About a boy
... he is not allowed to make his own decisions. I think that’s why Marcus has turned out to be an adult in a twelve-year-old boy’s body. Will Freeman, however, is a good looking thirty-six -year- old man. He is independent, wealthy, lazy and self-centred and does nothing but meaningless things. I think it’s obvious that Will isn’t grown up yet, because he doesn’t look at life very seriously. Will is rich because of a Christmas song,”Santa’s Super Sleigh”, his father wrote, and which become a hit. That’s why he doesn’t work, and he has no need to think about anything. He lives from the royalties of the song. In fact the only stress in his life is figuring out how he can bump into desirable women. He wants to have a girlfriend, but when it turns out too seriously or complicated he flees head over heels. Anything involving true emotions is not for him. If a relationship ends up with the question of marriage, he always takes to his heels too. On the other hand Will is a real music and film lover. He is the lucky owner of hundreds of CDs, and his apartment is covered with film and music posters. To tell the truth Will is rather vain about his appearance. He always has a modern hair cut, and he wears fashionable, expensive clothes. He actually thinks his appearance impresses people, especially women, and makes him interesting for them. In his opinion women like men who don’t need to work for money. Because of his vanity he thinks music keeps him young, and he therefore listens to Nirvana. Will is also convinced that he is a cool guy. He got the idea when he tested himself in a magazine once, and according to this test he is “sub-zero”. Will doesn’t really have several friends, so he is quite lonely sometimes. He is also single, childless, and always looking for a mother to charm. In spite of this he doesn’t worry about people and their feelings at all, and their problems don’t seem to bother him in any way. This is what he shows clearly when his friend and his wife got another child. They ask Will to be the child’s godfather, but he refuses. He also shows his true colour when visiting SPAT (Single Parents-Alone Together).At this meeting he invents Ned, a two year old son, to the group members and tells them he is a single parent. I think all these mentioned events influences Will to become the man he is. He is a bit out of this planet, you might say, and he really needs help to come safely down to earth. I think both Marcus and Will are cut off from normal relationships, but for totally different reasons. Will because he is not able to stay in emotional, “messy” relationships and Marcus because he doesn’t know how to relate people in the same way twelve-year-old boys usually do. Marcus’ and Will’s lives cross in a somewhat strange way, and things suddenly take turns Will had never imagined and maybe Marcus neither. When Will joins SPAT he meets Suzie, a single mother with a little girl, and he gets particularly attracted to her. One Sunday Suzie invites Will and Ned to a SPAT picnic. That is to say Will is soon out of excuses when it comes to Ned’s absence. He is fully aware of what he has to do. Right ;he is bound to bring up a very good reason when Ned doesn’t appear, and tells Suzie that Ned is with his mother for the weekend. Suzie is “babysitting” Marcus this Saturday so she brings him along to the picnic. In this way Marcus and Will meet for the first time. In the first place they are a bit sceptical about each other, but when they agreed in thinking SPAT picnics are boring, and when Will covers up for Marcus’ “duck” accident they are in the beginning of a close relationship which changes both Marcus and Will, I think. When they return from the picnic, it shows up Marcus’ mother has tried to commit suicide, and from this point on, Will is, even if he wants so or not, dragged into Marcus crappy life. On the other hand Marcus intrudes in Will’s life even though Will doesn’t want him to. One day after school Markus follows Will to his flat. When he is ringing the bell Will won’t let him in, but Marcus presses the doorbell for thirty minutes and at last Will opens the door. And when Marcus discovers there are no toys in the flat, he realizes Will has no child. So Will has to eat humble pie, and admit he has told a lie. Every day after school Marcus shows up at Will’s place because he doesn’t want to be around his mother, and because he thinks he has found a man he can talk to at last. At first Will is not so found of it, but in a while he gets used to Marcus’ appearance and doesn’t bother. He lets Marcus hang around because he is too lazy to do anything about it. In fact, he likes it, but doesn’t want to admit it. He might be soft, you know, and that can’t be combined with his though cold image. Here I discover the first step in his development which turns Will to be a responsible adult. In the first place, Will sees Marcus’ visits a golden opportunity to attract Rachel, a nice single woman he meets on a New Years party. So Will is, as you see, still a selfish man, but I can sense the light at the end of the tunnel. Even though Will doesn’t like to admit it, Marcus becomes the first person that he can care for altruistically. It’s a strange new feeling for him, and we can watch how Will slowly begins to realize that there is something more to life than grab attractive single women. Marcus shows Will what it’s like to care for people and be responsible to them. Will, on his part, starts to teach Marcus how to be a twelve-year-old kid, and he gives Marcus something his mother can’t. For instance, he advises Marcus how to be cool in school. Will tells him about popular music and takes him out for a hamburger. As the days go by, Marcus continues to visit Will after school. They watch rubbish T.V. programs, drink cokes, eat junk food and listen to Nirvana. Will tells Marcus how to look (a decent haircut will do), and what to wear. One day after school Will takes Marcus out for shopping, and buys him a pair of expensive Adidas sneakers. Marcus loves them and so is to say it was a very nice gesture, but it doesn’t turn out well. The next day some children force him to take the sneakers off, and Marcus has to walk back to Will’s place barefoot in the rain. When Marcus’ mother finds out about the missing shoes, he is no longer allowed to visit Will for a while because s...