This is a blog about the character Will in Good Will Hunting and his attachment disorder of mathews bow sights.
Will was abandoned by his father as a small child, so he never bonded and there is always an emotional distance between him and other people. The film portrays the agony of mental illness with heartbreak, humor and courage. There are many scenes where the audience can see how painful it can be for him to develop relationships with other people or even to know himself. He often feels detached from those around him due to fear of being rejected or abandoned again, so he’ll avoid situations that might cause these feelings or push them away when they try to come near.
1. The Reactive Attachment Disorder of Will
In the film we see that three characters who are important for Will’s development are all diagnosed with reactive attachment disorder: Skylar, his therapist and even his mother. Skylar is the one who recognizes early on that Will has an attachment disorder.
Skylar – Good Will Hunting (1998)
Skylar is a therapist who tries to help Will develop better relationships with other people. He introduces him to Dr. McKnight and it’s interesting to see how they developed their friendship after they got to know each other. Skylar is the one who inspired Will to speak his mind and express himself. He’s a well-balanced, free-spirited teen who loves to hang out with his older friends and make jokes and have fun.
2. Will and Skylar’s Relationship
They are best friends and they look completely different: Skylar is skinny with freckles and short hair while Will looks like a hulk with shoulder-length hair. When they first met, Will was so nervous that he couldn’t talk to him properly. He was very self-conscious about his looks and about his unintentional social stammering, but Skylar made fun of him for not being a typical teenager who is rude or obnoxious toward others. He accepted the fact that he doesn’t fit into the “popular group”, so he didn’t have any problem making friends with Will, even though their personalities are completely opposite. They bonded over the fact that neither of them fit in with the crowd.
Will and Skylar (1998)
3. Will’s parents, the only thing we know about.
There’s almost nothing we learn about Will’s parents, so it’s hard to understand why they didn’t bond and how such a relationship could have lasted for years without any contact or communication between them. In one scene Will remembers how his father would go out with him on fishing trips, but these memories are never shown again after that scene where he reminisces about his childhood.
Will and parents (1998)
4. Skylar – The reason why Will stays at his house and why he’s afraid of being rejected.
The reason why Will stayed in the house with Skylar for so long is because he was afraid of being rejected. When Skylar heard about Will’s reaction to the therapist, he thought that it was just because he was a teenager who didn’t know how to deal with it and didn’t have the capacity to let go, but when he understood that it had something to do with his attachment disorder, then everything became clear for him and he became the one who was helping him understand what is happening inside of his head.
5. The neighbor and her family.
The Reactive Attachment Disorder of Will in Good Will Hunting
It is clear that Will has issues with trust, so it takes time for him to trust people who can help him. He doesn’t have any problem trusting Skylar and the neighbor, but the therapist he doesn’t trust at all. The scene where the neighbor comes to his house to ask if he wants to join them for dinner shows a glimpse of hope for Will, but he gets frustrated because she sees that there are things happening in his mind that make it impossible for him to accept her invitation at this moment.
6. The therapist – Will’s third family and the way Skylar helps him to discover his lost self.
The therapist, Dr. McKnight became like a third family for Will, because he brought him to a point when he was ready to start developing relationships with new people. He gave him motivation to complete the treatment and he helped William open up about himself. This made Dr. McKnight realize how far this boy has progressed in just three months, so they both invited Skylar over to try and see if they could get it as good as they had with Will, only that this time he wasn’t hearing his stammering or his breathing problems or any other thinks that could be perceived as bad behavior.
7. Skylar – Will’s best friend, but also the one who can’t stand him.
Skylar is Will’s best friend and he’s the one who introduces him to the idea of therapy. They share a lot of similarities and their friendship is based on mutual trust and openness. They make fun of each other, talk about their lives and interests and spend time together.
