Mental Illness In What's Eating Gilbert Grape

The film ‘What’s Eating Gilbert Grape’ features Gilbert Grape and his struggles to be responsible for his family’s well-being after his father hung himself in the basement. His father’s suicide had made his mother, Bonnie, become depressed and morbidly obese that she had not left the house in years. Gilbert has to take care of his seventeen year old mentally challenged brother, Arnie, who seems to have a knack of making troubles and causing scenes in town. This heartbreaking film exemplifies a few mental illnesses such as autism spectrum disorder, depression, and eating disorder. This paper examines the characters’ portrayal and the reactions to mental illness by addressing three components of the film, which are accuracy, treatment, and the …show more content…
Although there is not much information on this, it can be implied that Gilbert’s father committed suicide by hanging himself in the basement after struggling with what can be implied, depression. When asked about his father, Gilbert says he could never get his father to smile, laugh, or even get mad and “it was just like he was already dead”. Depression is also portrayed by Bonnie Grape. According to Gilbert, back when his father was still alive, Bonnie used to be “the prettiest girl in the parts” and “she used to be so pretty and so fun”. At the beginning of the movie, Bonnie is described and shown to be morbidly obese. She has not always been overweight, depressed and quiet. After her husband hung himself in the basement, she only eats and watches the television. Meals are served by the children and the dinner table would be carried and brought to her with a ridiculously excessive amount of food for every meal. The amount of food she consumes daily can be implied from Gilbert’s line, “I had to work extra hours to feed her”. Bonnie has not left the house in over seven years. She feels very ashamed to go out and she has to walk anywhere with a cane to support her weight. Other than that, she smokes cigarettes daily and refuses to move around in the house. She would only sleep on the couch and refuses to sleep on her bed because it would require her to go upstairs. She is so overweight that the house’s floor and foundation is deteriorating. Her depression has made her helpless and hopeless. She has no motivation to live life normally and the only thing she ever does is gorge herself with food. Gilbert states that he understands the reasons behind her behavior by saying “she was in shock for years. He (the husband)