Winning Doesn\'t Matter: A Critical

¶ … Winning Doesn't Matter: A Critical Examination of Little Miss Sunshine

As scholar Timothy Corrigan suggests in his book a a Short Guide to Writing About Film, "[w]riting essays about films is, in short, one of the most sophisticated ways to respond to them" (iv). Corrigan further notes that there are six main approaches to writing about films that should be explored: history, national cinemas, genres, auteurs, formalism, and ideology. This paper reflects on Corrigan's advice to respond to films sophisticatedly by undergoing a critical examination of the popular independent film, Little Miss Sunshine and expands on the "ideology" approach of reviewing and analyzing films.

Little Miss Sunshine (2006) is a charming film with sophisticated elements of dark comedy subtly mixed in. On the film's surface, viewers initially may get caught up with the Hoover family's dysfunctional nature. However, the underlying layers of the film introduce viewers to the sweet and caring yet quirky personalities the six Hoovers exhibit in their every day lives.

Little Miss Sunshine captures viewers hearts with its re-telling of a typical family experience: the road trip journey. Soon after the mother of the family, Sheryl, takes in her brother Frank, a highly acclaimed Proust scholar, after his recent suicide attempt, the Hoover family learns of the opportunity the youngest member, Olive, has to participate in a children's beauty pageant. Seven-year-old Olive is ecstatic when she hears the voice message on the family's machine, centrally located in the kitchen for all the Hoovers to hear while they are finishing their meal of take-out chicken at their crowded dinner table. The family watches as Olive races around their small house with joy, while Sheryl and her husband Richard, a struggling motivational speaker, argue about how they will get their daughter to California in 2 days time.

After much bickering, with Olive off in her room excitedly packing her duffle bag, the parents finally decide that they will make the trip driving in their seasoned VW van. but, of course, the entire Hoover clan must embark collectively on the journey. Olive's Grandpa, Richard's crotchety old father, who hides drugs in his fanny pack after being kicked out from a retirement home, has no qualms about the long trip seeing as he is Olive's unexpected pageant coach and dance instructor. Olive's brother Dwayne, an angst-filled teenager determined to maintain a vow of silence until he is accepted by the Air Force, is adamantly against the plan. Dwayne holds firm until his sister looks at him pleadingly and his mother promises to give him permission to take flying lessons. Olive's uncle Frank appears to have little say in the matter, seeing as Sheryl will absolutely not leave him alone after just being released from the hospital after his attempted suicide.

With the decision made, the Hoovers embark on their interstate trip to Redondo Beach. The film's portrayal of the trip is a mixture of dark, serious moments, combined with elements of sophisticated comic relief or sweet emotional sincerity. When Richard's publicist informs him his motivational program has been rejected from another publisher and he will not be getting the book deal he expected, the depressing scene is contrasted with Olive being left behind at the gas station where the call was taken. When Dwayne realizes that he is color-blind, signifying he cannot join the Air Force as he had dreamed, the only character who helps him cope with the blow is his sister Olive. As Dwayne breaks down and ends his vow of silence by running out of the van screaming, it is Olive who doesn't even have to say anything to him but simply places her small arm around his shoulder to calm him down. The love that only a brother and sister, despite the approximately 10-year age difference, can feel sweetens the moment and lessens the cruel reality Dwayne now faces.

But perhaps the hardest situation the family faces is the death of Grandpa, who passes away peacefully in his sleep in a hotel room he shares with Olive. The Hoovers unite, despite all their contrasting quirks and dysfunctional natures, after the death. In this solemn series of events, the characters of Little Miss Sunshine refuse to let Grandpa's death deter them from getting Olive to California in time for the pageant. The mantra of "No one gets left behind!" is exemplified as the Hoovers covertly, in yet another moment of comic relief, "steal" Grandpa's corpse from the hospital and place him wrapped in a sheet in the back of their VW van.

This sense of unity carries through the remainder of Little Miss Sunshine, as the Hoovers barely make it to California in time for Olive to sign in for the pageant. Throughout the entire film, each Hoover's temper and patience has been tested, and the final scene of the little girl's beauty pageant is no exception. However, the Hoovers again unite together, coming together in the most visually pleasing and delightful scene of the movie: joining Olive on-stage in her pageant dance performance. Seeing the joy and togetherness expressed on each character's face as they dance in front of a horrified audience of way-too-serious pageant parents, signifies that each Hoover has finally come together as the tight-knit family that they are.

II. Theme of the Individual and Collective Journey

In Little Miss Sunshine, the concept of a journey is without a doubt prevalent. Each character goes through a unique journey over the course of the family road trip. This journey, both literal and internal, begins at the very outset of the film. In the opening, the viewer is exposed to personal scenes of each character that serve as our introduction to each quirky character. The sequence serves as the beginning of the development process for each character, independently and individually. This is eventually contrasted with the film's closing scenes, which shows each character wrapping up his or her developmental journey together, as a family. As critic Manohla Dargis wrote, "like most American comedy families, [the Hoovers] are also a familiar social microcosm, a group of radically individualized souls in search of one another" (1).

