Change In What's Eating Gilbert Grape?

A character who changed in the film, "What's Eating Gilbert Grape?" directed by Lasse Hallstrom in 1993, was Bonnie Grape, the mother of Gilbert, Amy, Ellen and autistic (development disabling condition) son Arnie. Following her husband’s awful suicide, the widowed mother, Bonnie, ‘gave up on life’, abandoning her parental duties, incapable to care for her children. Hence her morbid obesity, couch-bound and bluntly ‘lazy’ state. She passed on all the parental roles to son Gilbert, 24. A cowardly move, portraying how her character was perceived throughout the majority of the film. Until, a significant event occurred, illustrated her longing for change, leaving the house for the first time in several years.

Now, the small town’s laughing stock, amusement for many children, sneaking onto the yard to catch a peep of her through the window; the director uses a medium shot to show Gilbert picking up a small boy from the town so he could look in the window of the house. The boy shouted “I seen her, I seen her!” Albeit, Bonnie is …show more content…
She was morbidly obese, couch-bound and bluntly ‘lazy’. Her children labelled her as a ‘burden’ and was frequently humiliated for her appearance. Still unwilling to take any measure of responsibility for the situation, portraying a ‘cowardly’ character. Then, Bonnie made a significant change, leaving the house for the first time in several years. This demonstrated great levels of courage. The director highlights her humiliation with their use of ‘point of view show’ and slow motion, the watchers are able to view the scene from her perspective, revealing just how courageous her actions were, a big change contradicting the initial Bonnie shown in the movie. Ultimately conveying the director's purpose; to inculcate to the audience the suffering some families must abide primarily revealing the lesson of treating everyone with