Good Will Hunting Psychological Analysis

1244 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Good will hunting analysis essay

The Good Will Hunting is a very touching film that is based upon the life of the main character Will Hunting. Will is a young man who struggles on a daily basis to overcome his haunting past and continue his journey to find his place in the world. He grew up as an orphan and went through many foster homes, and was abused and abandoned by his parents. He now lives in a more underprivileged neighborhood in Boston called Southie. Throughout the film Will reveals many signs about his personality that allow viewers to evaluate him and relate his personality to many studies and theories in psychology.
Looking at Will from a Psychoanalytic perspective I have found that Will is very much driven by his subconscious mind, or in other words, his id. …show more content…

He also demonstrates being anal expulsive because he is not very restrained at times, he’s careless, and he’s messy. Finally, he demonstrates an interesting fixation at the phallic stage because he really never had a mother that cared about him so he’s now very afraid to let a woman care about him. In the very end of the movie he opens up to his therapist Sean finally and tells him that his foster father used to abuse him and make him chose an object to be hurt with, and Will always chose the worst and most painful object. This reveals how Will might be fixated at the phallic stage as well because he developed a strong hatred for his foster father. This goes to show that the oedipus complex might apply to Will’s situation with his foster father because Will is very aggressive with men in his life. He insults them and tries to be the smartest man in the room even when they try to help him like when Sean and Professor Lambeau always tried to do what’s best for Will. Will tries to be dominate over all older males which relates to his past experiences of not being dominate or able to help himself when his foster father would abuse

Show More
Related

  • Analysis Of Good Will Hunting

    776 Words  | 2 Pages

    The film Good Will Hunting starts by giving us a glimpse into a rather bleak moment in the life of Will Hunting, a college-aged janitor at the prestigious university called MIT. He lives the typical college life in many respects, from regularly meeting his friends at the bar to getting into a relationship built upon lies – with the glaring exception that he is not a college student whatsoever. In fact, he is portrayed as an undiscovered genius…at least until getting into trouble with the law leads to a bail out that eventually turns around his life for the better.

    Read More

  • The Outsiders Movie Essay

    1185 Words  | 3 Pages

    The movie, The Outsiders, starts with the Curtis parents on their weekly, Saturday evening drive to the baking store to buy some ingredients for their boys’ favorite Sunday morning, breakfast treat: chocolate cake. The Curtis boys love their chocolate cake for Sunday breakfast not only because they love it, but also because they appreciate how hard their parents have to work to save the monies necessary for the morsels that put smiles on their faces!

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Gus Van Sant's Good Will Hunting And F. Scott Fitzgerald

    878 Words  | 2 Pages

    Gus Van Sant’s Good Will Hunting and F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby explore the themes of trauma and redemption through the creators unsystematic stories. Traumatic events and it’s effects on both protagonists are the main focus of the texts. Sant’s troubled genius, Will Hunting has difficulties connecting with individuals due to a history of emotional abuse. Fitzgerald’s famous romantic comes in the form of, Jay Gatsby, a financially successful man that has difficulties moving on from his former lover, Daisy. Both Jay and Will are on the path to self actualisation. Equally notable is the negative effects of the past on their personal lives and the different methods each character takes to overcome these experiences and grow. The creators

    Read More

  • Bully Movie Psychology

    954 Words  | 2 Pages

    Bully (2001) is a movie based on a true story about a group of rebellious, yet naïve teens who conspire to exact ultimate revenge on a mutual friend. In a twist, unlike most, this movie highlights not only extent of bullying amongst peers, but details the ultimate revenge that would irrevocably change the lives of the entire group. The movie takes place in South Florida where Marty, a high school dropout, and Bobby are “alleged” best friends. As they set out to meet up with mutual friends Ali and Lisa for a double date the bully is immediately apparent as Bobby begins to verbally torment Marty, which quickly turns physical as he repeatedly punches Marty while he is driving for accidently swerving. Although, Marty stops the car and retaliates,

    Read More

  • The Crucial Years of Childhood form the Young Adults as Shown in the Book, The Catcher in the Rye, and the Movie, Good Will Hunting

    1285 Words  | 3 Pages

    Childhood is crucial to the lives of teenagers and young adults. The experiences, advice, influences that people receive during their formative years is what they carry with them through the rest of their lives. Any emotional turmoil during this period of growth can have serious implications on individuals as they grow older. The book, The Catcher in the Rye, and the movie, Good Will Hunting; tell about the lives of two emotionally troubled young men: Holden and Will. Both of them suffer from emotional blockades in life that are rooted in their childhoods. They both are afraid to connect with others, have little self-value, and little motivation. These complications that Holden and Will face as they mature and grow up affect them in similar ways. Through the encouragement of unexpected mentors Will Hunting and Holden Caulfield, both capable individuals, learn to dismiss the fear of attachment and overcome their disillusioned youths.

    Read More

  • Analysis of the Film Good Will Hunting

    2142 Words  | 5 Pages

    Good Will Hunting is the graceful tale of a young gentleman’s struggle to find out where he belongs in the world, by first finding out who he himself is. In this film, Matt Damon takes on the role of a disturbed genius that has a keen understanding of the deepness of human character. The film is a voyage through the mind of Will Hunting as he is required to undergo psychotherapy as an alternative to serving jail time. With the assistance of a psychologist, played by Robin Williams, Will learns about himself and recognizes his individual worth in the world by comprehending what is most important to him in his own life. This motion picture serves as a source of superb example for film technique. Gus Van Sant’s directing ability joined with the writing skills of Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, who also plays Will’s best buddy, Chuckie, is a vibrant mixture of technical features used to induce sentiment and compassion amongst the viewers of this heart-warming film. Characteristics of the color, angles, shots, camera movement, editing, and distortions are all each particularly noteworthy to the general composition of Van Sant’s Good Will Hunting.

