Title: What’s Eating Gilbert Grape

Brief Summary and Personal Opinion:

Gilbert is a young man in his early twenties who leads a life full of responsibilities in a small town. He is surrounded by his mother, an older sister, a younger sister, and a younger brother. His two other siblings left town hoping for a better life. Gilbert has a younger brother, named Arnie, who is severely special needs. He has such a high level of autism that he must be supervised at all times. Arnie was not supposed to make it past twelve years old but he is about to turn 18 years old. Gilbert is in charge of keeping Arnie out of trouble and most importantly safe.

Gilbert’s other responsibility is taking care of his severely obese mother who has been stuck in their house for over ten years.  Unfortunately, Gilbert’s mother did not know how to handle the death of her husband and ultimately ate her pain away. This film shows the negative effects of over consumption of food and how it directly impacts a person and their families. She is often made fun of and disrespected just because of how much she weighs. When Gilbert is not watching Arnie or helping his mother he is working at Lamson’s grocery, a local family owned grocery store in his town.

Arnie tends to escape and he frequently climbs up the water tower ladder. Police officers have to come and assist the process of getting Arnie down. Gilbert always promises that it won’t happen again but somehow Arnie always finds a way back up there. The last time Arnie went up the water tower, the police got him down and then arrested him. This is a scary situation for anyone, but especially for Arnie who does not do well on his own.

After going out in public the mother started moving a little more and even moved off the couch for the first time. Gilbert and her started forming a better relationship. She apologized for being a disappointment and finally Gilbert realized how mean he was to her and he apologized. She climbed upstairs and even got into her bed. This was a big deal because she had been stuck on the couch for years. Sadly she dies overnight and Arnie finds her dead the next morning.

I thoroughly enjoyed the plot line of this film. I was glad my attention was focused on themes that related to class because there were so many I may have just skipped past. The focus on obesity in this film is very powerful. It shows how hard it is for obese people. Many people think that an obese person just needs to exercise and eat healthy. This is easier said than done which is evident in the movie. Obesity is a lifestyle and it takes a lot of changed behaviors to reverse. Obesity also spirals into many other health issues which is shown when Gilbert’s mother dies suddenly after doing exercise. The comments made by the townspeople illustrated perfectly the ignorance of people who are not obese. They blamed her and made fun of her because it ultimately made them feel better about themselves.

Theme #1: Obesity:

Obesity is a classified disease where the weight of person is higher than what is classified as healthy compared to their height. Obesity can serve beneficial to certain groups of people such as physicians, dieticians, weight loss companies, and health care companies. These groups of people often make a lot of money off of obesity because obesity is common, serious, and costly. The intent of classifying obesity as a disease attempted to give more funding and make it seem less like a personal failure. Unfortunately, classifying obesity as a disease added a lot of stigma to those affected by obesity.

When Gilbert talks about her he states “My mom is sort of attached to the house, attached is I guess not the right word. She is basically wedged in” (44:56). He really resented his mom at the start of the movie. Kids from the town would always come to their house and try to peep in the window to see how big she was. Gilbert initially helped the kids and lifted them up to see her. Eventually, he has a change in heart and realizes he needs to help his mother rather than always bringing her down. Gilbert didn’t realize how much his attitude towards his mother was impacting her.

Gilbert’s mom is ultimately affected by this because of the social stigma she is forced to deal with. When Gilbert’s mother found out Arnie was taken to the town prison, she was forced to make a move and leave the house. This was the first time she was out of the house in ten years and the whole town came out to watch her. Towns people watching her stated, “that’s why she needs a cane” (1:7:15). There is a huge crowd that is full of laughter and whispers. This truly makes his mother feel like a failure and reaffirms that she should just stay in the house. It does not motivate her at all. It would be hard for his mom to go into the downtown just because she dreads what is coming for her.

