Wednesday, January 9, 2013
"What's Eating Gilbert Grape?": Family Roles and Character Values
We've now watched the opening few scenes of the the film What's Eating Gilbert Grape. Already, some things are clear to us. What is each person's role in the family? How do they each handle their responsibilities? In addition, how have you seen TWO of the following five values demonstrated in characters or their situations throughout the film: Love, Friendship, Fear, Courage, Kindness? Please offer a thoughtful response that is at least 10 sentences long. Thank you and looking forward to reading your responses.
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In "What's Eating Gilbert Grape", the different family members play different roles within the family. Gilbert is the caretaker of Arnie and is the father figure of the family. He is enthusiastic with Arnie and likes to play around with him a lot. Bonnie, the mother, is obviously the mother-figure of the family and caretaker of all. Bonnie mostly sits on the couch all day, but does care for Arnie following Arnie's climb of the tower. Although we do not know much about Amy, we can still say that she does most of the cooking and cleaning around the house. Ellen, the youngest sister, does not have much of a big role in the family, but we do see her help with the cooking and cleaning. The value of courage is shown whenever Gilbert is taking care of Arnie. Gilbert is courageous enough to bring Arnie everywhere he goes and does not forget to keep a close eye on him. He is courageous to take the lead role as the caretaker for Arnie. Love is shown as well in the film. Following Arnie and Gilbert's eventful afternoon of getting Arnie down from the tower, a scene is shown when the mother is holding Arnie closely. She is repeating to him something along the lines of "Don't ever do that again." We don't see her spend time with Arnie often, but in this scene we see her treat Arnie as her son.
ReplyDeleteAlready, it is clear that the five Grapes have specific roles within their family. Gilbert looks after Arnie, his mentally disabled brother. Gilbert is very mature in his relationship with his brother. There are moments where Gilbert appears frustrated, but so far he has always found away to pull himself together and help his brother. When Arnie climbed the water tower and Gilbert exemplified his love for Arnie. He coaxed Arnie down by singing silly songs in front of the entire town. Gilbert brings Arnie wherever he goes in order to look after him. It is a big responsibility, but it is clear that Gilbert truly loves his brother.
ReplyDeleteEllen Grape, the youngest sister, does not do much to help take care of the family. She’s busy being a teenager and pushing the buttons of the other Grapes. Amy Grape, the eldest sister, serves as the mother and runs the house. Mama, the family’s actual mother, does nothing but sit on the sofa, watch tv, and eat. She is unable to move due to her obesity, so Gilbert and Amy take care of the house and everyone in it. Mama depends on her children to take care of her, an odd flip on the normal parent-child relationship. The kids move the table out to the sofa so Mama can eat with them. In one scene, the subject of their father was brought up, and Arnie started chanting “Dad’s dead” and banging violently on the table. Immediately the table erupted; Gilbert and Amy tried to calm Arnie down, Ellen just kept yelling, and Mama started banging on the table as well. I think this scene exemplifies fear in the Grape family. The subject of their father seems to be taboo and the entire family, with the exception of Arnie, fears talking about their dad.
Gilbert Grape is the oldest child in the movie. After his father’s death, he became the breadwinner of the house and began to work at the food store his father previously worked at. He also has the task of taking care of his mentally-retarded brother, Arnie. Even though Gilbert does not particularly enjoy taking care of Arnie, he does not seem to protest his responsibility. Arnie’s task primarily to tag along with his older brother, not get in trouble, and help out when needed. However, Arnie’s mental disability causes him to often do irrational things and get trouble. The mother’s obesity impedes her from filling her natural obligation as a mother to provide for her children. As a result, the responsibilities house work and cooking primarily fall on Amy Grapes, the oldest daughter, who is seen cooking for her mother. Ellen Grape is the younger daughter, and has the responsibility of helping out with housework as well.
ReplyDeleteThe value of love is demonstrated in several situations in the opening few scenes of the film. We see a secret and passionate display of romance between the housewife Betty and Gilbert. Gilbert, as well as Arnie show a hint of intrigue for one of their clients, Becky. Another value is fear. Gilbert is afraid of Betty’s husband, who has suspicions of the affair that exists between Gilbert and his wife. Gilbert tries to avoid Ken despite Ken’s request to talk with him.
