What's Eating Gilbert Grape? Friday, October 24, 2008

I especially remember the scene where Gilbert is trying to get Arnie to wash himself. Gilbert wants him to wash himself because he has a hurry and Becky is waiting for him. Arnie agrees to wash himself because he's "a big boy". But Arnie is still in the bathtub when Gilbert comes home in the morning. He's frozen and is shaking of cold. To leave Arnie alone in the bathtub was wrong and irresponsible. Gilbert knows that Arnie can't take care of himself, but he did this despite his awareness. I think that he should have helped Arnie first of all, Becky wouldn't leave anyway. This scene were really sensitive.

Gilbert has a lot of responsibility in the family. He takes good care of the family, and helps Arnie with his needs. You can see clearly in the movie that he really cares about his family. But he takes too much responsibility and sometimes he even forgets to think about himself. But in my opinion the family should cooperate more with each other and stay together as a real family. I don't think they should fight as often as they do. They arguing a lot about unimportant things. There's not so much joy and laughter inside the house and it seems like the joy of life has ended there years ago. Everyone in the family should take more responsibility. They become stronger together.

I don't think that Gilbert changed his personality after he met Becky. He still cares as much about the family that he use too and his dream is still the same as before. He wishes his family the best. But in some way Becky change Gilberts thoughts and Gilbert knew that Becky was going to make a change in his life. At last, it happened something beyond the ordinary. Gilbert's self-esteem grows up more and more and he takes himself out of his shell.

Gilbert is a good person who cares a lot about the people in his immediate surroundings. He thinks of other people before he thinks of himself. Gilbert is a very unselfish person. He cares so much about other people that he even forgets about himself. He wishes the people that he loves to having the best. If the people around him are feeling good, he's feeling good too. In some way I can see this behavior as positive, to have a such of humanvision is fantastic. But this behavior is negative as long as he forget about himself. If he doesn't think about himself and his needs, it's easy that he will forget who he really is. In the end, he wouldn't feel so good about himself.

In the movie Gilbert says: " Some days you want him to live and some days you don't ". I don't think that Gilbert means anything bad about this. In some way, I can understand how Gilbert feels about this. Arnie can't take care of himself, so he needs a lots of help. This takes much of the familys time. Arnie isn't completely healthy mentally, so he lacks the ability to know what's right or wrong. He doesn't know how to act in some situations. It's difficult to ask him to be quiet when he screams and when someone asks him to stop, he continues and makes it worse. I think that Gilbert is a little bit tired of looking after Arnie all the time. But despite everything, Arnie is his brother, and he loves him with all his heart.

In the movie, says Arnie: "I can go anytime." I think that Arnie means that he wants to leave. That he has a strong desire to discover the world. We can see clearly in the movie that he like heights. He climbs in the trees and on the water tower. In this way, he gets a view of the world.

I think the movie's message is to show that all people are equal. We shouldn't look down on each other and we should treat each other with respect, no matter what! I also believe that one other part of the message is about to stand by each other. To stay together and become stronger, both as a family and as individuals. People like Arnie really need to know that they are loved. By knowing love you became stronger as a person.

After the movie ends, I think that Gilbert and Arnie finally get the chance to discover the world. Together with Becky and her grandmother they are broaden their views. I'm not sure about what Elly and Emy are doing when the movie ends.

I would just like to say that I thought this movie was really good. It had a nice message.