Monday, November 1, 2010

The Three Act Structure in "Good Will Hunting"

Good Will Hunting is a movie about a man named Will Hunting who is a mathematical genius, possibly greater than anyone the world had ever seen. The movie employs the traditional Hollywood 3 Act Structure. This first act begins with Will living in South Boston and working as a janitor at MIT. At MIT, there is a Math professor who writes very challenging problems on a chalkboard in the hallway. Will is able to solve the problems with incredible ease, and writes the solutions on the chalkboard. He is discovered by the professor, and after being arrested for assault, the professor bails him out under the conditions that he works on advanced mathematics with him and sees a therapist. This is plot point 1 and occurs at 27 minutes. It also serves as the end of Act 1, which is the introduction of the movie, and acts as a transition into Act 2, which is the complication of the movie. In Act 2, Will begins working with the professor and seeing therapist after therapist, all of which quit after one session with him. The professor, desperate to find a psychiatrist that can handle Will, asks his college roommate to work with him. He agrees, and begins meeting with him. Though he struggles getting through to Will at first, the psychiatrist begins to befriend Will and actually starts to help him. Also, Will gets pretty serious with a girl, but breaks up with her. Act 2 ends with plot point number 2, which is a conversation between Will and his best friend at 106 minutes. In that conversation, Will's friend tells him that he has to do something with his life and get out of the life he's currently in. Will, who had been getting pressure from the professor to take a prestigious job, had been resenting that pressure, and had planned on staying in South Boston and being in the working class. Now, for the first time, the idea that Will needs to get out is coming from someone Will really loves and respects. Act  3 is the resolution of the movie, and plot point 2 acts as a transition into it. In Act 3, Will breaks down in a session with his therapist, he finally takes one of the jobs, and his life begins to fall into place. The climax of the movie is when Will's best friend goes to pick him up and Will's gone. He has left to drive across the country to go see the girl that he broke up with. This shows that Will has truly moved on from his old life and is starting his new life. This occurs at 121 minutes, which is just 5 minutes before the movie ends.

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