This is a good joke but it’s worth pointing out that while Boston has always had the universities, it was a very different kind of city 30 years ago. The tech boom completely changed the character of it from a roughneck working class city to a wealthy one.
If you want to see what Boston was like up until about 2000 or so, The Friends of Eddie Coyle did a great job of it. Technically it takes place in the south Shore but since we’re calling Cambridge Boston here we can let that one slide as well.
That, and he’s not saying “Will, you need to go do good math.” He’s saying that if he’s still here in 20(?) years, he’ll fucking kill him. And that’s because he recognizes Will, thanks to his extreme intellect (which we see isn’t nearly limited to math), can go wherever he wants and do basically whatever he wants. He recognizes that unlike himself, Will chooses to stay there because he’s living in fear of the unknown – that people will hurt him, something he doesn’t have to worry about with his three Southie friends.
He’s talking about emotional growth and self-actualization for Will, recognizing that staying stuck in the place where he grew up and was brutally abused is keeping him trapped, because that’s where he feels “safe”.
I know this is a joke, but it’s completely misrepresenting the scene to get there, and it doesn’t even seem like obviously ironic misrepresentation.
Edit: IIRC, he doesn’t even say that he needs to leave Boston, just that Will still hanging around with them would be the problem.
Have you ever driven through Boston? It truly is a feat to get out of that town
You need a math degree to navigate those roads.
My favorite part of driving through Boston is seeing icons on maps apps I’ve never seen before.
I like to think there’s a maps dev somewhere who got requirements, and reacted with “Oh why the fuck would we need an icon with a road configuration like that? God damnit, its Boston again, isn’t it”
