Gilbert Grape

Abstract

Psychosocial stages of healthy development plays a significant role in the growth of an infant through adulthood years. During these stages an individual begin to develop personality and grasp an understanding of who they are as a person.

In the movie What’s Eating Gilbert Grape (1993), each character is transitioning through these difficult but healthy psychosocial stages; these stages has caused home and social life of the individuals in the movie to become a bit turbulent at times but seem to fall back on track through the growth of the characters.

Psychosocial

The characters in the movie What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, are all transitioning through psychosocial stages of development. Arnie’s character starts out at the age of 17 with an upcoming 18th birthday party in which he is enthused about. The exact nature of Arnie’s disability wasn’t disclosed though it appear his disability is Autism, but it remained clear he is developmentally impaired and still experience the psychosocial stage even though his thought process isn’t exactly that of the average 17/18 year old; he is nearing the end of his early adolescence stage and entering his later adolescence stage. (Newman & Newman, 2012)

According to what’s considered normal in later adolescent development, emotional, social, and mental development all play a significant part in that development. Newman & Newman (2012) stated that “later adolescents are striving for self-sufficiency…many have achieved a new degree of independence from their parents, so that ties of love, trust and support are expressed within a framework of mutual respect and autonomous decision making”. Arnie is experiencing the later adolescent stage but not what’s considered normal later adolescent development stage, He struggles with the social aspect of life itself along with understanding common expectations and realistic beliefs. During this stage Arnie should be planning to go to college and setting career goals...