What's Eating Gilbert Grape?

Mette Serup 1.D.

English

03/10 – 2006.

What's Eating Gilbert Grape?

Gilbert Grape lives in the small town of Endora with his family, which isn't like any other nuclear family. His very obese mother, Bonnie, hasn't left the house since her husband committed suicide in their basement 7 years ago. She spends most of her time on the sofa eating chips and watching television. Because of the mother's state Gilbert has to take the responsibility for repairing the old house and look after his younger siblings. Particularly the youngest brother, Arnie, who is mentally challenged. At the beginning of the film we follow the family preparing for Arnie's 18th birthday - a few days before the party (misplaced comma) Becky and her grandmother arrive at the town in their house trailer. When Gilbert first sees Becky he starts to rethink his life and all of a sudden everything changes for Gilbert. He drops contact with his mistress, whose husband, very mysteriously, dies shortly after. The Lampson's Grocery where Gilbert works gets a new rival The Food Land. To make matters worse Gilbert's chaotical family life threatens the romance between Gilbert and the bride of his choice: Becky. And in addition to that Becky and her grandmother won't give up their plans for travelling, so they continue their journey shortly after Arnie’s successful birthday party. The following week the mother dies in her bed as a result of her obesity. In fear of making a joke out of their mother the children burn down the house, so they won't have to call a crane to take their mother to the church. The end of the movie is a reunion of Gilbert and Becky.

Putting the film into perspective

You can draw countless parallels between the film and the themes of growing up or developing. It’s a movie about all the family members struggle for keeping close family relations and acting responsible towards Arnie and how they rise to the occasion. The relations in the film are very important, because through these you can analyse every single individual, all the characters and the environment as well Gilbert gets more and more mature throughout the film - he has courage the size his mother’s mass when he introduces Becky to his mother and he ...

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Putting the film into perspective

You can draw countless parallels between the film and the themes of growing up or developing. It’s a movie about all the family members struggle for keeping close family relations and acting responsible towards Arnie and how they rise to the occasion. The relations in the film are very important, because through these you can analyse every single individual, all the characters and the environment as well Gilbert gets more and more mature throughout the film - he has courage the size his mother’s mass when he introduces Becky to his mother and he realizes how important it is to take responsibility towards his family.

The children distance themselves from their embarrassment of their mother by letting the children of the neighbourhood point fingers of scorn at her and by laughing along with them.

At the beginning of the film the mother is pictured like she doesn't care about her children's welfare, which is why the scene where she drives to the police station is so important, because it tells us that she really does concern about her children, but she is stuck in her way of life.

It's difficult to analyse Arnie's development since his handicap plays a great part. It is, however, absolutely exciting to see the development of Arnie and Gilbert's relationship - especially when it’s put to a test. Gilbert's childhood has influenced his manner, speech and attitude to the raising of children, which is expressed in the way he treats Arnie. When Gilbert tries to give Arnie a bath, Arnie is very afraid of the water, but afterwards Becky coaxes Arnie to jump in the lake, this is picture of how important safety is to see results. The relationship between Becky and Gilbert plays a major part in the story, as Becky is the reason for the change of Gilbert's life. The fact that Gilbert and Becky are raised in very different ways, is clearly reflected in their relationship - where Becky focuses a lot on inner values, Gilbert has a very narrow point of view. Gilbert can’t see further than the end of his nose as regards his family’s needs and problems while Becky is in the town.

The last sentence in the movie is: “We can go anywhere”, which I find very impressive – it’s another way of saying: “Where there is a will there is a way”, which refers to the future of the now orphan children. When the mother is gone they have the opportunity to start afresh, which is probably another contributing reason why they burn down the house. This scene is also very symbolic - almost like a ceremony. Now are all the things which have eaten up Gilbert gone - as the title says: The responsibility, the lost childhood and missing his father.

The explanation of the strange relationships between the brothers and sisters is perhaps that they were cheated of their childhood - because of the great responsibility towards both Arnie and Bonnie. It's as if the mother and the children have switched roles. Those are some of the main themes in this film.