What's Eating Gilbert Grape Essay

Money— sweeter than honey but oh so destructive. It facilitates a man’s life, while a lack of it imprisons him in the streets of penury. It raises his social status, while an absence of it leaves him unnoticed. It gives him an aura of superiority and importance among others, while a deficiency of it makes him worthless in society’s eyes. Considering these two roads, most do not take more than a second to decide to chase riches.

     John Hughes’ 1985 film, The Breakfast Club, gives countless examples of the principles of interpersonal communication. Five high school students: Allison, a weirdo, Brian, a nerd, John, a criminal, Claire, a prom queen, and Andrew, a jock, are forced to spend the day in Saturday detention. By the end of the day, they find that they have more in common than they ever realized.

The family has fallen into a pattern of dysfunction. This consists of Arnie acting out in some way. The behavior of Arnie causes Gilbert to assume responsibility and diffuse the situation. Most

His oldest sister, Amy, is a very caring woman that tries to take on many responsibilities herself and the youngest sister Ellen, who is only fifteen, has many issues with her family that she is trying to overcome, as well. Becky, a young girl that traveled into town with her grandmother and their caravan found romance with Gilbert and a certain connection with Arnie accordingly. Arnie is not your average boy; he is mentally challenged and was not expected to live to see his tenth birthday, let alone, his eighteenth, which he surpasses in the movie. Arnie is associated with many heights in the movie as he is regularly seen dangling from the roof, climbing trees, and of course, his ritual of scaling the water tower. Although Arnie loves the heights, he can not seem to conquer the depths as he will not venture to the basement of the house. “I don’t want to go down there, Gilbert; Dad’s down there,” thus voicing the repressed fear that no one in the family will, or can put into words.

Throughout the film, Arnie’s diagnosis is never mentioned. “The doctor said he would live until 10…but 10 came and went, and the doctor said it could be anytime now” (Matalon & Hallström, 1993). After observing his mannerisms, it is clear that as a child Arnie was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Arnie has difficulties with ineffective impulse control, verbal communication, proper hygiene, and positive coping skills. These are evidenced by Arnie’s constant climbing of the water tower, not realizing how dangerous it is or how much distress it causes his mother and Gilbert. Arnie is seen constantly repeating words or phrases those around him say, like “Dad’s dead!” and “She’s a whale!”, and cannot fully express to others how he feels. Additionally, Arnie is not able to bathe himself, so Gilbert is the one who bathes him every night before bed. Later in the film, Arnie is seen running away after Gilbert hit him, and got very agitated and upset when he dropped Becky’s groceries on the ground, thinking he ruined them.

The book, Of Mice and Men, and the movie, What's Eating Gilbert Grape are very similar in many ways. Despite the fact that they are very different stories, Of Mice and Men and What's Eating Gilbert Grape can be seen as parallel when analyzing the characters of George and Gilbert, Arnie and Lennie, and other similarities the stories share.

What’s Eating Gilbert Grape is a 1993 American drama film written by Peter Hedges and directed by Lasse Hallstrom. The film’s main characters are Johnny Depp as Gilbert Grape and Leonardo DiCaprio as Arnie Grape. The film depicts the burden of family caretaking and the affect it has on a family both mentally, physically, and financially. Gilbert is the primary caregiver for his mentally and developmentally disabled seventeen-year-old brother Arnie (who has the mental capacity of a young child), his morbidly obese mother Bonnie, known as Mama, and his two sisters Amy and Ellen. Amy, the oldest daughter, shares most of the household chores with Gilbert and helps with Arnie’s care. She plays the mother figure role for Arnie even though Arnie’s mother is alive. Ellen, the youngest daughter, is very negative in her feelings toward her family. She doesn’t help much with the family because she is busy being a teenage girl.

