While watching Good Will Hunting I actually forgot how good this movie really was. Of course, being older and having a more mature outlook on life probably helps. Not to mention that both actors are handsome! =) This was almost your classic Cinderella story, but instead involving a guy. Will, was an orphan who was incredibly intelligent concerning mathematics. On the other hand he was a lost soul and had a lot of physiological problems concerning his past. No one every wanted to take a chance on Will. He was just known as the janitor in the MIT building. Professor Lambeau saw different, when he discovered Will was the one solving the almost impossible Math problems overnight. Professor Lambeau was wondering why this guy was cleaning floors, rather than doing math problems. It is almost like he stereotypes will in the so called “janitor category”. In the end Will is the so called “Cinderella” because he lands a job with a successful company.
A status confliction that I want to point out is when Will starts to get involved with Skylar, the med student. Will thinks that he is of lower class when meeting Skylar because he knows that she has inherited all this money, and can afford to go to med school. Will is afraid to love and to be loved because of his childhood. There is a scene in the movie when Skylar and Will get into it involving money and love.
Skylar says: “What is your obsession with this money? My father died when I was 13 and I inherited this money. You don't think that every day I wake up and wish I could give it back? That I would give it back in a second if I could have one more day with him? But I can't, and that's my life and I deal with it. So don't put your shit on me when you're the one that's afraid. Will: I'm afraid? What am I afraid of? What the fuck am I afraid of? Skylar: You're afraid of me! You're afraid that I won't love you back! Fuck it, I wanna give it a shot! At least I'm honest with you.
I think this scene opens us up to how scared Will is. He learns where Skylar inherited the money from, and how she did not ask for her dads death. She does not like having all the money. Does money always bring happiness?
Another scene where were see ourselves in a social status is when Will and his best friend, Chuckie get into it. Chuckie knows the ability that Will has. Chuckie does not want his best friend to be a brick layer (like himself) for the rest of his life or janitor, when he knows that he could be making a whole lot more working for the high end companies. Chuckie says “Oh, I don't know that. Let me tell you what I do know. Every day I come by to pick you up. And we go out we have a few drinks, and a few laughs and it's great. But you know what the best part of my day is? It's for about ten seconds from when I pull up to the curb to when I get to your door. Because I think maybe I'll get up there and I'll knock on the door and you won't be there. No goodbye, no see you later, no nothin'. Just left. I don't know much, but I know that.”
I think this film brings a lot of speculation regarding status and education to the table. The past few weeks the books and movies we have been watching each have a theme regarding class, money, and education. I think this movie goes to show you that anything you put your mind too you can achieve, no matter what your past is or your education. The past is the past, look forward to opportunities in the future.
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I love that you compared this to a cinderella story because I can completely see how you would put the two together. The two scenes you talked about I also liked a lot. I actually just commented about the same scene when Chuckie is telling Will he hopes to show up one day and him not be there because he is better than that. I also agree with on the subject of Skylar. I think a large part of him was scared to love or maybe he didnt know how to love because of his childhood, but also when money came in the picture maybe he was scared of her difference in class. Maybe he thought that he was not good enough for her, that he could never compare to the money.
ReplyDeleteI do think this movie was a perfect tie into all the other things we have discussed in class. Like I said in a different blog I didn't pick up on half the stuff I did this time watching the move because I don't know if the first time I watched it I truly got the message of the movie.
that's interesting that you compared it to Cinderella. though there are some similarities and some discrepancies. in Cinderella she had a decent life before she moved into her step mothers house and the death of her father. it was later in her life that she had a horrible life. with will it was the opposite, he had a terrible life growing up, but once he was out on his own he had a "good" life. at least one that he was contempt with. in Cinderella she hopes to aspire to be someone greater, a princess. in the movie, will has no intention to better himself, and as everyone is saying (and i agree as well) that he was afraid to move up and better himself. in Cinderella she's visited by the fairy god mother to make her wishes come true. in the movie he gets caught by Prof. Lambeau and he tries to get him to better himself. then lastly in cinderella she meets the prince falls in love, and then has to run away because of the stroke of midnight. in the movie, will meets Skyler and likes her but is afraid to commit. so when the prospect of their relationship becomes anything more then just fun little dates, he freaks out and walks out of her life.
ReplyDeleteso i guess in a way there is a little aspect of Cinderella, but also there isn't quite that aspect of Cinderella.
I’m glad you highlighted the part of the film with Will and Skylar, because we get to see pure social class issues. It is obvious that money does not mean happiness to Skylar because she had to lose her father. Will is not able to relate with that loss because he always looked at his Dad as a bad person and was happier without him. Knowing Will’s past, it is not surprising that he is also fear full to love her. He doesn’t know what it is like and has never experienced love.
ReplyDeleteWe never know if Will “lives happily ever after” like the end of A Cinderella story and I think that is crap. They need to extend the movie or come out with another one. You want to believe that he and Skylar meet and she still loves him and they spend forever together but, what if they don’t?
Like you and many of the others who posted, I didn't realize how much of this film applied to what we've learned about social class in this class. I completely agree that this is very similar to a Cinderella story - of course, with some differences as Phylip also mentioned.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with you that the most common theme in this film is fear. Will is afraid of succeeding and afraid of failing. Afraid of skylar, her money, and a commitment with her. He afraid of being loved by anyone because he doesn't know what love feels like. The only "love" he experienced with his parents was very painful and that was probably followed by more painful experiences in foster homes.