There are clearly defined roles and personalities in the Grape family so far. Arnie does his best to help out, showing tremendous respect and admiration toward Gilbert. Gilbert watches out for Arnie while also earning a steady paycheck to help support his mother and sisters. Amy does the cooking and such associated tasks, doing everything in her power to help her mother. Ellen is a stereotypical teenage girl, self absorbed and fed up with being embarrassed by her family. There is also another brother who has only been mentioned once and apparently "got away". Love is a huge part of the Grape family. It is what ultimately binds them all together. They care for Arnie and try to make his 18th birthday as special as they can, making sure everyone has a part to play. Another binding emotion that perpetuates their depressed state of living is fear. There is a constant fear of upsetting Mama; this combined with love is what keeps the rest of the children from leaving home. It is implied that when the father died, Mama began to slip into the depths of depression and causing her vicariously to gain weight. This would explain why nobody wants to upset her again. There is a routine set amongst the family and it seems to put most of the burden on Gilbert.
ReplyDeleteWhat's eating Gilbert Grape portrays in essence the many flaws of human beings, and it seems that every character in the movie is guilty of insincerity except for Arnie (Leo), who seems to put a burden on the family. Gilbert seems like the only one in the family to have an active role in Arnie's life. There are many instances where you see him covering for Arnie, and protecting him from harshness directed towards his condition. Gilbert also has a reckless side to him (for example, his engaging in an affair with Mrs. Lamson), which will undoubtedly eventually cause harm to the family. Arnie plays the role of being the main focus of everyone's priorities. His condition renders him to be a burden on the family, which in turn makes each of the family members direct most of their attention to helping him navigate through life. Amy hasn't been shown much throughout the movie so far, but it was made clear that she had developed into a mother figure after the mother became incapacitated by her obesity. Ellen's role isn't quite clear, yet, but her hormonal brattiness will probably cause her to hurt Arnie in some way or form. Bonnie's role in her position forces the kids to take action in taking care of the family.
ReplyDeleteLove is portrayed from two distinct relationships in the story. Gilbert to Arnie, in the form of his overshadowing of Arnie, and protectiveness of him, and the kids to their mother. Even though Gilbert hates that his mother is overweight, and causing a burden for the entire family, you can see that he still loves her from his movements and actions. The scene where he lights the cigarette for her is a good example. I've also noticed that the community of the town shows kindness towards the family, and Arnie by not outcasting him, and allowing him to be in their business place, even though he tends to be rowdy. The scene where the grocery store manager is showing the bug jar to Arnie is a good example of that.
The five members of the Grape family all have distinct roles in the household. Gilbert Grape has to provide for the family with his job at the local grocer’s and also has most of the responsibility for watching over his brother Arnie. Arnie himself is eager to help the family, shown when he carries groceries, but sometimes ends up doing more harm than good. Ellen is generally uninterested in family affairs such as Arnie’s birthday party and seems only concerns with herself. Amy cooks meals for the rest of the family and takes on a motherly role in the absence of Mama’s ability to care for the family. Mama suffers from severe obesity and does little more than eat, sleep, and watch TV. Her children still obey her despite her the fact that she does little to help the family.
ReplyDeleteArnie shows love for his older brother Gilbert. Arnie follows his brother around and looks up to him. He shows no animosity towards anyone. Gilbert and Amy show kindness towards Arnie when Arnie hides in a tree and they pretend not to see him. Gilbert gives Arnie opportunities to feel good about himself and always treats him nicely.
In “What’s eating Gilbert Grape”, the roles of the family members become pretty clear within the first 40 minutes. Gilbert is the caretaker of Arnie and he is the man of the house since his father died. He handles the responsibility of watching Arnie very well. Gilbert does become frustrated a few times but he just calms down and moves on. Gilbert showed courage when Arnie was climbing the water tower by singing over the microphone even though it would have been really embarrassing. He also shows love throughout by caring for his brother even though he can be annoying sometimes. The eldest sisters role is to cook and be the mother of the house while the mom sits on a sofa. The mother doesn’t really have a role because after her husband died she let herself go. Ellen grape is just there to be a teenager and annoy the rest of the family by causing problems and exacerbating ones that arise. The mother’s role may change later in the movie but right now she is just a burden to her children.
