Midnight Media Cafe - "It's not your fault."
Thursday, June 4th, 2015 10:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
serai.
Good Will Hunting - Matt Damon and Robin Williams
"All that shit in there? It's not your fault."
This is the pivotal scene in this fine film, the emotional heart of it. The cool, cocky, genius kid slowly crumbles under the gentle, kind pressure of his therapist's insistence that no, he is not at fault for what happened to him. What was forced on him. How his heart was crippled. How he was betrayed.
When this film first came out, I was friends with the owner of a video store up in Santa Cruz. I used to hang out there after work, having long, long discussions with John, who was a lifelong movie fan and great fun. When he asked me what I thought of this film, I told him I thought it was a chick flick for guys. He was insulted by that, and we had a little argument about it. But when I showed up again a couple of days later, he told me he'd thought about what I said, and that I was right, and he had reacted that way simply because he took "chick flick" as a putdown. But I didn't mean it that way, and he got what I meant. And it is, really.
I posted a few comments on the Youtube page for this clip, and here they are:
When things are worst and I'm looking at that bottle of pills, I put this clip on, close my eyes and pretend Robin is talking to me, and cry just like Matt. And sometimes I can't stop for a long time.
In answer to a commenter who said he understood what was happening without living it:
No, you do have to live it. You can empathize, you can sympathize, you can commiserate. But trust me, you can't understand it unless you've been there. To someone whose head is not fucked up like that, the shape and contours of a mind that is would be incomprehensible.
And to another commenter who said he *couldn't* pretend to understand what was going on, but that sadly, too many people do:
Give thanks every day, dude. You have no idea what it is to live with the knowledge that every single bad thing that happens to you happens because you're a piece of shit and the world would be better if you'd never been born. It cripples Every. Single. Thing. in your life. You're incapable of any real relationships, you can't deal with anything the way happy people do, your very senses are muted and malfunctioning. NOTHING WORKS the way it should, because you're not worthy of life favoring you.
Be thankful. Be very very thankful. I would give everything I've ever owned and ever will to be able to say what you've said in that comment.
Good Will Hunting - Matt Damon and Robin Williams
"All that shit in there? It's not your fault."
This is the pivotal scene in this fine film, the emotional heart of it. The cool, cocky, genius kid slowly crumbles under the gentle, kind pressure of his therapist's insistence that no, he is not at fault for what happened to him. What was forced on him. How his heart was crippled. How he was betrayed.
When this film first came out, I was friends with the owner of a video store up in Santa Cruz. I used to hang out there after work, having long, long discussions with John, who was a lifelong movie fan and great fun. When he asked me what I thought of this film, I told him I thought it was a chick flick for guys. He was insulted by that, and we had a little argument about it. But when I showed up again a couple of days later, he told me he'd thought about what I said, and that I was right, and he had reacted that way simply because he took "chick flick" as a putdown. But I didn't mean it that way, and he got what I meant. And it is, really.
I posted a few comments on the Youtube page for this clip, and here they are:
When things are worst and I'm looking at that bottle of pills, I put this clip on, close my eyes and pretend Robin is talking to me, and cry just like Matt. And sometimes I can't stop for a long time.
In answer to a commenter who said he understood what was happening without living it:
No, you do have to live it. You can empathize, you can sympathize, you can commiserate. But trust me, you can't understand it unless you've been there. To someone whose head is not fucked up like that, the shape and contours of a mind that is would be incomprehensible.
And to another commenter who said he *couldn't* pretend to understand what was going on, but that sadly, too many people do:
Give thanks every day, dude. You have no idea what it is to live with the knowledge that every single bad thing that happens to you happens because you're a piece of shit and the world would be better if you'd never been born. It cripples Every. Single. Thing. in your life. You're incapable of any real relationships, you can't deal with anything the way happy people do, your very senses are muted and malfunctioning. NOTHING WORKS the way it should, because you're not worthy of life favoring you.
Be thankful. Be very very thankful. I would give everything I've ever owned and ever will to be able to say what you've said in that comment.
