Moments of Conception 056 — The Construction Scene from Good Will Hunting

All creativity begins with the moment of conception.

That little piece of kindling that gets the fire going. That initial source of inspiration that takes on a life of its own. That single note from which the entire symphony grows. That single spark of life that signals an idea’s movement value, almost screaming to us, something wants to be built here.

And so, in this new blog series, I’m going to be deconstructing my favorite moments of conception from popular movies. Each post will contain a video clip from a different film, along with a series of lessons we can learn from the characters.

Today’s clip comes from the construction scene in Good Will Hunting:

What can we learn?

Love people enough to
upset them. Will is has
a genius level intellect, a gift for mathematics and a rare eidetic memory. And
yet, he insists on wasting his time working mindless manual labor jobs and
drinking with his buddies. Chuckie refuses to accept this reality. He might be
boisterous, but he’s not blind. Will’s failure to find a home for any of his
talents is an insult to his friends, his community, his identity and his potential.
And that’s the beauty of this moment. Because every artist needs someone in
their life to initiate the
shove, meaning, a delightfully
disturbing moment thatcompels you make a massive change in your
creative life. Will doesn’t realize it, but this conversation is his moment of
conception. There may be a brief incubation period to follow, but it’s only a
matter of time before he cashes in that winning lottery ticket and steps into
the light.Do you have a figure in your creative life who’s willing to shake up
your situation and keeps things in proportion?

Creativity exists at
the intersection of belief and alienation.It’s the strangest thing. On one
hand, you have to trust that there is a place for your gifts in the world. That
you’ve been given your own plot of soil to cultivate, and there’s only so much
available light to grow something meaningful.That’s belief.On the other hand, if someone feels fully at home in
the world, they don’t need to make art.Life has to generate a certain amount discomfort and hunger and ache to
get the pen moving.Without that thick layer of outofstepness, of
feeling unhoused in a sense, what’s the point?That’s alienation. Andrea Barrett, the award winning historical
fiction novelist, famously said that she writes about the world because it doesn’t
make sense to her. That through writing, maybe she can penetrate it, elucidate
it and somehow make it comprehensible. Will has the alienation part down pat,
but he doesn’t realize there’s a missing piece of belief. He’s almosttoosmart. Too proud to realize the
opportunity right in front of him. Chuckie simply holds up the mirror. What will you channel your contradictory
feelings into?

Let the city crumble,
but come home together. Creative personalities are hypersensitive to
geography. Consider the lyrics ofAngeles, the song playing the background of this scene. “I
could make you satisfied in everything you do, all your secret wishes could
right now be coming true, and be forever with my poison arms around you.” Elliot
Smith wasn’t singing about a beautiful woman making love to him, he was singing
about a big city makingpromisesto him.
That’s a different kind of relationship. One in which the physical landscape
influences the mental landscape. I remember when wife and I first moved to a
big city. Our friend who grew up here said,this citywill feed you
things that make you feel bigger than you are. She was right. Over the next
few years, we saw firsthand how easy it was to fall into those kinds of identity
traps. It could happen to anybody. Geography is seductive in that way.
But the secret, I suppose, is setting boundaries. Deciding which parts of the
culture are worth participating in, and which parts aren’t.What expectations are you precariously
surrounded by?

What can we learn?