Good Will Hunting is about a genius in mathematics who works as a janitor for MIT.

Rating: Null/10 (4 August 2013)

The theme of Good Will Hunting I believe is personal discovery. Good Will Hunting is about a simple janitor named Will working for MIT. However Will is not just another janitor, he is a mathematical genius that solves mathematical equations that have been written on the chalk boards in the classrooms that the other students are unable to solve. When the professor of mathematics sees these solutions done by Will he wants Will to start a job where he is able to use his gift in mathematics. Will however does not want to do this he wants to spend his life as a laborer.
Through the course of the movie Will also got arrested for getting in a fight and professor Lambeau (mathematics professor) gets Will released into his custody but only by Will agreeing to see a psychologist. Will ends up going through five psychologists before professor Lambeau is able to find one that Will connects with. Will also starts a relationship with a young lady named Skylar whom he meet in a bar. However when Skylar asks Will to move with her to another state Will threw a temper tantrum and breaks off the relationship, in an attempt to prevent future emotional pain. By the end of the movie after Will breaks down in his final therapy session with Sean. He then decides to go to find Skylar and make that relationship work. By working with Sean the psychologist Will was able to discover who he is and is able to move on from his past and start living the life that will make him happy. By doing this Will is then able to find his place in the world.
One motif that was repeated throughout the film that is related to the theme is Will going to see Sean the psychologist over and over aging. While Will is with Sean he is able to slowly discover who he is and where he fits into the world or where his place is with his friends and in his relationship with Skylar. Good will hunting also used internal conflict within Will to portray the theme of this movie. By Will having a bad childhood and allowing this to dictate his life throughout the movie it also showed us how Will's personal conflict made it hard for Will to really discover who he was or where he should be. However in the end Will was able to achieve that personal discovery of himself and move on in the world to a life that would be right for him without all the past conflict.