And just like that, the passion blogs for this semester are winding down to a close. From the moment I decided to look at films in my blogs, I knew that my culminating entry would be my favorite to write about. If you haven’t seen this movie, you need to as soon as possible…trust me. Gus van Sant’s Goodwill Hunting is perhaps the best movie ever created. In history. Yeah.
The lessons one could pull from this movie are pretty much infinite. You could look at Will (Matt Damon) through about a thousand different analytical lenses, with the same token pretty much holding true for virtually any other character. Thus, limiting an entry to around 500 words could be described as sinful.
Perhaps the best lesson seen in this masterpiece is the lesson of friendship. We see friendship on three different levels: the parent level with Sean Maguire (Robin Williams), the sibling level with Will’s best friends, and the romantic, more intimate level with Skylar (Minnie Driver). Virtually anyone that could possibly piss us off in this movie is guilt of attempting to alter or get in the way of these heart wrenching, seemingly unbreakable bonds. As examples, we can look at Professor Lambeau wanting Will to do more than drink and mess around with his boys, Will getting angry with Skylar, and that absolute d-bag from the bar who tries to humiliate Ben Affleck’s character in front of a large group. Upon seeing these, we all undoubtedly think to ourselves, “No, come on, it was perfect and you’re trying to mess it up.” This point is ironic, though, as Will’s life is, to the viewer, far from perfect.
But, to me, Will Hunting is constantly living his best life. The kid has a talent that no one could ever come close to, and he is the sole decider of how, when, and where he gets to use it. His girlfriend is smoking hot, and he and his friends would, as Robin Williams puts it, “lay down on the tracks for each other” in an instant. It’s easy to ignore that Will was abused as a kid, cycled through foster homes, and lives in a one bedroom apartment. Why? Because at the end of the day, he doesn’t give a rat’s rear end about money, how he looks, or how smart he is. He just lives. He enjoys every single second of every single day with what he has, and doesn’t care what people think about his life. He is constantly reminded of this by his friends.
Often times, our friends and those around us push us into doing something that they want. Every single character in this movie wants what’s best for their beloved budding genius, Will Hunting. There’s no, “do this for me” or “give me money.” Never. In fact, there’s just the opposite. Perhaps that’s why this movie is so beautiful. And what a summation to a message that I’ve attempted to convey in all of my blogs: the whole life is not lived until it is lived for something bigger than oneself.
Will Hunting reminds us that the relationships that we build are far more important than any acceptance letter, pair of shoes, or job that we land. Friends don’t let friends care about that kind of stuff, so why should you?