ReplyDeleteGilbert is clearly the leading figure in the family. He watches over Arnie and to some extent, the rest of the family. He is the only one seen holding a job and obviously does his best to support the rest. Arnie is the only totally innocent childlike person in the movie due to his mental disorder. Amy is mature enough to help gilbert with the rest of the house, she does most of the cooking and cleaning, however, we don’t really get to see her much. Ellen is the youngest and is in a rebel teen stage. She doesn’t give the impression of liking her family much and she acts very immature. The value of family and love are both shown when gilbert is taking care of arnie (an immensely difficult feat, such as getting him down from the water tower) and supporting his family. Tucker shows the value of friendship as he helps gilbert support the floor so his mom doesn’t fall through it.
ReplyDelete"What's Eating Gilbert Grape" is a story that follows the slightly dysfunctional Grape family. Not even half way into the movie each character's role in the film has become quickly easily identifiable. The Grape family has lost their father and has forced Gilbert to step up and become the man of the house. Arnie, the center of the family of sorts, helps out his family however he can, yet with an unidentified mental illness Arnie causes stress throughout his family, such as in the water tower scene and dinner scene. It is clear that Arnie is very beloved, Arnie and his family display the value of love, unconditional love. As we have seen, it hasn't been easy to love Arnie unconditionally, but all of the Grapes accept him for how he is.
ReplyDeleteGilbert Grape, has been thrust into a father figure at what looks like his young 20s, being forced to work to support his family and whale of a mother Gilbert shows his courage and that he can take care of his loved ones. Gilbert seems to be the main caretaker and babysitter of his little brother Arnie. With Gilbert's mother being no more than a mouth to feed, mama Grape is a complete burden to her family, and in no way is she an "asset" to the family in terms of making money and being a proper mother to her children.
The role of each family member surfaces quickly in the movie. Though Ellen claims that Gilbert is "not dad", he obviously acts as the father figure and the main breadwinner. Gilbert takes care of his mother, the house and repairs, the groceries, and he spends quite a great deal of his time taking care of his younger brother, Arnie. Gilbert spends so much time taking care of others that he never has time for himself, so when his responsibilities conflict with his personal life with Becky, he doesn't juggle it gracefully. Mama doesn't really do much except bury her feelings under heaps of food and, subsequently, adipose. Her responsibilities are very little, but they mostly consist of giving her son, Arnie, love. This can barely be accomplished when Arnie needs her the most. For example, since she refuses to leave the house, her words that would have surely helped in getting Arnie down from the water tower could not be spoken. To put it bluntly, she does a half-ass job at being a mom. Amy Grape is more of a "mother" in the sense of house keeping than Mama. She cooks, cleans, and takes care of Mama. Ellen is just a brat, and she is probably my least favorite character. Please forgive me if I'm harsh. She does make some money at the ice cream shop, but she is such a nuisance that the family honestly would be better off without her. She starts drama with Gilbert, hurting her family, and she is so snobby. I just despise her character.
ReplyDeleteFear has occurred in the movie many times, but one time that stands out to me is the gripping fear Gilbert obviously feels whenever he encounters Ken Carver, specifically when he was leaving Betty's house. On the other side of the spectrum, kindness was showed quite a bit, too. Becky showed pure kindness when she smoothed over the fiasco of Arnie dropping her groceries: "I'm not sorry, he's not sorry, we're not sorry!" She showed patience with Arnie, and understanding with Gilbert.
Each member of the Grape family has a key role to create the balance in their family. Gilbert must act as the father figure. He takes care of his brother who has a disability and treats him as his son. Arnie, the brother with the disability, acts as the childish character who must always be watched. The older sister acts as the mother, doing all the cooking and cleaning. The younger sister who is 15 acts like a typical teenager wanting everything to go her way. She makes smart-ass comments as a teenager would do. Mama has grown insanely fat ever since the dad passed away. She is someone the kids have to take care of by feeding her and helping her with little things. She is unable to move around therefor leaving the chores to be done by the kids. It is hard enough for the kids to have to take care of Arnie, but they also have to take care of their mom.
ReplyDeleteThe scene where Arnie is climbing up the tower and Gilbert singing for him to come down shows a lot of characteristics of Gilbert. Gilbert shows love and kindness by wanting his brother to come down safely. He feels fear as one would feel in that situation. He is also very courageous by taking the megaphone and singing to get his brother to climb down. Kindness is shown when the family is planning Arnie's 18th birthday party. They show their kindness and love by finding ways to contribute to make his birthday a meaningful one. The five values listed are shown multiple times throughout the movie, but those two scenes stuck with me.