    Read More

  • Research Paper On Good Will Hunting

    2108 Words  | 5 Pages

    The issue of how we should be educated and what we should learn in school is a highly talked about issue in the United States today. Should students go to school for twelve years? Do they need to all of these standardized tests to be a successful adult in society? Or issues such as grading and how it affects students. Good Will Hunting is a positive movie for a viewer, which shows the issue we see in schools and society today of being schooled or being well educated. Will Hunting is a janitor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is a rather quiet individual that doesn’t do much except clean the college and hang out with his friends. He does not go to college and instead is the janitor at one of the most prestigious

    Read More

  • What's Eating Gilbert Grape Psychological Analysis

    1773 Words  | 4 Pages

    Mental disorders are a common condition that many people and families have to live with and go through in their lifetime. The disorders are more common than one may think, and in fact they are all around us we just may not know. In the 1993 film “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape”, the movie stars Johnny Depp who takes the role of a small-town man, Gilbert Grape, who takes care of his fatherless family of five. The movie shows many characteristics of autism, depression, and eating disorders. It shows examples of the life that those effected with the disorders have to live with every day.

    Read More

  • Social Psychology Concepts in the Movie A League of Their Own

    532 Words  | 2 Pages

    The movie A League of Their Own is about a female baseball league that was formed since the men were off fighting in World War II. The need to keep professional baseball going the owners tried the All American Girls Professional Baseball League (Marshall, 1992). Most of the movies that we watch have multiple examples of social psychology concepts. The movie A League of Their Own did have concepts that we learned about. The five concepts that I pick out of the movie were schemas, self-fulfilling prophesy, display rules, self-handicapping, and social exchange theory.

    Read More

  • Psycho Movie Analysis

    1087 Words  | 3 Pages

    The movie Psycho, is one of the most influential movie in Cinema history to date. The director Alfred Hitchcock, wanted to test many of the conventions of movie making that was common at that time. Alfred Hitchcock movie broke many cultural taboos and challenged the censors. Alfred Hitchcock showed a whole bunch of at the time absurd scene, for example: Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) dying naked while taking a shower, Norman Bates with split personality disorder, and the first ever flushing toilet shown in a movie. Because from the late 1920's to the late 1950's, movies were made usually go around the story, and usually with a lot dialogue. This movie gives the audience an experience that was much more emotional and intuitive. The viewers were

    Read More

  • Criminological Theory of Anomie and Social Control Shown in the Movie 'Falling Down"

    2305 Words  | 5 Pages

    Upon watching the movie and understanding the concepts of these two theories it becomes apparent that William was in a state of anomie and he used all five of the modes of adaptation in order to adapt to his strain. William’s ability to enter into the four delinquent modes of adaptation, innovation, ritualism, retreatism, and rebellion, were a result of the breakdown of his social bonds, attachment, involvement, commitment, and belief.

    Read More

  • Sociological Perspective of Good Will Hunting

    1467 Words  | 3 Pages

    Within the sociological perspective there are many concepts, however there are only a handful of concepts that explain Will Hunting’s actions and identity. Social location is the overarching reason for ones actions and identity. It predefines one’s life; actions, emotions, identity and all aspects of life. Social location is defined as “…the intersection point of specific social forces” (Berger 67). A person cannot help but to be thrown into a certain social location and this location limits human behaviour and expectations. Social forces refer to anything in society that can cause change; friends, family, legal system, etc. Within a social location, there are certain rules one must abide by “…location in society constitutes a definition of rules that have to be obeyed” (68). These rules are present in order to keep a functioning society, social control comes in when people disobey these rules and need to be put back into line. Social control is ...

    Read More

  • Psychological Concepts in the Film Gran Torino

    1203 Words  | 3 Pages

    Clint Eastwood’s film “Gran Torino” traces the end of the life of Walt Kowalski. He has recently gone through a lot – the death of his beloved wife, his distant relationship with his son, his emotional scars from the Korean War and his bad health. All these things stop him from living a proper life. He doesn’t care about himself much – he smokes even though he is sick, he doesn’t eat a lot, he refuses to confess even though that was his wife’s last wish. However, all this changes when he meets the Hmong Family that lives next door. At the beginning he detests them because of their similarity to the Koreans, but later, as he gets to know them, they become the family that he was never able to have. The story traces the psychological changes in Walt’s character due to his unusual bond with the Hmong family, which changes are one of the main strengths of the film.

    Read More

  • Goodnight Mr. Tom Character Summary

    1514 Words  | 4 Pages

    Will is a young child who is ripped out of his home and put in the care of Mr. Tom. Just as Mr. Tom changed throughout the story, so does Will.

    Read More

  • Into The Wild Movie Essay

    500 Words  | 1 Pages

    As college professors, do you ever consider exploring the world? Christopher McCandless once stated, “The core of man's spirit comes from new experiences.” This quote resonates throughout the movie adaptation, Into the Wild. Based on a true story in the 1990’s, the film explores a man’s existence and the meaning of life. Although released in 2007, I discovered the movie three years ago through the internet. Instantly, it became my favorite movie. Into the Wild describes an eye-opening adventure, an influential message, and a story that I, and possibly others, can relate to.

    Read More

More about Good Will Hunting Psychological Analysis

Open Document