FAMILY AND COMMUNITY

What's Eating Gilbert Grape - Lasse Hallstrom 1994

Gilbert Grape lives in Endora, a dying small town, and stocks shelves at a grocery which is no longer used by all those people who now shop at the new supermarket. Gilbert's 500 pound mother hasn't left the house since his father hanged himself in the basement, his sisters are always quarrelling and his retarded brother Arnie needs constant supervision. Gilbert is having a desultory affair with a local, lonely housewife. Everyone seems to need patient and kindly Gilbert whose life changes when Becky and her grandmother pass through town in a broken down camper van. The portrayal of Arnie shows how impossible he is to live with and how loveable he is at the same time. The film looks at the fat mother and the retarded boy with sympathy and without patronising and shows carefully observed people in everyday life. An interesting and powerful performance by Leonardo DiCaprio as the retarded younger brother.

East is East - Damien O'Donnell, 1999

George Khan, proud Pakistani and chip shop owner - Genghis to his kids - rules his family with a rod of iron. He thinks he's raising his seven children to be respectable Pakistanis. But this is Salford in the North of England, in 1971. Much as George's English wife, Ella, loves and tries to honour her husband, she also wants her kids to be happy. The children, caught between bell-bottoms and arranged marriages, simply want to be citizens of the modern world. The film deals with the comedy and pain of what happens when two cultures collide within one family. When the Khan kids begin to oppose their father's petty tyrannies Ella is forced to make a choice between her love for her husband and the rights of her children to make their own way in the world.

"If I had to sum up the theme of the film, where its heartbeat resides, I'd say it was a plea for tolerance - that the most unique gift you can give to a child is the freedom to be different from you." - Leslee Udwin (producer)

Boyz N the Hood - John Singleton, 1991

This film has been described as a powerful drama about growing up in black urban America. Written and directed by John Singleton who grew up in the "Hood" (short for neighbourhood) in South Central Los Angeles, the film tells the story of three friends: Tre, Doughboy and Ricky. At the beginning of the film we see Tre living with his mother; at school he gets involved in classroom conflicts with other pupils, breaking a 'contract' that he had with his mother to behave. His mother now feels that it is time for Tre's father to resume his responsibility for Tre and teach him the values that (Singleton says in the film) only a father can. Tre's two friends also have no fathers - a conspicuous theme in the film. Doughboy has already served a jail sentence by the time he is seventeen and his future seems to be set in a pattern of selling drugs and gang violence. Ricky becomes a father while still at school - the cycle of children deserted by their fathers seems to be repeating itself. Boyz N the Hood looks at the conditions imposed on black people living in a largely white society but concentrates more on the respect and responsibility that so many people in the film seem to lack.

TASKS AND ACTIVITIES

Each of these films looks at one aspect of family life. How many different family patterns can you think of? Do they have anything in common? Should particular members of a group take on particular responsibilities?

What do you think about roles within the family? Are there accepted responsibilities that should be carried out by particular members of a group? If so, who and what are the responsibilities? Carry out research in your school or class to see what different people think about how old you should be to have a family. Write an article based on your findings for a local newspaper called 'Do Babies mix with Young Love?'

While one film deals particularly with a clash of cultures the two films also deal with everyday life within the family and the community. Take a character from each film and look at how they are 'drawn' by the film maker. Look at what they do in their daily lives, how they relate and talk to other people in the film, how they dress. What are people's expectations of them both within the family and the community?

Write a synopsis for a story about someone who is pulled between what he or she knows is expected of them and what they really want to do. Describe the character in detail, and include family, school background and expectations.