Through the first couple of scenes of "What's Eating Gilbert Grape" the dynamic of the family has been made clear. The mother has clearly let herself go and has passed off her responsibilities onto her children. This requires the oldest sister, Amy, to fill in as a mother for the family. The scene where Amy tells her mom that she made a bed for her in case she wanted a change from staying on the couch all the time suggests that Amy wants her mom to help out and stop being so lazy. However, Mrs. Grape ends up sleeping on the couch once again and not helping out. Gilbert has a lot of responsibilities for the family. He has assumed a stereotypical father like position in the family. We see him go to work every day and then return home to his mother watching television on the couch and his sisters slaving away in the kitchen. However, Gilbert's most important responsibility for the family is taking care of his brother, Arnie. It is clear that Gilbert has the closest relationship with Arnie out of the family when he is able to get Arnie to calm down over dinner and when he is able to talk him down from the top of the water tower. Gilbert is clearly the kindest character that we have seen so far, because he is the only one who has really given Arnie a chance to fit in and embraced him as an equal. Although, Amy is probably upset with her mother for not helping with anything and burdening the family, it is clear that she loves her. She tries to motivate her mother into going back into her old self and not quitting on life and she always covers her in a blanket at night to keep her warm.
ReplyDeleteWithin the first couple of minutes in the movie, the relationship of Gilbert and his brother can be clearly identified as love. Gilbert takes on fatherly figure of the house since his father is dead. Gilbert loves his brother Arnie and takes him wherever they go to keep an eye on Arnie. Although there is a loving side of Gilbert, he expresses his wild side by having the affair with Mrs. Carver. Arnie Grape is not required to take much responsibility in his family because of his mental disability. Even though Arnie has mental disabilities, he clearly shows love and listens to his brother Gilbert. An example of this is when Arnie climbs the water tower. Nobody but Gilbert was able to persuade Arnie to come down from the tower; this shows the special relationship Arnie has with Gilbert. Ellen Grape is the youngest sister of the Grape family. Ellen does not have a big responsibility in the family and has the attitude of an average teenager. Amy Grape is the oldest sister of the family. Since Amy’s mother does take much responsibility in the family, Amy takes over her mother’s responsibilities by being the motherly figure of the house (cooks, cleans, looks after people). Tucker Van Dyke displayed the characteristics of friendship by helping the Grapes maintain their home (floorboards, electric board).
ReplyDeleteIn the movie "What's Eating Gilbert Grape" Gilbert Grape kind of acts like a father figure in their family since their dad is dead. He takes care of Arnie every day. Gilbert works and is the handyman around the house. Gilbert's older sister acts as the mother in the family, cooking cleaning etc., because their actual mom sits on the couch all day. Gilbert's mom has "let herself go" since her husband committed suicide in the basement. She isn't really there and doesn't really help out the family. She relies on her kids to take care of her and is very very fat. The youngest child in the Grape family is a 15-year-old girl. She's a typical teenager, thinking that everything has to go her way, picking fights and elevating ones that are already there. Overall she just causes frustration in the Grape family. Last but not least, there is Arnie Grape. Arnie has some mental illness, and it is a miracle that he has survived to almost 18. Someone has to constantly be watching him and that task falls upon his older brother Gilbert.
ReplyDeleteSo far I've seen all five values show up in the movie but two that stick out to me our 'friendship' and 'kindness'. I really seen these two values most through Tucker Van Dick. Even through hard times, Tucker is there for Gilbert. From helping with electric problems to reinforcing the floor so Gilbert's mom doesn't fall through, Tucker is proving his friendship to Gilbert and showing just how kind humans can be.
There is a certain dark mood around the family that seems to be un-wavering, and that is the death of the father. Each character is formed around this loss, and how they deal with it personally. Gilbert, being the oldest in the family, endures most of the "manly" work around the house. He cares for Arnie in a fatherly way, which is admirable. Not too sweet, not too mean. He has a calm demeanor about him. Arnie, although full of life, always has death on his shoulders. He is a ticking time bomb. Even though he is the farthest away mentally, he has a weird way of bringing the family together. The mother has a completely different way of coping with the death of her husband. She let her self go, and pushed all responsibilities onto her kids. Amy, the eldest daughter, is more of the "mother figure". You often see her doing the housework, and taking care of everyone (including Mama). And then there is Ellen, the stereotypical, moody teenager. One emotion I feel remains constant is love. With one loss already and the fear of another, they stick pretty close. This family cares for each other indefinitely.
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