Good "Will" Hunting

Good Will Hunting

Symbolism used within this film is interesting to say the least. The fight seen was to gain revenge from childhood beatings; the director used slow motion effects to show how Will’s anger pulled his friends into the fight. The director was able to show how your friends enter situation with little regard to the outcome. Reflecting back prior to the fight on the argument in the car, “if you don’t get out of the car I’ll take care of you when I finish with them.” Maybe another reason behind the slow motion was to show “how” brutal the fight really was then finishes with Will on top of someone, with the blows increase in speed and ferocity.

I had to watch the scene inside of Sean’s office a couple times, it confused me. When you look at the paint the director didn’t have the painting to the end of the canvas. The white boarder around the paint makes it appears to be as if you are looking into a port hole or to stretch the thought a look into his soul. It was a time of loneliness and/or disparity; the loss of his wife, his soul mate had left him with a feeling of abandonment the same feeling will had always felt.

The symbolism behind the scene I think is about Will finally getting his freedom from his past; his friends had recognized it was time for him to leave the nest. The car symbolized their acknowledgement of this, and a willingness to let him go plus it showed how good friends will always be good friends.

Another example of symbolism was the scene with Will completing the math equation in the Prof’s office, and then they cancel out the equation. Upon sitting down the professor put’s his arm around Will rubbing his head like the protocol son. In the back ground the camera catches the now “cast away” protocol son shaking his head.

 I want to think that director Gus Van Sant was trying to point to were the youth of today were heading. I found the story line within this movie to mirror the youth of today, they have more in common with people electronically then through personal conversations. Will is asked by Sean if he has any friends, he has many of which are dead i.e. Shakespeare, Nietzsche, Frost, O'Conner to name a few from the movie line. The director also used various scenes to increase the dramatic effects; Sant had the scene filled with Sean in the back ground as Will asked if how he knew when he meet the right person. It almost appears third person; Will’s image is somewhat blurry then out of nowhere the director first sense of humility as Will back pedals to not offend Sean. Great scene showing the bond being built among southies.

Dramatically the scene of it’s not your fault brings forth the rage, Sant uses this sequence of events to finally bring to an end years of emotional baggage. A Serious two thumbs up.

I will say I totally missed the title and its relevance.