Arnie Grape was referred to this agency by Sheriff Jerry Farrell of the Endora Police Department. He was concerned about Arnie's continued lack of supervision. Sheriff Farrell stated that

In Lasse Hallström’s film, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?, the struggles of living with a mental illness is displayed through Arnie Grape, the protagonist’s younger brother. Grape’s disability is never discussed in the movie, as the movie focuses on Gilbert Grape, the principal character, and his struggles with life and family responsibilities. With the use of various resources, such as a psychology textbook (Lilienfeld 2014), credible health associations’ websites, and The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder (DMS-5), one is capable of analyzing the nature of Arnie’s disorder and make a valid assumption that he is dealing with a mental illness: autism. Autism is a spectrum disorder characterized by “various degrees in difficulties in social interaction, verbal and nonverbal communication and repetitive behaviors” ("Learning About Autism," n.d.). It becomes clear, through Arnie Grape’s social and cognitive impairment, that he has Autism, despite the fact that the film does not clearly state that he has a mental illness.

Gilbert has the responsibility of caring for his younger brother Arnie. Arnie has classic autism, is a constant stress for the whole family. having a child with autism, there’s always a chance that a number of unforeseen things could happen. Gilbert worries that because of the small town that he lives in, the community will be less tolerant of Arnie's behavior. Gilbert has the responsibility of being a parent for Arnie since his father is deceased and his mother is morbidly obese. While it is clear that Gilbert cares greatly for Arnie, it is also apparent that he distances himself from his family in an attempt to cope with his situation. He loves and cares for Arnie, but the tone of his narration would suggest that Arnie is more of an annoyance than a member of the family. The same goes for Gilbert's mother, Bonnie. He abhors his mother's size, describing

This delay hinders Arnie in being capable to understand things at an age appropriate developmental level. Every since the Grape’s father death, the siblings have been responsible for caring for Arnie and the mother. The parental role is being shared among the siblings in their care for Arnie.

Love is one of the most powerful forces in the world, and one of the most difficult to describe. It is one of those emotions that words do not seem to justify a person may feel it, but may not be able to explain it. However, that does not mean that people do not know that love is out there. Many people believe that everyone has one true love somewhere in the world, and spend their lives searching for that person. Love is not difficult to find though. It exists in many forms, including love between family members, friends, different races, and even the love for oneself, both in the novel Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Frannie Flagg and in one's own life.The first and most basic form of love is found in the family.

Gilbert has his arm around Arnie’s shoulders, this enhances the theme of Caring for others and emphasises how Gilbert is like a fatherly figure towards Arnie. The combination of these camera shots emphasise the theme of both Arnie and Gilbert’ desire for freedom, it further emphasises how in society there are many families struggling with the frustrations within their household that can push them off the edge and can result in them wanting an escape route from it

What’s Eating Gilbert Grape is an incredible movie that was released in 1993 with two amazing actors, Johnny Depp and Leonardo DiCaprio. Gilbert Grape, acted by Johnny Depp, lives in a small town with his five siblings and his mother. Gilbert has several responsibilities considering that his mother, acted by Darlene Cates, is very overweight and is not able to leave her home. He also has a younger brother Arnie, acted by Leonardo DiCaprio, who is mentally impaired. As the story begins, you learn about Gilbert’s father who committed suicide in the basement of the house when Gilbert was very young. This left his mother hopeless and depressed spending most of her time sitting on the couch watching TV and eating. Being unable to properly care for her family due to her obesity forces Gilbert to take on the responsibilities of repairing the house and taking care of Arnie while his sisters help as much as they can. Keep in mind that Arnie who has a mental illness has a tendency of getting into things he should not be in, as well as having a habit of climbing the water tower in town. Gilbert works at a small Grocery store in town where he often

Various internal and external factors impact Gilbert’s progression throughout the film. Both internal and external factors link together as Gilbert internalizes the affects of the numerous external events that occur throughout his young life. Gilbert’s diminished self worth originates after losing his father at a young age and riles through the continual demands employed on him by Bonnie and the remainder of the Grape family. By continuously attending to the family’s needs, Gilbert has not established personal wants, desires, and goals. Throughout the film, Gilbert voices subtle displeasures of Endora and its bleak future with nothing to offer and void of change, when in truth, these reasons represent Gilbert.