What's Eating Gilbert Grape

 

What’s Eating Gilbert Grape is a film directed by directed by Lasse Halstrom starring Johnny Depp and Leonardo DiCaprio. The film is about 24 year old Gilbert who takes responsibility of his family after the death of his father. Gilbert lives in what seems a dysfunctional family, with an extremely obese mother who refuses to leave the house and a mentally challenged 17-year-old brother Arnie.  Gilbert works as a store clerk and delivery boy for a local store. Gilbert is torn between his responsibilities for him family and his own happiness when he meets a girl-visiting town. He realizes that his love for his family, especially Arnie is more important to him. This movie was based on the book by Peter Hedges. Hedges wanted people to interact with each other with compassion and understanding when writing the novel. He wanted people to view each other with more empathy; even if they don’t necessarily know why someone acts the way he or she does, he wanted them to understand that people are different for a reason. The movie is a struggle of young man finding a balance between his needs and desires while trying to figure out who he is. He is trying to find his place in the world without compromising the responsibilities he has toward his family.

There are many themes and motifs in the book. One of them is the idea of responsibility. Many characters in the movie use Gilbert to fulfill their needs and responsibilities. His mother uses him so she does not have to take on responsibility as a parent, one of his customers uses him for sex because she is in a “boring” marriage, and his boss uses him as reassurance that the store will not go out of business due to the bigger grocery store opening. At one point in the movie, Gilbert is frustrated with all the responsibility and becomes violent with Arnie. The movie emphasizes that these feelings are natural and people will get frustrated with their responsibilities. Another theme expressed in the movie is the effects of bad parenting. Gilbert’s mother starts eating after the death of her husband and reaches a state of extreme obesity. She does not take care of her children and puts all responsibility on Gilbert. Because of this, Arnie gets into quite a bit of trouble as Gilbert has many responsibilities and cant watch Arnie all the time. In addition, Gilbert is left without time for his personal responsibilities such as his love life.

This film is beautiful to me because of the themes it conveys. I believe the world would be less violent if people tried to understand the other person’s perspective. Not everyone is the same and it is hard to please everyone all the time. It is not hard, however, to empathize with one another. Although you might not agree with the way someone thinks or acts, you should try to understand the reasons behind his or her thoughts and actions. I also find this movie beautiful because I can relate to it. My little sister is disabled. She was born deaf and had to go through surgery to artificially fix her hearing. It was difficult and frustrating trying to communicate with her at first and still is at times. But, just as Gilbert realized that love for his brother is most important, I realized that I love my sister very much. It is my responsibility and duty to understand that she is slightly different form everyone else and try to help her as much as I can. I know that sometimes my emotions get the best of me and that is completely natural. But in the end, family is something that will always be there for us and we must cherish it while still playing our parts.