Snyder 1

Abby Snyder
Introduction to Special Education 203
What’s Eating Gilbert Grape? Movie Critique
Wednesday September 8th, 2021
 Snyder 2

What’s Eating Gilbert Grape? is a story centered around a family that lives in a small

town in Iowa. The main character, Gilbert Grape is a young man who has been faced with many

obstacles in his life, his father committed suicide in Gilbert’s early life and ever since, his mother

Bonnie, who is obese and unable to provide for her family, spends her days practically bed

ridden. Gilbert takes on the responsibilities for taking care of his dysfunctional family which

includes two sisters, Amy and Ellen, who keep the household clean and maintained. Gilbert also

has a developmentally disabled younger brother Arnie, who he is fiercely protective of. Arnie is

turning eighteen soon which was one of his mother’s greatest wishes because when he was born

the doctors had told her he was lucky to live to ten years old. Throughout the movie Gilbert is

faced with many obstacles in his daily life, which includes getting Arnie ready for the day

because he is unable to do it himself, but he has the help of a friend Becky, who helps him to

pursue his own happiness and possibilities.

Although the movie does not directly tell the audience what kind of disorder Arnie has, it

is an accurate depiction of classic autism according to Dr. Caleb Lack (“Autistic Disorder |

Abnormal Psychology lumenlearning.com)”. Arnie’s disability is developmental, and he seems

to have the mental capacity of a young child. Throughout the movie Arnie displays some of the

characteristic of someone who has autism. Some of those characteristics include “multiple

nonverbal behaviors such as eye-to-eye gaze, facial expression, body postures, and gestures to

regulate social interaction.” (Lack) People with autism have trouble with communicating, having

the proper social skills to interact with people daily, and can have difficulties in learning. The

impact of autism for the person who has it, is that they may experience anxiety from not knowing

how to appropriately interact in a social setting. They also have difficulty expressing their

emotions properly which may lead to acting out. Autism is a complex and varied spectrum so
 Snyder 3

people who have it are unique in their experience with it, but in the case of Arnie he seems to be

on the more severe side of the spectrum. People who are also affected are the families of people

who have autism. They must learn how to help navigate the world with them, it can be difficult.

Society has a difficult time dealing with it (not the case of What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?),

because the traits and characteristics aren’t not always so prevalent and can’t be detected as

easily.

As a society we can become more inclusive to all disabilities. We can accommodate and

modify our expectations for people with disabilities for them to be as successful as they can, we

can do this by making handicaps and disabilities not a label but simply a trait like blue eyes or

having blonde hair. Society limits the potential people have simply because they are labeled as

handicap and disabled, as soon as we can eradicate these restrictive labels, opportunities for

people with disabilities and handicaps will be afforded the equal opportunities and successful

lives like everyone else. In the movie Gilbert sems to be the most frustrated by the circumstance

not because his brother has a disability but because he must navigate the world not only for

himself, but also for his brother, and he is aware of what society thinks of his brother. He knows

and loves his brother immensely, but he sees that his community does not understand how Arnie

views the world, and that can be a difficult experience for anyone but especially an older brother.

In my opinion, I think this movie does an accurate portrayal of what autism can look like

and how it affects those surrounding them. The book and the movie were both created in the

1990’s and back then autism or any other disabilities were rarely depicted as precisely and gave

the audience a sense of what reality would be to be either of these individuals in the story. I

enjoyed that the story wasn’t focused on the disability itself, but it was simply a fact of life and

that it was made in a way where anyone could relate to the story.
 Snyder 4

References

What’s Eating Gilbert Grape? Directed by Lasse Hallstrom and starring Johnny Depp,

Leonardo DiCaprio, Juliette Lewis, and Darlene Cates. 1993

Lack, Caleb. “Autistic disorder.” Lumen Learning,

courses.lumenlearning.com/abnormalpsychology/chapter/autistic-disorder/.