*Forgot to mention the importance of class in the film. Your post highlighted the issue of class very well. The quote you included was in the heat of the moment when Will and Skylar were arguing about social class issues. Will is very afraid of trying to move into another class. I think he's sure that he won't fit in or belong.
ReplyDeleteI have always enjoyed the scene with Chuckie where he encourages Will to make something of himself. I think Will needed to hear that encouragement from someone who understood him and where he came from.
Both Will and Skylar were very humble about their life circumstances. By life circumstances I mean class and education. I think the film did excellent showing how there are some things in life that we (human beings) have very little control over. For Skylar, it was her wealth. She explained that that she inherited her father’s money when she was 13. For will it was the abuse that he suffered and his natural ability to conquer mathematical equations. Will had a difficult time accepting the notion that everyone who has money isn’t bourgeois. Some individuals like Sean and Skylar are genuine people who seek to achieve more out of life than just intelligent. Just think the film did an awesome job of portraying how something’s you have no control of given circumstances.
ReplyDeleteI think the most revealing scene in this movie, at least concerning class, is when Sean throws Will out of their session after his NSA interview. Will is the victim of his circumstances; his upbringing and background allow him to see the negative possibilities in every possible situation. He refuses to take risks because he sees only failure. There is a causal relationship between his place in society (his class) and his outlook on life. The things that happened to him as a young man and the life he had led since then, regardless of his mathematical genius, were all a product of a lower-class lifestyle.
ReplyDeleteI think we talked about this in another blog, although I can't remember which one. I stressed that I thought it was important for people to never allow themselves to believe that trying was a waste of time. Will believes that it is, that no matter what he does with his gift, there's always a negative side, and that's the one he's concerned with. If it's all going to go to hell, why bother?
This rather excellent film says to its viewers, in a roundabout (but extremely well-written) way that it is worth trying, that that's what life is about. It was good to see this film again and remember that.
Emily, I thought it was sad and true what you said about Will being that no one ever wanted to take a chance on. I think it is even sadder that had he not ever taken the job as a janitor, he probably never would have had the chance to encounter Professor Lambeau and experience the opportunities he was given by him.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree that the scene where Will & Skylar get into an argument over their relationship that it shows just how scared Will really is. You continuously see him trying to hide his life and his past from her because he feels that he is not “good enough for her”. This is a prime example, as you said, of two classes coming together with love and we see many ways in which it was tested.
I also agree with your interpretation of the scene where Will and his friend Chuckie get into it about Will “sitting on the winning ticket”. He hears from Lambeau that he is great, then he hears from Sean that he is great, but it really doesn’t hit home until he hears from his best friend that he has a talent that he needs to pursue.
I also agree with what you said regarding anything you put your mind too you can achieve, no matter what your past is or your education. The past is the past, look forward to opportunities in the future.
In the extra features, there is a behind-the-scenes feature where Minnie Driver refers to the film as a fairy tale, so I think Emily's on to something here. Will's slipper is his once-in-a-century type of mathematical genius. Lambeau states that only a handful of people could understand Will's mathematical talents. Will's also a history and organic chemistry buff. His talents, in a word, are preternatural. The kaleidoscope title sequence alludes to the difficulty of understanding (and explaining) Will's brilliant mind. From the very beginning, we are asked to suspend our disbelief, and just accept Will's powers. If Will did not have these superpowers, he would turn out like his friends: a simpleton who can't hold a job, a drunk, a man-child still living with his "Ma," etc. But because he is truly sitting on the winning ticket of the genetic lottery, he can escape Southie. We cannot forget that this ticket is, for all intents and purposes, a magical ticket (much like Charlie in the Chocolate Factory).
ReplyDeleteThe construction of Skylar's character is interesting to consider. Many of you claim that Will is fearful of pursuing his dreams. He suffers from a fear of abandonment, and probably thinks Skylar is out of his league. She's the uptown girl Billie Joel sings about. When they have that blow out fight, WIll accuses her of "slumming," of spending time at a lower social level than one's own through curiosity, charity, or even boredom. Skylar, WIll fears, is getting a thrill out of being with a guy from the other side of the tracks. In sum, I agree that their fight brings to the surface Will's neuroses, but I also think differences in social class threaten to end their relationship.
Would the movie work if Skylar had not inherited her money in such a sob story type of way? Would a pre-med Harvard student from England be able to hang out and joke around with Will's friends? One thing's for sure, she wouldn't be interested in Will if it weren't for his mind, at least not in the long term. Note also how she's made more likable by her choice in profession. Instead of sitting on her trust fund, she uses her money to become a doctor so she can heal people. The film makes every attempt possible to make Skylar into Will's counterpart; she, too, the film argues, is a straddler. She must work hard in order to achieve her goals.
I'm not so sure though. Run a thought experiment. Would the movie work if Skylar was working-class and struggling with some "real world" shit like Will? No. That girl would keep WIll in the neighborhood, growing old with Chuckie and company. Perhaps Skylar is more of metaphor than an actual character. She represents another stage in Will's ascent. I'd call her his pie in the "sky," but I think the film leaves us believing that he will find her at Stanford and they we will be happy together (like Sean and his wife).