Good Will Hunting

In the film Good Will Hunting the plot follows the story of a troubled young man from a tough neighborhood in Boston. He starts out as a janitor at the prestigious MIT where he secretly solves impossible math theorums that professors at the highly acclaimed school with a base focus in math couldn't even solve. After secretly solving one of these problems on a white board in the hallway, he is eventually discovered as the "secret genious". After being arrested for assault and threatened with jail time, the professor who put up the math problem seeks to mentor him, and use his genious for his own personal gain. The professor strikes a deal with the judge allowing Will, the main character, to stay out of prison if he became the professors apprentice and saw a psychologist weekly. After trying numerous psychologists, all of whom could not handle Will's tough exterior, Robin William's character finally proves to be the doctor who can relate most to Will having experienced similar hardships as a child which you learn about later. The rest of the film follows Will's constant struggle with keeping a relationship with a girl he met, due to the abuse he suffered as a child. As a result of this abuse, Will had refused to allow anyone to love him, and vise-versa, for fear of losing that person down the road. He also never pursued any long-term career or "real" goals with his gift of intellegence for he was taught at a young age that he was worthless. Robin Williams, after weeks of getting to know Will, finally breaks down his barriors and lets him know that "it's ok", and that "it's not his fault", leading Will to finally pursue the girl in the end and not think so low of himself.

This film has a few archetypes that we see in many other films. Will, the main character represents the common troubled character with an edge, yet also a soft side, who we all wish good things for by the end of the film. This cliche takes its natural course as this happens and Will succeeds in the end. Also Robin William's character acts as the role of the old mentor figure with wisdom who helps the main character by guiding him through his through his troubles with advice and friendship.