Gilbert was initially very mean and rude to his mother. As the movie developed Gilbert’s close friends helped he realize he needed to be better to his mother. Later Gilbert’s mother is talking to him and states “and I know that you’re ashamed of me” (1:37:55). He replied and said, “no I’m not” (1:37:59). Later she said, “I never, never meant to be like this. I never meant to be a joke” (1:38:30).

Theme #2: Food as Identity:

Food serve as a powerful indicator of how a person identifies themselves intentionally or unintentionally. It can serve to show a person’s’ ethnicity, origin, activities, family, and occupation. Identity work is the activity that helps us define for ourselves and other who we are socially and culturally. In the film, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, food serves as a powerful indicator of the families social class.

In the film, Gilbert works at the local town grocery store. The market is clearly struggling and they can’t compete with the big corporate grocery stores. When Gilbert describes his job he states “Lamson’s grocery is where I work, and miles out of town on the interstate, there’s foodland where everyone else shops” (3:06). Foodland separates the middle and upper class from the lower class. Foodland has anything and everything imaginable while Lamson’s grocery only has select items. Gilbert overheard people talking about canola oil and they said “[they] probably don’t even sell it at Lamson’s grocery” (20:47). Many of the members of the town enjoy driving to Foodland because it boosts their social identity and how others see them. Gilbert refuses to go to Foodland because he doesn’t want to support big corporate businesses. On Arnie’s birthday, Gilbert is forced into Foodland because Arnie knocked over the cake. Gilbert quickly sees why people always go to Foodland. They have promotions constantly like the double coupon every day that week he went. He also saw the variety with the signs advertising that they had alive Maine lobsters.

Theme #3: Fast Food Ideology:

Fast food is an ever growing business in the world today. What’s not to like? It’s fast, consistently the same, and convenient. Unfortunately, as stated in the article we read for class, fast food takes away the art of growing and cooking food. Fast food is looking for the quickest way to produce food that will make money. Fast food does not have any concerns for the quality of food or nutrients people are intaking. Fast food restaurants have the same menu, uniform, food presentation, and even in the way workers greet customers no matter where you go.

When Gilbert’s friends share the news that a BurgerBarn is coming to town, Gilbert is livid. Gilbert’s friend, Tucker, stated “It’ll be an exact copy of the original they built in Boone…which is not big deal Gilbert because all burger barns are build identical. They’re prefabricated they just ship ‘em out. It’s so efficient, It’s amazing. In the matter of a couple days, there can be a whole new restaurant there” (17:19). Tucker was excited because it brings hope to a dying town with no new businesses. Gilbert is disappointed because it takes away from the authenticity and quality of food that he can find. Each fast food place usually has something innovative that sets it apart from others. One scene describes that BurgerBarn is innovative because they created the salad bar. They get customers in because the salad bar appeals to different people who normally wouldn’t support a fast food restaurant. When Gilbert goes to BurgerBarn to see his friend Tucker, Tucker uses the slogan of the BurgerBurn and says “Real milk in there…Real Milk” (1:16:32).  

Works Cited:

Ohlsson, B (Producer),  Matalon, D (Producer), Teper, M (Producer), & Hallström, L. (Director). (1993). What’s Eating Gilbert Grape [Motion Picture]. United States: Matalon Teper Ohlsson.

[Picture of BurgerBarn from the movie]. Retrieved April 28, 2019 from https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/fa2255bf-7ee4-469f-b2dd-4bd2ae78d0d9

[Picture of Mother and Arnie from the movie]. Retrieved April 28, 2019 from https://news.avclub.com/r-i-p-darlene-cates-gilbert-s-mom-in-what-s-eating-gi-1798259677

[Picture of the Grape Family from the movie]. Retrieved April 28, 2019 from https://people.com/celebrity/darlene-cates-dies-gilbert-grape-weight-battle-hollywood-success/

[Picture of the owner of Lamson’s Grocery, his wife, and Arnie] Retrieved April 28, 2019 from file:///Users/Emily/Downloads/Lamsons%20-%20Charaters%20.pdf