An individual’s well-being can ultimately define their attitude and ability to sustain a high quality of life. The film, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape? revolves around a family living in the town Endora. It centers around the Grape family, but mainly Gilbert Grape and his younger brother, Arnie Grape, who has neurological growth problems. One day, Gilbert meets a young woman named Becky. Gilbert experiences a great change in his well-being from the beginning of the film, compared to the end. Caring for his brother, his family, and the house are demands that were placed upon him years ago. It weakens his ability to maintain a healthy emotional state of mind, as he is engrossed in his family’s life. When emotional wellness is tainted, it is not …show more content…
In the beginning of the film, Gilbert started to speak of his family and stated that, “‘Some days you want him [Arnie] to live...some days you don’t.’” This describes Gilbert’s feelings associated with the relationship between Arnie and himself, and even his family. Gilbert is so caught up in making Arnie happy, protecting Arnie, and making sure he gets to bed on time, that he does not do those things for himself. Around the middle of the film, Gilbert and Becky are about to watch the sunset together, when he remembers that he was to bathe Arnie that night. He leaves Becky and tells her that he will be back, and after preparing the bath, he says to Arnie, “The big boy’s gonna wash himself. [...] I gotta go.” Gilbert is realizing that he needs to stop neglecting himself and his needs, and takes the first step into a better emotional well-being. This is the first time that the largest responsibility put upon Gilbert does not hold him back. Although this choice ended with Arnie being left in the bathtub for hours, it was a decision that was starting to lead Gilbert in the right direction. Speaking to Becky allowed Gilbert to open up and become vulnerable. Releasing all the negative thoughts about how he was ashamed of his family lifted a weight off of his chest. His emotional well-being improved, leaving him able to be more at peace with himself and …show more content…
Gilbert commentates the film in the beginning, and he mentions that “[his] dad built the house...and it’s [his] job to keep up the repairs.” Taking into account that his father built the house that the Grape family lives in, it can be inferred that the house is quite old. That means that there are many issues that need to be fixed, and as said, Gilbert must uphold them. As he is the only working member of the family, they cannot afford to hire professionals to handle the larger repairs, and again, it falls on Gilbert’s shoulders. It could be argued that this means he is physically well because of all the drudging tasks he fulfills, but all of that stress and hard work would leave anyone, especially one that has many more responsibilities, exhausted. Near the end, Gilbert says that he’s “not going to let her [Mama] be a joke.” After Mama dies, the Grape family decides that burning the house is a decision that would benefit them all, even Mama. Mama would be able to keep her dignity after death, and the house would be gone, getting rid of bad memories and a portion of Gilbert’s responsibility with it. When assessing a person’s physical welfare, it is important to take into account their mental wellness as well. Gilbert’s mental well-being was not at a very high place in the beginning, he was always tired from the work he
In the story, each character's mental and physical health changes, whether it is prominently obvious or not. Their health declines – whether it be a rapid decline, as in the father's case, or a graduating descent, like the the rest of the family – and they become older and less attached to the real world, more attached to each other. They retain their habits from the camp and it affects the way that they live amongst other people, in the outside world. The permanence of the changes is evident in each character and will strongly affect the way they live the rest of their life from that point.
The Grapes are a family living in a rural and economically depressed community. The members of the Grape family presently residing in the familial home consists of biological birth mother Bonnie Grape, who is unemployed and 54 years of age. Amy Grape, the eldest child, Unemployed and currently 34 years of age. Gilbert Grape, the eldest male sibling who is employed at a local grocery store and is currently 24, years of age. Arnie Grape is Gilbert’s younger brother and is presently turning 18 years of age. Arnie reaching his 18th birthday is considered to be somewhat of a triumph by the Grape family, as Arnie suffers from a debilitating medical condition that has not only kept him from achieving age appropriate developmental milestones but also threatens to shorten his life expectancy considerably. The youngest sibling Ellen Grape is currently employed at a local ice cream parlor and is 16 years of age.
Gilbert loves his mom, but she’s too much for him. Since Gilbert is the man of the house it’s up to him to take care of his family, which is a lot of pressure. At one point in the film Gilbert says, “I wanna be a good person.” This quote shows how much pressure Gilbert puts on himself to be a good person for his family. Gilbert’s family relies on him for so much and Gilbert does all he can to provide do to provide everything they want. All of the pressure of being relied on is a lot and starts to show up in his
Gilbert Grape is the eldest child. He takes on the role of being the head of the family by working a full-time job at the town’s mini-grocery store providing for his siblings, special care for his disabled brother Arnie and homebound mother. Amy Grape is the second eldest and takes on the motherly role in the household while becoming their
The movie utilized for this assignment was What’s Eating Gilbert Grape. This movie explored the life of the Grape family consisting of Gilbert, Ellen, Arnie, Bonnie and Amy. (Hallström, Blomquist, Matalon, Ohlsson, Teper 1993). The movie reveals the struggles that the family face while raising Arnie who had a chronic mental illness (Hallström et al., 1993). This paper will discuss the priority concerns and corresponding interventions that are pertinent for the Grape family based on thorough use of the Calgary family assessment model. The focus of this papers assessment on the family will be on the functional aspect; however the structural and developmental aspects have been assessed.
