Knitwear as “Other”: Costume and Identity in Good Will Hunting (1997)

Knitting is an innovative textile design process, playing a key role in ground-breaking developments in apparel and textile manufacture. Despite this however, knitting carries with it a certain stigma. Firmly embedded in narratives of femininity, domesticity and nostalgia, knitting often remains understood as a highly gendered practice with a specific and limited role in contemporary culture. Through the analysis of a key piece of knitwear worn by Sean Maguire, a therapist portrayed by Robin Williams in the film Good Will Hunting (1997), this paper will explore the role of costume in upholding these narratives whilst simultaneously perpetuating gender ideals.

Discourse analysis allows for the analysis of ideas, concepts and transactions that exist in between and around material things. It is therefore concerned with meaning-making processes and how and why meaning is formed. Michel Foucault, a key figure in the development of discourse analysis, suggests that objects have no meaning without discourse. In this way discourses construct social reality. The more a particular reading is suggested, the more embedded it becomes in the public psyche and consequently a knitted garment’s location in contemporary society continues to be reinforced. As a methodology made up of a bricolage of methods, this paper considers costume analysis as an informant of broader discourse analysis.

By analysing the role of a knitted garment in the communication of identity on screen, this paper will highlight how a limited and specific narrative about knitting continues to endure. Ultimately, the paper aims to suggest that the effects of such narratives permeate the public’s understanding of knitting as a creative discipline.