...To discuss “Good Will Hunting” and the American Dream, we can find three main characters on the movie: Will, Sean, and Lambeau. A janitor at MIT, Will Hunting has a gift for mathematics and chemistry beyond his blue-collar roots, but he struggles to find his identity, living in the world. A math professor, Gerald Lambeau, discovers Will's talent and helps him out of trouble with the law. Sean Maguire, Lambeau’s former roommate at MIT, later comes in as a therapist to Will. He is the only one who can really stand up to Will's intelligence and manages to break the layer of Will’s distrust which he has developed over years of solitude. In addition, they Sean and Will develop a bond beyond friendship. Sean makes Will pursue love in his life by traveling out to California to be with Skylar. Will finally learn how living in the world with liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Sean and Lambeau with different world view decide to help Will. Lambeau engrossed on his Fields Medal which he won, and he absorbed his lucrative teaching position at the top technical college in the world. On the other hand, Sean highlights the happiness. He is teaching psychology, and he is sharing his experiences with college students. This contrasting views illustrate the American Dream from their own past experiences. Specifically, in the scene where Lambeau stands across from Sean at Sean's Office. Lambeau cares his professional reputation, he argues that “[Will] has a gift and with that gift comes ...
Words: 400 - Pages: 2
...that appeared in 1997 and became the start of their fame that initiated the assent from small time actors into well-known movie stars and screenwriters. “Good Will Hunting,” directed by Gus Van Sant, centers around the life of Will Hunting (Damon). Will is a janitor, working at the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology and working in the construction fields in the Irish subculture of south Boston. Will is a troublemaker who can be caught in reckless acts with his friends, specifically his right hand man, Chuckie (Affleck). Here Gus Van Sant is trying to set the scene for the hard knock life of south Boston and the blue-collar work environment foreshadowing the contrast from an elite university. When he isn’t drinking with his friends or instigating fights, Will is hitting the library. He is able to skim through books like one would look at a flipbook; his photogenic memory helps in this process. His genius capabilities seem to be nonexistent in this world, but extremely pleasing to the eye and entertaining to watch. As soon as Will solves a remarkably strenuous math problem on a blackboard at MIT that none of the university students can crack, he catches the attention of the world renowned mathematician and professor, Gerald Lambeau (Stellan Skarsgard), who takes it upon himself to make ‘good’ of Will Hunting. Before this, the audience is led to believe that the pair of miscreants would not be capable of competing with the upper echelon students. With the influence...
Words: 927 - Pages: 4
...Running head: GOOD WILL HUNTING: A THERORETICAL REVIEW Good Will Hunting: Existential and Person-Centered Theoretical Review Counseling Theories Abstract Review the film, Good Will Hunting (1997) directed by Gus Van Sant. This film portrays how the therapeutic process of two foundational theories of counseling and psychotherapy, Existential and Person-centered, successfully opened a door in a futile young man’s search for meaning in life. Will Hunting (played by Matt Damon), a young genius with a haunting past and a long aberrant relationship with the law. Sean (Robin Williams), a therapist trying to deal with dark tragedies of his own, struggles with Will in identifying his meaning in life, while rediscovering his own, works these therapeutic processes masterfully as he journeys with Will in discovering self-awareness, and the anxieties he experiences from the freedom of responsibility for his lifestyle and destiny (Corey, 2013). Sean, through his congruence and experiences, also helps Will see that it is human nature to strive for phenomenological self-actualization, and that we have the freedom and responsibility to change those perceptions of reality (Corey, 2013) Good Will Hunting: Existential and Person-Centered Theoretical Review Good Will Hunting, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1998, is a film that highlights the benefits of therapy for what Corey (2013) calls the “underlying conflicts that bring people into counseling and therapy,” which...
Words: 464 - Pages: 2
...One of the most monumental scenes from the movie, Good Will Hunting, includes a monologue spoken by a main character, Sean Maguire. Sean is a therapist that is trying to get through to a mathematical prodigy with a presumptuous and arrogant attitude. Sean is able to alter Will’s perspective by using allusions, emotions, parallelism and tone, while at the same time, establish a sense of respect for himself. An important part of the monologue spoken by Robin William’s character, Sean Maguire, is the purpose that the monologue itself serves. Maguire wants Will Hunting, a character played by a young Matt Damon, to understand that although he is a natural genius and basically a walking encyclopedia, he hasn’t experienced everything. Maguire uses...
