What's Eating Gilbert Grape

What's Eating Gilbert Grape explores the evolution of a man who feels entrapped within his own life. Gilbert is stuck in a routine of monetonous responsibilites which he no longer wants to worry over. Through the disability of his brother, weight struggles of his mother, and responsiblity of being the man of the household, Gilbert feels trapped in a town where nothing happens. Shots of Gilbert, as seen above, frame his entrappment through the busyness of the background around him and the bored expression on his face in the foreground. All of these "background images" display the chaos that goes on around him which he can not escape. Dialogue often hints at the entrappment which Gilbert feels. When Betty says the reason she chose to be with Gilbert was because she "knew he'd never leave", this exchange demonstrates the general knowledge of Gilbert being stuck in Endora due to his obligations. Becky is the freedom which Gilbert so desires. Shots and framing with Becky include an open background, as seen above, often of the countryside which is used to represent this freedom and openness which she emulates. Her whole life of movement and change is the stark opposite of Gilbert's and it is what attracts Gilbert to her in the first place. 

The Grape home represents the entrapment of the family and provides justification for its destruction. In this shot above, the decaying color of the walls and dirtiness of the home demonstrate something once whole that has been worn down by many years of distress. The house and the family have diegesis, stories underneath the surface, that attribute to the deterioration physically of the home. The father's suicide, the mother's weight, and the children's eternal battles all are examples of the diegesis this film presents. As Gilbert begins to realize how to discover his own freedom through Becky, the home's destruction serves as the final representation of his new beginning. The parallel shot from the beginning to the end of the film, the mobile homes driving in, portrays Gilbert's full evolution as a character. A man once not able to find freedom and happiness in his own life is able to start fresh through fulfillment in his new life.