The movie “Good Will Hunting” is based on Will Hunting (Matt Damon), a twenty-year-old self-taught genius, who works as a janitor at MIT. Will comes from a lower class neighborhood in South Boston, living in a bad house surrounded by violence and crime. Professor Lambeau has placed a math theorem problem on the board for his students to solve, however, once the problem is solved, Lambeau sets out to find this mysterious person. She soon discovers that Will was this person. The next day, Will and his friends, Chuckie, Billy and Morgan, get into trouble by getting into a fight with some kids and Will is arrested and has a court date. During this arraignment, it is announced that Will has a rather extensive criminal record, including numerous accounts of assault, theft, resisting, and much more, as well as learning that he went through several foster homes growing up, some with physical abuse. Lambeau meets with Will, explaining that he will be released under two conditions: 1. Work on advanced mathematics with Lambeau and 2. Meet with a therapist, Sean Maguire, who has a similar background to Will. Through these meetings you discover that Will has an attachment disorder, as well as a fear of abandonment and uses many defense mechanisms. Will begins seeing Skylar more often, gaining more confidence in himself and the relationship, but when Skylar asks him to go to California with him, he immediately rejects her and tells her he doesn't love her, which Maguire sees as a mechanism defense for Will to protect himself. After a breakthrough in one of the sessions, Will begins to turn his life around by getting a job at McNeil, however, he realizes that he wants to chase Skylar to California and leaves South Boston for good. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Different developmental theories were used in the movie Good Will Hunting. One of the developmental theories used for will-hunting in the film is Freud's ego defense mechanisms. This theory means protecting yourself from anxiety, guilt or fear by using one or more defense mechanisms. Will uses the “Move” mechanism. Displacement is the redirection of an impulse (usually aggression) onto a helpless surrogate target. During the film, Will is revealed to be an orphan who suffered physical abuse in some of the foster homes he was placed in. Knowing this background, the audience better understands why Will did some of the things he did. An example of Will using displacement in the film is when he takes all the aggression he was shown by some of his abusive adoptive parents as a child and constantly attacks others with words or fights. Erikson's developmental theory can also be applied to Will's children. character throughout the film starting when he was a child with Phase 1: Trust vs. Distrust leading to Phase 6: Intimacy vs. Isolation. Erikson explains the Trust vs. Distrust period this way: “If a child does not experience trust, he or she may develop insecurity, worthlessness, and general distrust of the world.” The first stage of Erikson's theory can be applied because Will was abandoned by his parents when he was a child and grew up as an orphan moving between different foster families. He didn't get the trust he needed from his parents at that young age, which caused him to grow up distrustful of the world and the people around him. In the film, Maguire has a monologue that says: “Why does he hide, why doesn't he trust anyone? Because he was abandoned by the people who should have loved him most.He rejects people before they have a chance to leave him. It's a defense mechanism." Erikson's Intimacy vs. Isolation period can be described as “Young adults seek deep intimacy and satisfying relationships, but if they can't, isolation can occur.” This phase can be applied to Will because he met a girl named Skylar and became very intimate with her in a short period of time, however she would leave to go to California from Boston. Skylar asked Will to move in with her, but Will, using his moving defense mechanism, starts yelling at her, saying he doesn't love her, pushes her away, and starts isolating himself from her. Another main character that can be applied to Freud's use of Ego Defense Mechanisms is Sean Maguire, Will's therapist. Sean lost his wife of 18 years and hasn't dated anyone since she died. During one of their sessions, Will talks about his wife and says, "Maybe you married the wrong women," which triggers anger in Sean over losing his wife. He responds by saying, “If you ever disrespect my wife again, I will kill you. Do you understand that boss?". Maguire uses the same mechanism as Will, displacement. He vented his anger at losing his wife and Will for disrespecting their marriage by pushing him against a wall and threatening him. There are many other influences in the film that influence the main character, Will Hunting. Example of societal influence is Will's lack of a college degree. Erikson's Development Theory can be applied to this feeling using Phase 4: Industry vs. Inferiority. This stage is a social stage, meaning that if we have unresolved feelings of inadequacy and inferiority among our peers, we can have serious problems in terms of competence and self-esteem. This stage is shown in a scene in a bar with a conversation between Will and a boy named Clark. It is hinted that, although Will is very intelligent, he does not have a college degree. Clark then proceeds to talk about how he can't wait to see Will in a few years serving food to his family at a fast-food restaurant. food. Clark is seen as the company at this point. He implied that just because Will didn't or didn't have a college degree he wasn't going anywhere in life. Will grew up in South Boston, or Southy as they called it in the movie. Growing up, he went through several foster homes, but now lives in a dilapidated house, in a bad, low-class neighborhood with a lot of violence and crime. All of this affects Will because he grew up thinking that he wasn't good enough and would get nowhere in life, that he would live in Southy for the rest of his life with his group of friends. This also has to do with Phase 4 of Erikson's Developmental Theory. Growing up like Will did, no strong family support, low class/SES neighborhood, and low trust in the world all go along with the Inferiority part of Stage 4. Overall, the movie Good Will Hunting showed many of the development theories we learned in class throughout the semester. I really liked the way Matt Damon and Robin Williams describe Will and Sean's relationship. They had a lot of passion and did everything they could to bring those roles to life. Being able to apply what I learned this semester was really interesting. I would never have watched this film as I do now without the knowledge I have of Freud and Erikson's theories. This movie is one of my favorites. It was a lot of fun to connect this film to developmental theories and get a whole new perspective on Will's background and how it affected his life growing up. Please note: this is just an example. Get a personalized document now from.