Good Will Hunting Analysis Essay Example
Good Will Hunting Analysis Essay Example

Good Will Hunting Analysis Essay Example

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  • Pages: 10 (2691 words)
  • Published: March 17, 2017
  • Type: Essay
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Will Hunting was a twenty-year-old, Caucasian boy in a struggling economic state, without the support of a family. He was living in a run down apartment in a low economical neighborhood in the south of Boston, Massachusetts. Will was very much admired by people around him. Although he might have been seen as cocky, Will was also a very smart, good-looking boy. He was a math genius but was better known for hanging around bars and getting into neighborhood fights. It was until he was discovered by a professor while working as a janitor at a University in Boston that he would be recognized by others as the genius he was.

According to the attachment theory, an infant requires a good quality of attachment in order to develop physically and psychologically. Because Will did not have a secure base, providing him a sen

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se of security, he later had psychological problems with exploring his environment. He became fearful of failing, even in what he did best, math. Will experienced insecure attachment, he did not have a stable mother or caregiver as a child. He was taken to many different foster homes and not given the proper parenting. He experienced many different parenting styles and his needs were not met.

Reflected by his fearful, withdrawn, rebellious, and resentful personality it could be said that many of the households he was in were authoritarian. He would get in a comfortable situation and was many times reluctant to experience new situations. He would best be classified to have a high reactive temperament because new things would cause alarm to him and he would often withdraw from situations. After his relationship with

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Skylar had gotten serious she asked him to move to California with him. He immediately became alarmed by the situation and explained to her that his home and job was in south Boston.

Although Will was smart enough in math to get a job anywhere in the country he did not feel comfortable to move to a new place, even if it meant a better life for him. The role of Will’s id would be most present by the fact that he avoided many situations in order to avoid pain and decrease tension in his life in order to receive instant satisfaction. When Will began to date Skylar he often avoided taking her into his run down apartment because he was afraid of how he would be seen by her. In order to avoid the tension he would change the subject when she would mention it and insist in going to her dorm where they could be intimate.

His pleasure principle led him to put Skylar’s wants aside in order to please himself and avoid discomfort. In realization, Skylar’s intentions were not to judge him because she loved him for who he was as a person. Each time she would ask him about going to his place, he would reply, “next time”. Will’s ego played in when he was closer to the age of twenty-one. He began to evaluate his thoughts and behavior and then realized what the best choices were for him in life. Because of his reality principle he was able to postpone his gratification until the appropriate time.

When he went after Skylar he was not gratified but knew that he later would be because

he would be happier there. When he left south Boston to California his superego told him that he would be a better person while staying away from violence and perusing a better life. When Will was sent to prison for getting into a fight at a local park he was given the chance to come out of prison as long as he followed two criteria. One being that he meets once a week with professor Lambeau to help work in the advances of mathematics and second that he sees a therapist twice a week.

At first he exclaims that he will not meet with a therapist however, Will’s superego told him that he would do better by following the courts orders. Will experienced two of Freud’s psychosexual stages. Given that at twenty years of age he was only able to maintain same sex friendships, he experienced the latency stage and therefore only kept close friendships with the same sex. His relationship with Skylar during his adolescence was during his Genital stage. During a therapy session, Dr. Maguire accuses Will of being defensive. He pushes people away before he thinks they will push him away.

When Will and Skylar’s relationship began to get more complex and she asked him to move to California with her, he immediately used rationalization and explained to her that he couldn’t because his home and job was in south Boston. By not going to Boston he would not have to deal with Skylar learning about his imperfections. Will uses repression by not thinking about his memories of being abused as a child. When speaking to the various therapists, he does not mention his

childhood. Not talking about the hurt he had felt as a child would hinder the emotions he was feeling.

While arguing with Skylar bout moving to California he becomes angry, screams and becomes violent with her. All of his emotions have built up about people insisting on him to pursue a career and be successful in his life that he uses displacement to stress his emotions on her. He had temperately displaced his emotions earlier in life therefore letting his emotions build-up. By insulting Dr. Lambeau about all the books in his office and telling him his education was a waste he was using rationalization. Will might have actually admired the therapist’s education but did not wish to deal with the situation he was in.

Will could have used sublimation by dealing with his urges with Skylar by working on or tutoring in the fields of mathematics. Although others perceived Will as having a good self-concept, I believe that he was only putting a front about himself. Because he was not loved and valued as a child he does not have confidence about himself. He was given a conditional positive regard as a child because his caregivers only loved him in situations that were acceptable. Will demonstrates unconditional positive regard towards his friends, especially Chuckie.

When Chuckie insists that Will move away and do something with his life Will takes what he says to heart. Instead of becoming angry towards Chuckie and thinking he was insulting him, Will takes the positive criticism well. Will demonstrated weak self-efficacy in his relationship with Skylar as well as in his professional life. He did not feel that he met her standards

as a person. He did not want to continue on with his relationship with her in moving to California and decided to tell her he didn’t love her because he would much rather avoid the situation. Will was also afraid of pursuing a career in mathematics.

He did not feel he was capable of accomplishing that field. He would always see the negative side of situations, therefore he did not realize that nothing would hold him back but his own feelings about himself. Will strengthened his areas of self-efficacy when he finally opened up to Dr. Maguire after he realized that everything his father and caregivers had done to him was not his fault. Will then decided to take a job offer and later decided to go with his sole mate, Skylar because he learned that he was good enough for her and they were perfect for each other the way they were.

