Comedy and Culture in U.S. Literature and Society

Family Loyalty Is at the Heart of Any Successful Family

Without the obvious family loyalty peppered throughout it, "Little Miss Sunshine" would be just another film. The purpose of this paper is to introduce, discuss, and analyze Denise Duhamel's poetry collection "Kinky," and Valerie Faris and Jonathan Dayton's film "Little Miss Sunshine." Specifically it will discuss the role of family in the works. Clearly, the Hoover family of "Little Miss Sunshine" is not your average, run of the mill family. They could be one of the most dysfunctional families every introduced in a film. However, they have one common denominator, and that is loyalty. They stand behind Olive and her dreams, and they all support her, which shows that despite their faults, they love each other.

One of the main messages in the film "Little Miss Sunshine," is that family, no matter how dysfunctional, is the key to any real success in life. Olive doesn't win the Little Miss Sunshine pageant, but that no longer matters at the end of the film. Her family stands beside her and is proud of her, no matter what, and that is a strong lesson in life. Denise Duhamel's touches on the importance of family in many of her poems in "Kinky," too. In one, she reminds the reader what it is like not to have a family. She writes, "Without tongues or breath, the two kissed / and vowed to protect each other forever. Without factories / or human children, Barbie and Ken were all each other had left" (Duhamel 23). That passage becomes poignant, even though it's only about dolls, because they have no family. They only have each other to rely on, while Olive will always have her family around her, even though they are quite a group of outlandish characters.

Loyalty and love are at the root of this film, even though it might not seem like it. The mother, Sheryl, talks about love during the film, and keeps the family together because of loyalty and love, even when they are having tough times. Olive may not be learning the best family values from her family, but she is getting a lesson in loyalty. They are not just loyal to her, they are loyal to Dwayne, (they have to be loyal to put up with his attitude and his not talking for nine months!). They are loyal to Grandpa, even though he has a drug addiction, and they are loyal to Frank, even though he is a suicide risk. The point is, they are a true family, despite all their problems, because they love each other and are loyal to each other, and that is an important lesson for Olive to learn.

Barbie and Ken fill the poems in "Kinky," and in the title poem, Duhamel shows they are loyal to each other in their own way, too. She writes, "But after a round / of pretend-tears, Barbie and Ken vowed to try / to make their relationship work. With their good memories / as sustaining as good food, they listened to late-night radio / talk shows, one featuring Doctor Ruth. When all else fails, / just hold each other, the small sex therapist crooned" (Duhamel 30). In the absence of a loyal family to support them, they have to rely on each other, and that is another lesson from the film. No matter how dysfunctional, some family is better than no family, because without a family, there can be no emotional support, and that leads to an empty and unsatisfying life, kind of like the empty lives of the imaginary Ken and Barbie dolls in Duhamel's poetry.