did not appear to hold the opinion that all possibilities are the similar. He stressed on the significance of those particular ones that authenticate independently when their environment favors them, and no external force interferes with them. Commitment is a state that describes the level of devotion an individual directs towards a particular cause or event. Without commitment it is relatively impossible to achieve preplanned goals. Commitment is essential to attain best possible results and one’s full potential as well. It is a state of mind that motivates and pushes an individual towards a certain visible and quantifiable end. Professor Lambeau’s commitments aimed at assisting Will Hunting bring out the potential in him for the sake of himself, and others are unquestionable. He continues helping him in his search for a therapist even though Will clearly appears to have trouble developing relationships with people other than his friends. Eventually, they land on Sean McGuire who ultimately assist’s Will understand and appreciate his potential. With this boost in self confidence and rediscovery, Will is seen journeying to go and find out about a girl (Sant 25). The consequences of an individual’s wrong choice in life may be short-term or even long term depending on its weight. Choosing to overindulge in alcohol or drugs as a way of relieving stress may lead to overdependence. Such people rarely can perform effectively in any way without having a taste of the drug they are dependent on. In the long run they often lose their jobs and end hopeless. The turning point in this person’s life may occur when he or she makes the decision to enter a rehab and get clean. A turning point in an individual’s life is that moment he or she makes the choice or decision to revolutionize their lives from worse to better. When one is at a turning point in his/her life, they usually become open to new ideas. Turning points are often instigated by a crisis or a point when an individual feels like his/her life is disentangling. People make choices and decisions at all turning points that impact on the course of a couple of years ahead or even for their entire lives. Individuals embrace new ideas at this point because they usually develop a lucid and even hurting feeling and comprehension of how their lives do not quite depict their potential or who they are. They tend to acknowledge the gap between where their lives are at that moment and where their potential can probably place them. For will, this came at a price. His exploits directed at Sean’s personal life enables the therapist identify his client’s thematic conflict. The client finally opens up to the therapist, and this exposes Sean’s exceptional ability of knowledge that coerces his client to put some level of trust in him. The fervent thematic examination of worth and significance is exposed in the final sitting between Will and his therapist. Eventually, Sean succeeds in influencing Will accept and appreciate his self-worth and his potential to impact positively on others too. Time passes by and Will Hunting ultimately becomes more sensible and brings to an end the casual treatment of his incredible IQ. Conclusion Good Will Hunting is an exceptional film that is both hilarious and funny. The movie successfully offers an intellectually and emotionally satisfying story that comes with a happy ending. Writing this paper, one has to have those 'uh-huh’ moments. It is astonishing to see how wrong choices can affect even the most intellectually privileged. Seeing a brilliant mind like that of Will being wasted in such a manner is just appalling. It is also fulfilling to see him rediscover himself and have that turning point in life that redefines his future. This makes modern psychology a fascinating area that anyone with ambition would undoubtedly want to study further. Works cited Good Will Hunting. Dir. Gus Van Sant. Perf. Will Hunting. 1997. Howe, Desson. "Good Will Hunting: Head and Heart ." 25 December 1997 . washingtonpost.com. 28 October 2012 . Read More