I never liked the character of Ellen. Okay, so many teenage girls are moody and can be nasty to their family, but it was just not acceptable for her to hit and drag Arnie. That scene made me sick. Stupid bitch. I wish somebody would have done that to her.
I know Gilbert was incredibly frustrated and sad, but he shouldn't have hit Arnie either. It really angered and saddened me. Poor Arnie. :(
Just be glad we live in a society where people like Arnie are sheltered.
In every practical sense, Arnie contributes nothing to the world, and is a huge drain on his family and community. Time, emotions, and resources are spent to keep him alive and happy, where as if we lived in a time and place where the survival of the tribe/village/etc depended on everyone pulling their weight, Aernie would have been fed to the wolves years ago.
Wow, what a total *beep* response. You obviously have never been close to anybody with a disability.
It is ignorant and insensitive people like you who should be fed to wolves. :)
You're overreacting. My brother is disabled, yet I agree with what the poster said. He never said Arnie should be fed to the wolves, just that he's a burden. Yes, disabled people are burdensome. It's not politically correct to say so, but they are. That doesn't mean I hate them. I have a great relationship with my brother, but I feel drained and cranky being around him.
shareI just think that poster was very cruel and emotionless in saying that.
shareSo Ellens a bitch but poor Gilbert was just frustrated and sad?
Because it can't be possible for Ellen to also have been frustrated and sad?
Believe it or not, even siblings can feel resentment towards their brother or sister with special needs. Just because she got angry at him so often didn't mean she hated him. She was just as angry towards him for being the way he was as Gilbert was towards his mother for looking the way she did.
But naturally after watching this film i knew there would be a lot of haters for Ellen but a lot of supporters for Gilbert. Its just the way it is. Good looking guy vs Bratty girl - the girl never wins
Ashmi any question
Ellen may have been frustrated and sad, but she was nasty. She was the kind of person who would hit Arnie without hesitation, more than once.
sharehardly without hesitation, i'm pretty sure we saw her stopping him from climbing that tower a few times before eventually getting frustrated and pulling his hair.
And how many other times did we see her hit him?
Ashmi any question
She didn't show any remorse for what she did and how she acts with disgust towards Arnie....to me that indicates that she has hit him without hesitation before.
shareAs someone who was once an extremely moody, selfish, temperamental teenage girl, I can say that Ellen's behavior is understandable (albeit wrong) given her circumstances. Try growing up in the middle of nowhere with no father, a practically immobile mother, and a mentally challenged brother whom you have to keep from climbing the water tower all the time. Ellen is by no means a saint, but she has a lot to be angry about. Even though I didn't like her attitude towards Arnie, I couldn't help but sympathize with her.
shareThey were all neglected. Arnie and Amy were burdened beyond reason or fairness. Ellen seemed terribly alone to me as well with no father, a mother who is barely there, and a sister and brother who try their best but just don't measure up.
She's at the worst time of her life with Gilbert's friends hitting on her, and the whole town judging her for the rumors of how big her mom is and how crazy her brother is. I can kind of see where she would snap and not make such great decisions.
Little girls shouldn't look for four leaf clovers!
well, Gilbert almost ran her over with the truck.
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child please
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I, for one, wondered what took Gilbert so long in finally disciplining Arnie.
I've worked with medium-to-high functioning challenged children (like Arnie was) & they often know EXACTLY what they're doing!
They manipulate their parents, teachers, classmates...like any other children do.
Arnie clearly was somewhat intelligent, he knew eating cake was wrong, telling people they can't come to his party was rude, how exactly to get to Becky's trailer at night no less! He even easily understood Mrs. Grape being dead!
I thought Gilbert may have been excessive, but I cheered when he finally slapped that brat Arnie.
I'd say this cloud is Cumulo Nimbus.
Didn't he discover America?
Penfold, shush.
Arbor was NOT high functioning; he couldn't even bathe himself unsupervised. You sound like you really lack compassion and insight and I'm worried to hear you say you've worked with vulnerable kids, not matter how high functioning they are.
shareJust because he didn't understand ONE thing did not make him low-functioning.
His character's impairments were all over the place, not terribly realistic.
And you ignored everything else I wrote: such as the FACT that a lot of challenged young adults & adults can be just as manipulative or MORE so than non-challenged people.
My mom worked with them for 30 years, and she is the one who first told me this.
I didn't honestly believe her, until I experienced it with a challenged woman in her late 20s.
This young woman would get away with hitting her classmates & stealing money from them....by pretending to be more challenged than she was!
When we finally set a trap for her & caught her, she smirked! She admitted what she did, that no one 'would punish her since she was retarded (her word, not ours).
We just mentioned it to the young woman's mother, and her mother spoke to her.
Whatever her mom said or did, it worked. She never did it again!
But it IS possible.
And I did say Gilbert was excessive. But Arnie knew what he did was wrong, he had been acting up the entire film.
A smack across the face would not have been out of line there, by a family member only of course. Regular children get those on occasion, after all.
Yelling at him did no good, clearly.
What other punishment by Arnie's family would have had ANY effect on Arnie? You tell me.
I'd say this cloud is Cumulo Nimbus.
Didn't he discover America?
Penfold, shush.