Meaning in Good Will Hunting

I first watched Good Will Hunting when I was 18, the summer after graduating from high school, with a girl I had been dating that summer. Though it’s been a little time since Robin Williams’ passing, I thought it was time to explain on my blog a little of the special meaning this movie has for me.

First, you have to consider the context. Like Will, I was young, impressionable, in some ways cocky. I honestly used to think I would live forever and was infallible like many young people. What really amazes me is that a script like this could come from two of those same people, young and naive.

Ben Affleck and Matt Damon won multiple Academy Awards for this movie, as well as Robin Williams. The storytelling is just so great. This is coming from a short story writer. Yes, I used to think I was a tough guy. Yes, some of those traits still linger in me, some of them earned. I’ve posted some of my favorite clips on this post. These really are the best moments of the movie. As much as I can tell from Youtube, actor guilds and classes have tried recreating these scenes over and over again.

But above the drama of the movie itself, it’s evolving characters and plotlines, I truly believe the park scene is literally the climax of the movie. At least, it’s the climax and beginning of the friendship between Will and Shawn. And although this takes place maybe a quarter into the film, their conversation here (or lack thereof) really denotes an emotional fallout in the viewer, a humbling of Will and the strength, wit and charisma of Robin Williams’ character.

To me, Robin Williams will have no finer role than in this movie.

I think also this movie deals on a larger part a problem of our world and society these days. Namely, a lack of empathy. Whether it’s troubled teens, mental illness or simply the ability for us as people to connect with each other in very human ways, this movie displays quite gracefully what being human and flawed and beautiful can mean. It means a lifetime: of memories, experiences, passions.

This is what that production team brought to the table. This is why this film won so many awards. In our internet laden, disconnected and detached world, here is meaning. Here we are.