"What's eating Gilbert Grape"

“What’s eating Gilbert Grape” Essay

“The film ‘What’s eating Gilbert Grape’ is about change, discuss.”

Lasse Hallstrom’s film ‘What’s eating Gilbert Grape’ is primarily about change, both within the Grape family and the whole town of Endora. In this film, in which nothing actually seems to happen and looks as thought it ends where it began, we see some clear changes within the characters. Some of them go through a long, hard journey to fight for their lives and encounter a change. The director implies that Becky is used as a catalyst, both for Gilbert and Arnie.
At the beginning of the film we see that Gilbert is ashamed of his family. When some kids try to sneak a look at Gilbert’s fat momma, he gives them a boost so they can see. He also refers to his mum as a “whale”, secretly re-enforces the floor because her obesity has caused it to nearly collapse and has to deal with the embarrassment of Arnie climb...