The Concept of Change Discussed in Relation to'What's Eating Gilbert Grape?'

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Todays society revolves around change. We live in an ever changing world, and the way we live is determined by what we know is going to change and what we know isn’t going to change. The 1993 film What’s Eating Gilbert Grape? explores the concept of things changing and things remaining unchanged. Lasse Hallstrom’s intelligent use of film techniques convey an array of different ideas about change and the well scripted dialogue gives us a further insight into how it affects our lives. The lead character Gilbert Grape carries the perfect depiction of an unchanging lifestyle. He rises above his own needs to provide his family with what they need, day after day after day. We follow his journey throughout the film, as he starts to discover what he himself wants. This first really becomes evident when he is with Becky and returns home before the sun sets to bathe his brother Arnie. When he rejoins Becky, after leaving the autistic boy to wash himself, the sun has already set. Becky is unaffected by Gilbert’s lack of interest in the sunset. She tells him “It’ll just change really, really slowly right in front of your eyes”. This well placed line of dialogue has a strong metaphorical presence for Gilbert. The words are something that describe the sunset but also in a sense, foreshadow Gilbert’s near future. Almost as if to say, that if he watches carefully, he will realise that things will start to change. He can break the bonds of the lifestyle he is tied to. Looking more deeply into Lasse Hallstrom’s direction, he has used a variety motifs throughout the film. The prominent one being the motif of water. Water appears repeatedly throughout the story, appearing regularly in key scenes. This of course can be interpreted in many different ways. Water is a very changeable substance. It has three states; solid, liquid and gas. Ice, water and steam. This alone suggests the
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