Words: 1375 - Pages: 6
...Good Will Hunting is a movie that gives me joy and inspires me. Will Hunting, as we discover in the storyline, is a self-taught young man who posses a genius level intellect, yet he chooses to be a janitor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. After solving a difficult math problem, Will’s talents are discovered by professor Lambeau who decides to help him reach his true potential. Sadly, Will runs into trouble with the law, but professor Lambeau offers him an alternative if he agrees to study mathematics while seeking psychotherapy. Where I find joy is in the fact that Dr. Sean, the therapist, is persistent at getting to the root cause of Will’s problems and wants him to succeed. As humans we should never settle for something less...
Words: 343 - Pages: 2
...Inexperienced Criticizer The saying is very true that you can't judge a book by it's cover. No person can tell someone else what they've been through or how it feels to be them if they haven't had a walk in their shoes. That's the problem with today’s society now, judgment. Many people judge and criticize others before even getting to know that person. In the film, “Good Will Hunting”, Will judged Sean just from a painting he had on the wall. The description Will had given Sean of the painting sounded like he described himself. I feel that Will is the man on the boat lost in a storm and it's ironic how he felt that person was Sean when in actuality it was him all along. Will is the man on the boat lost in the storm because he's very afraid and lost in the world. He's unsure of what he wants and he's afraid to get close to anyone or even be loved. All these fears and insecurities prevent him from living a happy life and doing what makes him content. The world is the storm he's lost in because as seen in the movie he pushes love away and doesn't have a stable normal life. His home is a dump but regardless of that he still continues to live there but is embarrassed for Skyler to come by. She would consistently ask to go see his place and meet his brothers but never took her to go do it because of the fear of her leaving him. In the film, Sean tells Will that he doesn't have the faintest idea what he's talking about because he hasn't experienced aspects of life to think he knows...
Words: 646 - Pages: 3
...Good Will Hunting: A Protagonist’s Path to Physiological Fulfillment and What That Teaches Viewers About Success Introduction Good Will Hunting is the touching story of a young man’s struggle to transcend his Dickensian childhood, to discover his place in the world, and to achieve intimacy with others. On some levels the story and the plot of Good Will Hunting, conveys a very fundamental messages to the viewer; that we are all products of our environments and made up of the vast experiences in which we live. However, this movie introduces an extremely complex character whose past is tainted by abuse and abandonment and introduces a character that is both genius in his capability but hindered by his inability to face his brutal upbringing. Character development The most compelling character that Will encounters is Sean, Will’s psychiatrist. What makes the character unique is that Sean too comes from Southey, the rough and tumble neighborhood that Will grew up in. Sean has escaped his past by attending Harvard and graduating as an intellectual. However, Sean is also conflicted, as he has suffered after witnessing the slow death of his wife from cancer. In there first meeting, after Will tells Sean that his painting of a boatman in a storm is a metaphor for his own tumultuous existence after the loss of his true love, Sean responds with violent consternation. Will notes that his therapist has not fully recovered from his past something that draws Will closer...
Words: 1249 - Pages: 5
...Life is not easy. Life was definitely not easy for Will Hunting. Will Hunting was gifted and talented in a way that others could not imagine. He conquered and solved math equations that took people with upper level math degrees years to solve. Will Hunting was troubled, so he visited a therapist once a week. He was offered several upper division jobs because of his intelligence, and he eventually went on to accept one of the jobs. Will Hunting’s intelligence was portrayed in a positive light. Will was a troubled child, so he made his gift seem like it had a negative connotation, but he had friends and teachers that encouraged him to use his intelligence for the good, but he continued to push everyone away. People believed that his intelligence...
Words: 449 - Pages: 2
...The Good Lie. This movie was based off of a true story of the lost boy's journey to America. Throughout a lot of crisis the lost boys were able to survive, some went on to a better life in America with great careers. The lost boys had to face many obstacles. First, they had to overcome losing their family when the soldiers came and drove them out. When they started walking it was imperative that they were being attentive. As their journey progresses, Theo finds a bullet near the river, which means that they have to cross the river in order to be safe. None of them knew how to swim so, Theo came up with a rope that you hold on to while crossing the river. This was very intuitive and helped everyone get across safely. In order to survive, you need to be intuitive. Also, when they were at the airport, they were separated from their sister. They wanted her with them, although they tried and got there sister back with the help of Carrie. All of these obstacles they had to overcome helped shape who they are....