Will picking fights with the guys at the park and him oasting about getting Skylar’s number demonstrates how he had a strong-self efficacy. Will demonstrates reciprocal determinism beginning with the environment he was brought up in. None of his caregivers gave him the confidence he needed to believe in himself and instead abused him and put him down. It then gave him the complex about how he feels about himself. Will always believed that he was not good enough to be successful in mathematical fields. He imagined that he would never be loved by someone the way he loved them back therefore he avoided getting attached to people. His behaviors then began to be negative.

He would get into fights, had a long list of

illegal behavior, would drink and would have a job that was not to his standards. Will deals with many daily hassles. He has a list of charges that the judge calls a “rap sheet” including two assaults, a grand theft auto, impersonating an officer, and had a $50,000 bail he needed to pay. He experienced social stress because was struggling financially working low-income jobs being a janitor and later a construction worker. He created more hassles for himself by continuing to lie to Skylar about his family this made life more difficult for him because he had to figure out ways to avoid the situation.

Will had a few people who genuinely cared about him in his life. They wanted him to succeed and knew that he was smart enough to do so. People kept telling him that he needed to go to school and start a career, which he did not like. Having a serious relationship was also hard for Will, he did not know how to open up to a girl. Being afraid of failing in his relationship because of what he thought Skylar would think of him was difficult for him to deal with. Will was most affected by the chronic stress caused during his childhood.

He had to deal with the stress brought upon by his abusive caregivers as well as moving from foster home to foster home. Because Will did not have any support from family he received most of his social support from his friends. Will’s friend Chuckie explained to him that it wasn’t right for him to be living this lifestyle and that he was too good to be in

that type of living environment. He ultimately helped by giving him confidence that he needed to move on with his life and go on to do better things. Skylar played a big role in helping him deal with his stress because when he was with her he was less likely to experience egative emotions.

When they would go on dates they would laugh together and were very free spirited. Will was often removed from reality when he was with her. On one of their dates they went to a store that had candy and toys. In there they made fun of themselves by trying on silly disguises, acting very child-like. Will coped with his stress mostly with emotion-focused and maladaptive coping, therefore relying on escape-avoidance to deal with stress. Will prolongs his stress by avoiding many situations. By having Chuckie attend a job interview for him he prolongs his fear but cannot go on through life not having a good job.

By being in an environment where everyone has low income jobs and having friends that don’t have careers and go out drinking at bars is a way Will uses emotion-focused coping. Being around people that have similar habits as him makes him feel better about his situation but does not change his problems. Throughout the movie Will also jokes around with his therapist, is in denial about his problems. Will and his close friends go to bars regularly to drink and forget about their problems, they use self-medication in order to temporarily cope with their life.

Throughout the movie Will deals with posttraumatic stress disorder. He frequently recalls the events of being abused over and over again

as a child. They are often intrusive because he does not like to recollect any of those memories, he would much rather not think of them. Will avoids situations that trigger memories of the situations. When he talks to the therapist and when people try to make him open up about his past he begins to have those memories. He is numbed of the emotions and does not care about hurting Skylar or Sean. He tells her he doesn’t love her and confuses her about their relationship.

He tries to make Sean vulnerable during their sessions reminding him about his wife who had past away. He was also prone to angry outbursts because he would snap at Skylar in many situations. Will may also be considered to have a mild borderline personality disorder because of his chronic instability with relationships. Often his moods fluctuated quickly. When he did not hear what he wanted from his friends, Skylar, or Sean he would erupt in anger. Although Will does not seem to want to harm himself, he does fear rejection and abandonment. He drinks often, which is also a symptom of borderline personality disorder.

An important cause to why Will was experiencing these symptoms was because of his disruptions in attachment relationships in early childhood. The physical and emotional abuse as well as the neglect Will was given as a child is also common with borderline personality disorder patients. Although Will was not diagnosed in the movie, Sean does say he uses defense mechanisms. Sean says that because he was alone for twenty years and was abandoned by the people who were supposed to love him most he was

withdraw to trust anyone. Besides his friends, who would die for him there was no one else he could trust.

Because Will was forced to go to therapy by the judge, he was reluctant at first. He joked around during his sessions and did not take any of them seriously. His maturity at the time and reluctant ness to open up played a big role in why he acted this way. In his session with a hypnotist, he began talking about being sexually abused as a child then started singing and laughing. He attended many sessions of psychotherapy with Sean, which In the end proved successful. When Sean used psychoanalytic therapy he gained many clues about his repressions.

Will was extremely resistant about talking about his childhood and often blocked his repressions unconsciously. He often changed the topic and would rather want to speak about Sean’s past. Will’s sessions with Sean were so successful because of how genuine Sean was with Will. He was open, honest, and was willing to share his thoughts and feelings about his own life with Will. Sean told Will about the death of his wife, and Will knew it was not easy for him to do so. Sean also accepted all of Will’s emotions, including him being rude, blunt, and emotionless.

He was also able to be empathetic towards him due to the fact that they both came from the same economic background and was also trying to deal with his relationships. Will trusted Sean and was willing to self explore towards the end of the movie. Goodwill hunting is a movie that I had not seen before, but that had very good

reviews. I chose this movie because it was not very long, I often have trouble concentrating throughout a long movie. Throughout the movie Will Hunting’s life was followed and there was a lot of evidence I could use in my analysis, therefore I chose him to analyze.

While watching the movie I elt compassion towards Will because it was hard to watch him struggle. It satisfied me that he was able to escape his emotions whenever he was together with Skylar. I related to him because I often like to get away from school, work, and family when I’m with my boyfriend. As a child my father was not very warm with me and I did not often receive the sensitivity I looked for from him. Although he never abused me in any way, I am still affected and often hold back from opening up to people because of how they will judge me. I differ from Will because I am not as social as he is. He is charming and has good friends.

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