Endora A Small Country Town example essay topic

"What Eating Gilbert Grape?" is set in Endora a small country town which seems to have fallen off the wagon of life and been left to slowly rot. Unlike the shiny, new caravans passing through, Endora appears to be rusting. The movie is based around the rather dysfunctional grape family. Which consists of Gilbert, his two sisters Amy and Ellen, his mentally retarded brother Arnie and their 36 stone mother Bonnie. The main plot centres on Gilbert's relationship with his family, juxtaposed against his deepening relationship with Becky and his growing understanding that there is more to life than what Endora has to offer.

The purpose of the film could be seen as the exploration of 'nothing much' images of a 'nothing much ever happens' town made interesting by the director's kaleidoscope vision of mundane events. Some issues portrayed in the film are boredom, obesity, mental retardardation, impersonal corporate takeover, and small town morality. The Grape family faces many challenges though out the film. One of these challenges is when Arnie is arrested after climbing the water tower for the third time in the film and momma grape (Bonnie) leaves the house which she hasn't left for 7 years to fetch back her son back from the police station. This scene shows the viewer just how strong the relationship between Bonnie and Arnie is, this scene also put forward the possibility by the way Bonnie and Sheriff Farrel act towards each other that there may have been a sexual relationship between the two and that he maybe Arnie's father. The viewer can also see that Gilbert and Arnie share a close relationship in which Gilbert is portrayed as a father figure for Arine.

This is obvious in many scenes in the film; an example of the close relationship shared between the two would be the scene in which Gilbert gets Arine to come down from the water tower. Though the film we see how life in Endora is slowly eating away at Gilbert and how he longs to break free from the responsibilities of his family which are chaining him to life in Endora. He does not see escape as a possibility until he meets Becky, a young, free spirited girl who is traveling though Endora with her grandmother. Becky shows Gilbert that there is life outside of Endora. The movie also deals with many small town issues such as the soul being sucked out of local communities by the impersonal corporate giant takeovers. This is portrayed by the local grocery store where Gilbert works, going out of business due to most of the town going to "Food works" (multi / national food chain) on the outskirts of town.

Towards the end of the film we also see Burger Barn (Fast-food chain) opening in the town. The viewer is made aware of how many of America's small country town businesses are being taken over by multi / national food chains and fast food restaurants. The viewer could gain insight into how they who are out side of the norms of society, the obese, the mentally challenged and the bizarre go about their everyday existence. The film, set in a surrealistically sterile suburb of basic, bland buildings painted in pale, primary colours intrigues the viewer by its sheer quirkiness. 'What's Eating Gilbert Grape' is appealing for it's unique betrayal of the well picked over offering of Middle American ordinariness.

By cameo-ing a handful of residents from Endora, Lasse Hall strom attracts his audience by juxtaposing scenes, he creates humour by layering sequences of events i.e. ; Ken Carver's trampling while Gilbert and Betty were working on their own bouncing routine or the black humour of the children's version of cremation. One feels that freedom may be the phoenix which rises from the ashes of the Grape residence. Without the central vortex of obese Bonnie spinning her family around the needs of her vast, inert, body you feel her children may be able to explore what life has to offer beyond the limitations of Endora. After all, home is no longer there.