Good Will and whatnot

There was only one thing I wanted for my sixteen birthday: a ticket to the movies. Good Will Hunting was in theaters. Ben Affleck and Matt Damon were starring in the movie they wrote together. I read all about it in Seventeen or whatever other teen girl magazine had the two of them on the cover. I thought they were hot. My friends knew this and supported my obsession. Lena bought me a Ben Affleck poster for my room, a poster that right now sits in my storage unit.

So I didn’t get to go to the movie on my birthday. It was already out of most theaters. But with my mother’s help, I searched every newspaper until I found where it was still playing. It was in Wilsonville and we went to see the film. My mom freaked out a bit. The curse words bothered her. I found it exhilarating. If I wasn’t allowed to say things like that, but I sure appreciated watching a film where they could say things I’d never dream of saying. Not only that, but they lived in a culture vastly different from my sheltered world in Dayton.

I’ve always appreciated that about movies. They give a chance to see and experience a world unlike our own. I’ve traveled a lot of places. I’ve lived in other countries and different sizes of cities. But I still appreciate movies. There’s no way I’ll ever be able to see all the places I want to see and also hang out with my friends and family as much as I like to. So I watch movies.

Good Will Hunting is on Encore right now. I missed the beginning, but it made me realize why this became one of my favorite movies when I was 16. Not only are their hot guys. I love the story. And I adore Matt Damon’s monologues. But best of all are the lessons they guys teach each other. As cheesy as that sounds, it’s perfect. Each day I end up learning something new. I have to face my own stubbornness and bias daily. I make new discoveries, learn new words, and read things I’ve never read before. And it keeps going. And so I believe that movies do bring good to us. They can, in fact, be educational.