Little Miss Sunshine

Little Miss Sunshine

  • Submitted By: shoppergirl4
  • Date Submitted: 10/27/2008 2:13 AM
  • Category: English
  • Words: 1055
  • Page: 5
  • Views: 1

Little Miss Sunshine


Good Morning movie fans! I’m Jonathon Dayton, one of the directors of the hit film Little Miss Sunshine. Today you’ll get an insight into the film’s success and what elements contributed to the award for Best Screenplay in 2006. The story line is based around the dysfunctional Hoover family, consisting of Husband and wife Richard and Sheryl, brother and sister; Olive and Dwayne, cousin Frank and Richard’s Dad, Grandpa and their road trip from New Mexico to California for the “Little Miss Sunshine Beauty Pageant”. While the screenplay touches on stressful topical issues such as drug abusive, suicide, financial hardship, merging families and our interpretation of beauty, it is done in a humorous context. Through character development we learn that winning doesn’t automatically make you a winner, and losing doesn’t automatically make you a loser.



The worn out kombi van symbolises the current state of the individuals and their relationships with each other when they leave their home in New Mexico to travel to the “Little Miss Sunshine Beauty Pageant”. The worn out exterior of the kombi van symbolises each characters worn out flaws. This cinematic technique enables the viewers to emotionally connect with the actors allowing them to feel empathy. On the journey, Grandpa dies from a drug overdose. Grandpa dying from wearing out and abusing his body is reflected in the exterior of the worn out kombi van which more than likely it hasn’t been taken care of. Next, Dwayne becomes aware he is colour blind which crushes his dream of becoming a fighter pilot. This is reflected in the fact that the Kombi van will never be the ultimate auto mobile. While the family is falling apart as individuals the kombi van is also experiencing many specific breakdowns. However, these breakdowns provide a particularly important turning point in the film because through this adversity, this challenge provides the family an opportunity begin to...

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