Genre: drama, romance, tragedy
What’s Eating Gilbert Grape? is the
title. That is a pun. A pun is a line that has two meanings. We often
use puns for titles. Shakespeare loved puns.
1.
What is eating you? It means “What is bothering
you?”
2.
His last name is Grape. Grape is a food that we
eat.
3.
Alliteration. Repeat the first letter. We often do
this for a title.
The movie is set in Iowa. That is in the middle of America.
The writer is Peter Hedges. All of his books are about Iowa.
America has 50 states. I have been to 45 states. I have never
been to Iowa.
We have two different Americas. Middle America and Coastal
America.
Middle America is more conservative and poor.
Coastal America is more liberal, better educated and richer.
The Director is from Denmark. So we have an outsider’s view of
American society.
Johnny Depp is doing the narration at the start.
This is DiCaprio’s second movie. He was nominated for an Oscar
for his acting.
1993.
The reason the mother became so upset is the father committed
suicide (killed himself). It is not so clear in the movie. But it is important
in the book, because he couldn’t escape the sad, boring life in the small town.
Now, Gilbert feels the same.
One other thing. Arnie is afraid to go in the basement. The
reason is because his dad killed himself in the basement.
What’s eating Gilbert Grape? Means what is bothering him.
There are many annoying things.
1.
Fat mother
2.
Simple (retarded) brother
3.
Obnoxious little sister
4.
Boring life in a small town that he cannot escape
5.
Dead father leaving him all the responsibility of
a family he did not make or create
6.
Jealous older lover that is getting weirder and
weirder
Another common theme in literature and film is called
socio-economic reality.
We are controlled a lot by our job, education and how much
money we make. Poor people may have less freedom because they can’t pay for the
lives and things easily
