Good Will Hunting
November 29, 2007
I just rewatched this classic from ten years ago. And yes, it’s rated R. Still, I’ve got to say that I loved the movie and found it very uplifting. The movie, however, is filled with a bunch of f-bombs. My question though, is: All are f-bombs and other swear words created equal. Are the words that have been designated swear words inherently bad, or have they been categorized as swear words because of their offensive meanings? Does the context have anything to do with it? For example, does the F-word remain equally as vulgar when it’s not used in relation to sex? What if it’s just a verbal tick, like when people say something was f-ing stupid?
In this movie, the F-word is used a lot. Some people would say that they should have just taken it out and made the movie a pg-13. But I think you have to differentiate how words are used, taking into account the context and meaning. Like in the post on this blog about the Movie Hoax, the offensive word in question seemed to be gratuitous, and therefore could and maybe should have been deleted. But if you’re making a movie about a bunch of low class kids from Boston, I think you have to acknowledge that they’re going to use swear words in their conversations. That’s just how they talk. It’s not only not gratuitous to include it, it would be robbing the movie of a truthful element if you had Matt Damon and Ben Affleck saying ”fudge” instead.
The real value of art is to teach us lessons about human nature. If you’re dishonest about that nature, how can you expect any art to be worthwhile or valuable?
November 29, 2007 at 12:36 pm
I, too, have seen this movie, and like it a lot. My husband loves it too, and wishes it were not rated R. With regards to the F-word being thrown around a lot- it is completely necessary. The main character in this film is from Boston, and that’s how many Bostonians talk. Simple as that. If you want to make a believable movie, you can’t sit and worry about what people will think. The swearing was just real to make the movie more believable.
November 29, 2007 at 2:22 pm
I agree that the swearing was added to the movie to add to the realism of it. It makes it seem more authentic to the setting. However, I don’t know that it was 100% necessary since there are certainly people who live in Boston who don’t say the f-word multiple times in each sentence. I’ve also seen “Good Will Hunting,” but on a Clearplay DVD player, so the profanity was automatically muted when I watched it. The lack of profanity really didn’t take away at all from my experience in watching it. One thing I thought was interesting was that even with potentially objectionable content filtered out of the movie by Clearplay, the overall feeling of it was still rather dark. It may be possible that even if all the profanity had been cut from the theatrical version of the film, it still would have been rated R. I’ve found this to be true for a lot of other rated-R movies as well, such as “The Libertine” (2005) and “Legends of the Fall” (1994).
December 2, 2007 at 3:17 pm
I agree that movies are expressions of human nature, and I think that if it did not have people speaking the way actual people speak that it would make the movie unrealistic. I do think though that swearing in movies could be done in more moderation without taking anything away from the movie’s plot or expression. Also, I agree with Tyler that even if you take out swearing the movie can still be r-rated for the theme. I watched the Green Mile with the swearing edited out and it was very dark and left me with a dark feeling afterwards even though it was now rated “pg-13″. So the overall feeling of the movie I think should determine the rating, not the swearing.
December 4, 2007 at 11:10 pm
This is among the finest movies ever made. It evokes real emotions that a variety of people can resonate with. I agree with the notion that all of the cursing made the movie more “real.” However, I don’t think that, as suggested by Karim in the first comment, the cursing is necessary to accurately portray Bostonians. Rather, the aim, it seems, was to introduce issues of class. Vulgar language is associated with lower class types, and thus the repeated swearing by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck’s characters is meant as reinforcement of their lower-class, inner-city status.
December 6, 2007 at 1:25 pm
I have to disagree with nearly all of you. We go to the movies to escape real life, not revel in it. Since when have movies truly resembled any aspect of real life? Have you heard of the term ’suspension of disbelief’? Without suspension of disbelief, there would be no Matrix movies, no James Bond movies, hardly any romance movies, and certainly no time travel movies. To say that we need to include all the coarser elements of existence in a movie in order to make it ‘believable’ seems silly to me. I think it shows more the lack of creativity on the part of the screen writers and directors. It’s also an insult to all inner-city kids to say they all talk this way.