“[Good Will Hunting] is a wonderful example of a hero living an emotionally safe existence and how he gradually finds the courage to abandon that identity to achieve real fulfillment.”
Michael Hauge
Revealing Your Hero’s Wound
A few years ago I read a book where the author stated that everyone had an emotional wound—and it usually came from their father or mother. That was written in chapter four of the book and after I read that chapter whenever I’d see that wound played out in movies I used to lean over and say to move wife, “chapter four.”
But after so many films with mother and/or father issues I shortened it to just raising up four fingers to signify chapter four whenever I saw or heard a line that represents a wound. Steven Spielberg said of one of the most popular films of all-time: “E.T. was about the divorce of my parents, how I felt after my parents broke up.” That’s a wound.
And that’s one way to deal with a wound. Another film, On Golden Pond written by Ernest Thompson is one of my favorite films that deals with a father-daughter wound.
May all of you write a script or make a film that helps heal your wounds. May you tell stories that chase the demons away and help heals the wounds of those in the audience. Sure movies and TV shows are entertaining, but at their best they do offer a form of catharsis. Has any film in history resulted in more father/son phone calls than Field of Dreams?
P.S. Here’s a shot of my father, Charles W. Smith, circa 1950s somewhere in either Youngstown or Columbus, Ohio.
Screenwriting from Iowa 
Reblogged this on filmmaven.
I guess I’ll have to pay closer attention to the subtle hints in these films. This is very insightful. Thank you for sharing!