Whats Eating Gilbert Grape: Struggles with his life and dysfunctional family
In director Lasse Hallstrom's film, What's Eating Gilbert Grapeshowcases the exceptionality of the mentally handicapped within the contextof a family situation. The clearly non-traditional and dysfunctionalfamily struggles to care for their mentally handicapped son, Arne, and yetmanage to show love and support for each other throughout some trying anddifficult time. The struggles that the family faces often illustrate thedifficulties faced by families and caregivers of the mentally handicapped,especially in regard to the balance between personal needs and family In the movie, Arne (played by Leonardo DiCaprio) is the 17-year-oldmentally handicapped brother of the lead character, Gilbert (played byJohnny Depp). While the majority of the movie is about Gilbert's struggleswith his life and dysfunctional family, much of his anxiety and troublecomes from Arne. Leonardo DiCaprio does a fantastic job of portraying thementally handicapped Arne. He manages to get the viewer to sympathize withboth Arne and Gilbert's problems, and yet never really elicits a feeling ofpity. Arne is seen as a complex, three-dimensional personality, with needs
As such, Gilbert's strugglebetween his own personal desires and the needs of his family and mentallyhandicapped brother represent many of the struggles of other caregivers infamilies where a member has a disability. Here,DiCaprio does an excellent job of showing Arne's confusion, without makinghim seem pitiful or falling back on may cliches about the mentallyhandicapped. It is Gilbert's relationship with Arne, however, thatshows the most about the dynamics within the family of someone who isdevelopmentally delayed. Gilbert is largely left with the work ofkeeping the family together, as he works at the local grocery store tosupport the family Family dynamics in the movie are complex and interesting. Gilbert is always rescuingArne as well, as seen in his rescue of Arne from the water tower. Overall, What's Eating GilbertGrape represents family dynamics as both changeable and complex. Formerlythe breadwinner, the mother figure in the movie is clearly dependent on heroldest son, Gilbert, to keep the family together. Gilbert's father committed suicide, and his mother,formerly a teacher, is without a job and has eaten herself to thestaggering weight of 500 lbs. Atone point in the movie, Gilbert hits Arne in a burst of anger, but isimmediately sorry and ashamed. A year later, each of the major characters has gone onto make a better start of their life, and Gilbert is eased from his familyresponsibilities, and can begin to make his own life. When Arne is arrested, his 500 lb motherbravely suffers the indignity of snickers from the crowd that gathersoutside the jail to get Arne out of prison. ternatively loveable and wonderful, and thecause of a great deal of trouble to Gilbert. The weariness ofthe mother clearly reflects the difficulty in assuming the responsibilityof caring not only with a mentally challenged son, but with the otherstruggles of life. In one occasion, Arne managesto climb the local water tower, but forgets how to get down. Overall, although the family system in the movie is seen asdysfunctional and unusual, in the end members of the family almost alwayslove and support each other.
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