What's Eating Gilbert Grape- Review and Critique
What’s Eating Gilbert Grape.
Film review and critique.
Society’s ideological constructs and attitudes towards minority groups are created and reinforced through media imagery. Although negative associations that maintain inequities with regard to race, gender and homophobia (Conner & Bejoian, 2006) have been somewhat relieved, disability is still immersed in harmful connotations that restrict and inhibit the life of people with disabilities in our society.
Disability has appeared frequently in recent films (Byrd & Elliot, 1988), a reflection of society’s interest in the subject. These films often misrepresent disability using stereotypes. These stereotypes reinforce negative and incorrect social perceptions of, and attitudes towards, disabled people (Safran, 2000). By studying these films we can begin to reshape the wrong and negative accepted ideas of disability in society. Film analysis can show students how the medium manipulates images which continue stereotypes and cause stigma (Livingstone, 2004). “Film can be used to confront students with their prejudices” (Chellew, 2000, p.26), challenging them to accept new ways of thinking realising that disability is a result of the social attitudes and expectations placed on certain people by society (Ellis, 2003; Meekosha, 2003).
What’s Eating Gilbert Grape is a film by director Lasse Hallström about a young man looking after his developmentally disabled brother and his dysfunctional family in a small American town. This paper will critically examine this movie using Richard Dyer’s four senses of representation, as cited in Harnett (2000), as a framework. With a focus on the disabled character Arnie, the analysis will identify and discuss the ways the film reinforces limiting stereotypes about disability. Finally, the implications of the analysis for use in an educational setting to raise awareness of the representations identified will be discussed.
Re-presentation, as the first sense of representation,
Film review and critique.
Society’s ideological constructs and attitudes towards minority groups are created and reinforced through media imagery. Although negative associations that maintain inequities with regard to race, gender and homophobia (Conner & Bejoian, 2006) have been somewhat relieved, disability is still immersed in harmful connotations that restrict and inhibit the life of people with disabilities in our society.
Disability has appeared frequently in recent films (Byrd & Elliot, 1988), a reflection of society’s interest in the subject. These films often misrepresent disability using stereotypes. These stereotypes reinforce negative and incorrect social perceptions of, and attitudes towards, disabled people (Safran, 2000). By studying these films we can begin to reshape the wrong and negative accepted ideas of disability in society. Film analysis can show students how the medium manipulates images which continue stereotypes and cause stigma (Livingstone, 2004). “Film can be used to confront students with their prejudices” (Chellew, 2000, p.26), challenging them to accept new ways of thinking realising that disability is a result of the social attitudes and expectations placed on certain people by society (Ellis, 2003; Meekosha, 2003).
What’s Eating Gilbert Grape is a film by director Lasse Hallström about a young man looking after his developmentally disabled brother and his dysfunctional family in a small American town. This paper will critically examine this movie using Richard Dyer’s four senses of representation, as cited in Harnett (2000), as a framework. With a focus on the disabled character Arnie, the analysis will identify and discuss the ways the film reinforces limiting stereotypes about disability. Finally, the implications of the analysis for use in an educational setting to raise awareness of the representations identified will be discussed.
Re-presentation, as the first sense of representation,
References: Arndt, K. (2010). "Gotta go now": Rethinking the use of The Mighty and Simon Birch in the middle school classroom. Disability Studies Quarterly, 30(1). Retrieved on August, 19, 2010 from http://www.dsq-sds.org/article/view/1014/1227 Black, R.S Brown, J.E. (2005). Film in the classroom: the non-print connection. The ALAN Review, Winter, 67-73. Byrd, E. K. & Elliot, T.R. (1988). Disability in full-length feature films. International Journal of Rehabilitation Research, 11(2), 143-148. Chellew, K. (2000). Inclusion Not Exclusion. Australian Screen Education, 24, 26-29. Retrieved from Communication & Mass Media Complete database. Connor, D., & Bejoian, L. (2006). Pigs, pirates, and pills: Using Film to teach the social context of disability. Teaching Exceptional Children, 39(2), 52-60. Ellis, K. (2003). Reinforcing the stigma: The representation of disability in Gattaca. Australian Screen Education, 31, 111-114. Harnett, A. (2000). Escaping 'evil avenger ' and the 'supercrip '; Images of disability in popular television. Irish Communications Review, 8, 21-29. Hayes & Black (2003). Troubling Signs: Disability, Hollywood Movies and the Construction of a Discourse of Pity Livingston, K Malony, S. (2002). What 's Eating Gilbert Grape - Study Guide: Sean Molony. Retrieved August 19, 2010, from http://www.freshfilmfestival.net/studyguides/2002/FFF_2002_Whats_Eating_Gilbert_Grape%20.pdf Marks, D Matalon, D., Ohlsson, B., Teper, M. (Producers) & Hallström, L. (Director). (1993). What’s Eating Gilbert Grape [Motion Picture]. U.S.A.: J&M Entertainment. Meekosha, H. (2003). Communicating the social: discourses of disability and difference. Australian Journal of Communication, 30(3), 61-68. Raynor, O. & Hayward, K. (2009). Breaking into the business: experiences of actors with disabilities in the entertainment industry. Journal of Research in Special Educational Needs, 9(1), 39-47. Safran, S.P. (1998). Disability portrayal in film: Reflecting the past, directing the future Exceptional Children, 64(2), 227-238. Safran, S. (1998). The first century of disability portrayal in film: An analysis of the literature. The Journal of Special Education 31(4), 467-480. Safran, S. (2000). Using movies to teach students about disabilities. Teaching Exceptional Children 32(3), 44-47. Smith, C.J. (1999). Finding a warm place for someone we know: The cultural appeal of recent mental patient and asylum films. Journal of Popular Film & Television, 27(1), 40-46. Titchkosky, T. (2003). Disability, self, and society. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.