According to Ronald B. Adler and Russell F. Proctor II “competent communication involves achieving one’s goals in a manner that, in most cases, maintains or enhances the relationship in which it occurs” (Adler and Proctor, 22). There are many different ways to be competent in communication. The way someone communicates depends on the personality of the communicator and who they are trying to communicate with. It also greatly depends on the situation in which the communication occurs. For example a “joke that would be ideal would probably be inappropriate at a funeral” (Adler and Proctor, 22). There are many different factors that determine whether someone is communicating competently, and there is a huge range of different behaviors
To help my peers and I become a more culturally competent we chose to watch the movie “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape” in hopes to become more aware and knowledgeable about the differences of values and beliefs in our society. What’s Eating Gilbert Grape; a film produced in 1993, address many issues everyday people face in society such as socioeconomic struggle and mental or physical discrimination.
The family dynamics in the Grape family is close and reflects a general sense of caring. Each character on some level interacted with one another in order to keep the family together. While Gilbert works tirelessly as a caregiver for his brother, he also works to provide for his family. When Ellen is not preoccupied with herself, she also helps take care of her mother. Bonnie, while immobile for much of the movie, runs her family unit from her spot on the couch, and she is included in meals when they bring the table to her in order for them to eat together. Newman & Newman (2012) suggested that the demands of household management stimulate development. As each character is involved in this role in some sense,
Everyone has to deal with struggles during their everyday life. Some people’s problems are more serious than others, and the way that people deal with their problems varies. Everybody has a coping mechanism, something they can use to make the struggle that they’re going through easier, but they’re usually different. Some people drink, some people smoke, some people pretend there is no problem. There are healthy and unhealthy coping mechanisms, and people will vary the one they use depending on the problem they’re facing. In The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, the author and her family deal with their struggles in multiple different ways as time goes on. However, the severity of her situation means that the methods she uses to deal with it are very important. That’s why it’s bad that Jeanette’s and her family have such unhealthy coping mechanisms, such
In the film "What's Eating Gilbert Grape?" directed by Lasse Hallstrom in 1993, one of the main ideas is that of struggle and hardship. This idea is significant to the film because it relates to each character in a different way, making the storyline more interesting. Three different techniques used by Lasse Hallstrom to illustrate the idea of struggle and hardship include Gilberts voice over, the extra close-ups of Bonnie as she climbs the stairs and the double up of dialogue, where Mrs Carver is talking to Gilbert, and Mr Carver is heard tying to entertain their children in background.
After watching the movie “What’s eating Gilbert Grape” it focuses more on Gilbert Grape than any other characters in the movie. Gilbert Grape is a young man who resides in a small community called Endora. Gilbert at the beginning of the movie states “Describing Endora is like dancing to no music”. Gilbert’s youngest brother Arnie is soon to be 18 years old and has a developmental disability that never was disclosed in the movie. Furthermore, Bonnie Gilbert’s mother has been locked in her own home since her husband committed suicide seven years ago. Moreover, Bonnie is at the stage of stagnation. She is over-weighted and doesn’t think of doing anything for herself or for any of her children. Therefore, leaving Gilbert with the full responsibility of caring for his family especially Arnie.
Mental disorders are a common condition that many people and families have to live with and go through in their lifetime. The disorders are more common than one may think, and in fact they are all around us we just may not know. In the 1993 film “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape”, the movie stars Johnny Depp who takes the role of a small-town man, Gilbert Grape, who takes care of his fatherless family of five. The movie shows many characteristics of autism, depression, and eating disorders. It shows examples of the life that those effected with the disorders have to live with every day.
Social Psychology is the study of how we think and relate to other people. These psychologists focused on how the social situation influences others behavior. We see social influences everywhere we go, but might not notice it. Like when watching a movie for fun you do not notice it as much as when you are actually looking for the behaviors, like in the film The Breakfast Club. There are several examples of social psychological behaviors in the film.
In Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris’ 2006 movie Little Miss Sunshine, they depict the tribulations of a dysfunctional family trying to get their daughter to a beauty pageant, while encompassing strong portrayals of common issues in the United States today. It communicates the individual’s struggle to be perfect, as well as the difficulties of the average middle class family in society. In this paper I will analyze three characters; Olive, Dwayne, and Richard Hoover, identifying their life stages, psychosocial development, role in the family and their resiliency through the stories challenging circumstances.
The Grape family wasn't the perfect nuclear family by any means of the word. But they did stand together through hardships and tribulations that the family faced. It wasn't easy for Gilbert to be the primary provider at a young age for his family and not able to explore life. Even Amy gave up a lot of her social life to take over the mother role. The family made it through all the problems that they faced by sticking together and forming a greater bond. Even with the death of Bonnie on Arnie 18th birthday and the burning down of their only house, they still stuck together. The death of their mother open up a door of freedom, even if this does sound wrong in context. But the children where free to navigate their lives and build stronger bonds. The love was their throughout the family and that's what truly matters at the end.