Communication In Good Will Hunting

Have you ever wondered what it was like to be a true genius? Good Will Hunting is a movie about just that: a young boy who has experienced a less than satisfactory upbringing, but through reading informational books at a public library in his youth and through having a photographic memory that allows him to remember everything he reads has resulted in him becoming very intelligent. It is shown just how intelligent he is when he solves a proof that is written on a chalkboard at Harvard University, where he works as a janitor, that only two people in the world can solve. The professor who wrote the proof on the chalkboard discovers that it was Will Hunting who solved it and becomes intrigued by the boy and his intellect. This results in the professor taking the boy under his wing and, ultimately, changing his life. In the movie, …show more content…
The Johari Window consists of the four types of communicators: open, blind, hidden, and closed. Will is perceived to be a closed communicator, one that rarely discloses things about himself nor often seeks feedback from others. Will instead chooses to either keep information about his life to himself or lie about it, and he chooses to assume things about people he meets rather than talk to them and find out information about them. This is essential to understanding Will and how he communicates with people because this is his way of avoiding having to thing about his past of being abused and how he blames himself for it. This is a key concept to the movie’s purpose because, when Will’s therapist Sean finally gets Will to break down and accept himself, it is important to see what a blatant difference this is compared to the version of Will seen at the beginning of the movie. Understanding that Will was a closed communicator who becomes a more open communicator shows just what all can be accomplished when people properly