Was going to be my sarcastic one liner I was going to deliver and smugly walk away from the screen feeling proud about myself that I just shat on a film that probably took more effort, resources and generated more cultural impact than anything I’ve ever produced in my life. Until halfway through the film I had a shocking realisation, I know a kid who is resoundingly similar to Will Hunting, a working class boy who was naturally intelligent in the field of mathematics his older brother had a masters in chemistry so it was only natural he was going follow in his footsteps and do the same with mathematics, but instead he sold weed and was involved in a myriad of petty crimes to provide for himself and make his way in the world, stealing bikes to fix them up and make a quick profit etc, he would drink and do a lot drugs, generally fearless he wouldn’t care and often got himself into physical altercations, he never started these per se but made no effort to de-escalate them because he wasn’t a coward. He generally had a good sense of morality and was simply the victim of circumstance. I am proud to call him my friend. It’s simply growing up poor in a big city with no purpose is generally the environment which will produce individuals like these.
Time passed and we were all getting ready to attend university, some enrolled as soon they turned 18 pursuing degrees that would be drastically different from the careers they would pursue in the long run and others such as myself were still either in education or working because we understood the gravity of entering a lifelong debt that you will probably never pay off. We hounded this boy to “apply himself” and to apply for a degree in mathematics. I think he knew he was destined for some higher purpose or maybe he was sick of his situation and us hounding him that he took the initiative. Naturally the university had welcomed him with open arms and there he was, a boy on his way to becoming a mathematician. Hopefully this would be the stepping stone to him moving up in the world, it was only natural he was going to do well and make everyone proud and make a bunch of money with a degree in maths right?
Wrong, the opposite had happened, he spiraled into a deep depression often crying in the company of his close friends, being in education made him completely miserable. It was not nice to see him in this state and eventually he dropped out. I think we all felt a bit sad that the boy who was good at maths was not going to do maths, but it was his life and if it made him this depressed then who am I to dictate what he should do. Eventually the boy went into the field of construction, working on ventilation systems in buildings I’m not too familiar with how this process works but he seemed to have a natural talent for it and it was not too long before he was surpassing his co-workers and making more money than all his peers, it was beautiful to watch. He had finally applied himself, working everyday even coming in on weekends. His superiors loved him and lauded him as the perfect employee, people who had worked in his field for longer than him were taking orders as he was a natural leader and he had just got the way things worked.
There is a scene where Will declines a job offer from the NSA citing completely understandable ethical concerns, to continue his job in construction, Sean (Robin Williams, RIP) tells him that his father worked in construction to create a better life for himself, Will asks what is wrong with construction citing that it’s a noble profession, you’re literally building homes and creating a roof over peoples heads something much more important than working on the expansion of the surveillance state and military industrial complex.
I think this is the message of what “Good Will Hunting” is trying to achieve, a comment on the intersection of personal happiness and the disappointment of wasted potential, I think this perfectly encapsulated in the fact that in the end he doesn’t pursue a job at all but instead chooses to reunite with his with love interest that he meets earlier in the film.
My friend is still in construction, happier than ever working his way up the hierarchy and making the same amount of money as he would in a maths field, probably even more if we count the fact that he didn’t have to study for 4 years before even being afforded the opportunity.