Words: 510 - Pages: 3
...As Good As It Gets is a movie about a pessimistic, homophobic, obsessive-compulsive novelist, Melvin, who forms an ironic friendship with his gay artist neighbor. Melvin also falls in love with a waitress who is also the only one who can tolerate his obsessive compulsiveness and generally hateful attitude towards everyone. The movie follows and focuses on the unlikely pairing of the three, the obsessive-compulsive novelist, the single working mother, and the gay artist, as they set out on a road trip together. As Good As It Gets was a good choice for writing a sociological essay over as it covers many different issues, including healthcare, poverty, sexuality and homosexuality. Sexuality and homosexuality is a big theme in this movie. Homosexuality...
Words: 1135 - Pages: 5
...Boundaries and self-disclosure In the movie was the first session between Sean and Will. When Will said that Sean might have married the wrong woman from looking at Sean’s picture, Sean gets upset and tells Will to watch it. However, Will continues to push Sean’s button by speaking negatively about his wife. Here, Sean could’ve asked for Will to stop speaking about and say why. However, because of who Will is, he might have kept on speaking about her. Sean shares his experiences with Will to build rapport. This process develops trust and allows for more open speech as a result of Will feeling as if he can relate to Sean. There were three specific points in the movie were change was inspired, all of which were targeted at Will. The first...
Words: 362 - Pages: 2
...By far, my favorite application essay to write was Fuqua’s “25 Random Things About Me.” However, I was surprised to talk to other applicants and hear how difficult many found the essay to write. My advice for those of you struggling with this non-traditional essay is to just have fun! This is a great and unique opportunity to show your interests, personality, and what sets you apart as a person. I’m pretty confident that after reading my first blog (The Top 10 Reasons Why I Chose Fuqua), you thought to yourself, “Wow, this Trevor McKinnon sounds like an awesome guy. I wish I could get to know him better.” Well, it’s your lucky day! Below are some random things about me, and although this is not the same list I submitted as part of my application, it should give you the gist: 1. I was born in the US, raised in the UK, and have citizenship in both countries. 2. I played alto saxophone in a jazz nightclub in Prague. 3. My daughter’s name is Surrey. No, not because of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes’ daughter (Suri) and not because of the iPhone app (Siri), but because Surrey is where I grew up in England. And yes, people ask me those 2 questions all the time. 4. Surrey is spoiled: she had been to Disneyland more than 10 times before the age of 18 months, even though she’s never lived in California. My wife is from Orange County, so we would visit her family frequently while living in Utah, which always included multiple trips to Disneyland to get the most out of our season...
Words: 788 - Pages: 4
...peace prize or becoming president, but the small things can end up impacting you the most, whether you realize it or not. All sorts of things can bring people happiness; reading a book, watching a movie or playing a sport. In my case, I would say an experience that changed my worldview and impacted me was when I first watched the film Good Will Hunting and later visited different places where they filmed it. I think I was eight or nine when I first saw this movie. It was only until I watched it last year did I remember I had seen the beginning before, but I wouldn't consider this the first time I watched it. The memory isn't completely clear, but I was sitting in my basement with my family while it played. We got through maybe an hour of the movie before my parents turned it off,...
Words: 1085 - Pages: 5
...If B.F. Skinner and Jean Piaget didn’t exist, we could not be where we are today in the psychology world. Without their discoveries our world would be far more primitive one. They helped create new theories for later generations to use and implement. They were gifted with such knowledge, that only a few could dream of. But what if they decided to not use this gift, how our society would have been shaped today? “Good Will Hunting”, Will is blessed with this gift of knowledge, but isn’t convinced to use it in the right manner. Will kept the gift to himself, because he didn’t know how to portray himself in society as a typical mathematical intellect. He played sports, used foul language, drank excessively, fought a lot. He acted in such a way because it was the only way he grew up and he didn’t want to be treated differently because of having this gift of knowledge. Will spent his life in different foster homes and was abused excessively by different people throughout his younger life. This abuse leads him to spend his life pushing...
Words: 1494 - Pages: 6
...Hunting has been around since before anyone could remember. People hunt for three main reasons. Therapeutic hunting is to kill wild animals to conserve a species or an entire species. Next is subsistence hunting which is to intentionally kill wild animals for materials and sources of food. Last kind of hunting is sport hunting. “Sport hunting is for a hunter who stalks deer because he enjoys the experience and wants decorative antlers may also intend to consume the meat, make pants from the hide and help control local deer populations.(“Is Hunting Moral?) Some may think that hunting is unexceptable but hunting is moral because it controls the animal populations and is a way to enjoy the outdoors. Not everyone thinks that hunting is right. Some...
Words: 594 - Pages: 3