The first character to embark on her journey is the young protagonist, Olive. The very first shot of the film is a close up shot of a young girl wearing oversized reading glasses. The glasses showcase her wide, blue eyes that stare out with a quizzical curiosity behind them. In the glasses, we see the reflection of a television screen, showing a woman smiling. The camera cuts to the television screen itself as we hear the voice over of the TV announcer saying "The winner of the $30,000 scholarship is Miss Louisiana!" The shot encompasses an ecstatic woman in her twenties, wearing large, sparkly earrings and bright red lipstick. As a tiara is placed on her head, the woman begins to excitedly flail her arms as if she cannot believe that she has won the Miss America competition. The scene on the television screen is suddenly paused, however, and the images rewind. The camera cuts to a wide, full-bodied shot of the little girl from the very beginning. She is holding a remote intently, wearing her hair in a long, low ponytail with a dated scrunchie in her hair. She un-pauses the recording, and raises her hands to her face with a look of surprise and joy. The camera cuts back to the recorded television show of the beauty pageant winner doing the exact same pose. The camera zooms out and we see the little girl standing in front of a big screen TV, now completely imitating the beauty queen's excited movements. This is our introduction to Olive, and her path and journey to hopefully, yet perhaps impossibly, winning the "Little Miss Sunshine" beauty competition.

The second character journey immediately begins next. A new voice-over begins, a different man this time. "There are two types of people in this world. Winners and losers." The shot immediately switches to an image of a businessman lecturing in front of a presentation screen. He continues his motivational speech, pleading with his audience to follow his "9 Steps Refuse to Lose" program in order to bring out their "inner winners." From the way the man carries himself and the bright look in his eye, the viewer might believe that he is extremely successful himself. But then the camera pans out as he concludes his talk, and the lights come on in the lecture hall. There is only a small scattering of people listening to him. Their disheveled clothes suggest they are not professionals, but rather attending this talk as a last effort towards saving their miserable careers or lives. As only one or two audience members clap, the man presses a button to raise the projection screen, and looks pleased with himself. This is our introduction to Richard, Olive's father and his journey to becoming the successful winner he himself encourages others to be.

The third character journey begins with the camera immediately cutting to an overhead shot of a teenage boy weight-lifting a bench press bar. His face is expressionless as he focuses on the heavy bar he raises and lowers. The camera then cuts to shot of the boy's room; we see the boy's arms only lifting the bench press. The camera then cuts to a shot the boy jumping rope, doing sit-ups, push-ups, and finally pull-ups. The scene ends with the boy writing down and crossing off day 473 on a very long chart. The camera shows a side-profile shot of the boy looking blankly at the chart, and then re-focuses to capture the boy's face in the mirror standing next to him, still appearing empty in his eyes. This is our introduction to Dwayne, Olive's brother, and his quest to fulfilling his dream of joining the Air Force and never having to deal with his dysfunctional family again.

The fourth character journey is embarked upon when a door then closes forcefully and a wrinkled hand presses in the lock on the knob. We see a pair of older hands then unzip a fanny pack and pull out a leather pouch. The camera then shifts to a shot of the man kneeling down in front of a table. We still can't see his face, but he lays the leather pouch out and removes a vial filled with white powder and a tiny mirror. He pours the drugs on the mirror, spreads it and cuts it with a razor blade. The man then raises the mirror up to his nose and uses a rolled up dollar-bill to snort the drugs. This is the first shot the viewer sees of his face, revealing that the man in indeed old, balding, and in need of a shave. The camera then cuts to a wider shot of the man kneeling in front of his dresser, and captures him from behind and in the mirror in front of him. He continues to sniff and breathe deeply, as he then rises and goes to sit down and lean back on a toilet in the room. He sighs, and looks content. This is our introduction to Olive's Grandpa, a crotchety old man who means the world to Olive and who has supported her tremendously in her dream of becoming a beauty pageant winner.

The fifth character to begin her journey is introduced with the very next shot of a woman driving a car, holding a smoldering cigarette in her hand and telling someone loudly that she is on her way. The camera shows a middle aged woman sighing exasperatedly into a cell phone and telling whomever she is talking to that she is at the hospital and must hang up. This is Sheryl, Olive's mother, who would like nothing more than to provide for her family and ensure their happiness, regardless of whether they are "winners" or "losers" as their father, Richard, categorizes them into.

Lastly, the sixth character journey begins when the camera switches to a shot of a solitary man, looking very somber and sullen dressed in a white hospital gown with an IV tube standing next to the wheel chair he sits in. As he stares out the window, the camera shifts to a close up shot of his face, allowing the viewer to see a look of extreme desperation in the man's eyes. This is Olive's uncle, Richard, who is now searching for meaning in his life after being fired for misconduct, stemming from a severe academic and romantic rivalry with colleague, at his job as a professor.

This introductory sequence is crucial the film's final message about the development of each character. In other words, each character is visually presented, without much dialogue, as searching and longing for something to bring change and improvement to his or her life. By the end of the trip to California, each member of the family has learned something significant about accepting human failings and adjusting their own personal goals.

III. Theme of Winning

The theme of the personal journey throughout Little Miss Sunshine ties in nicely with another underlying theme: winning. This is best exemplified by Olive's father, Richard. Throughout the film, Richard consistently emphasizes the importance of being a winner, of coming out on top in every situation. Although well-intentioned, Richard puts pressure on every member of the Hoover family to succeed. One of the most striking scenes is when the Hoover family sits down to eat at a restaurant. The adult Hoovers order their typical breakfasts, with Olive being the exception and ordering waffles a la mode. Her mother allows it, and after the waitress leaves the table, Richard begins to tell Olive that ice cream is made from cream, which has a lot of fat and that anyone who eats ice cream will have her body turn into fat. Olive's mother objects, telling Olive that it doesn't matter whether she is skinny or fat, all that matters is that she is happy with who she is. Richard then delivers the stinging sentence that the women in the Miss America competitions are skinny, and not fat. Olive looks extremely distressed at this suggestion from her father, as she is only seven years old and body image issues are hard to comprehend for a girl that age.

Olive is a little girl, yet her father insisted that he discourage his slightly chubby daughter from eating what would have made any child happy to have for breakfast. This is one of the first examples we see of Richard's obsession with winning actually hurting his family. However, the restaurant scene concludes with the waitress bringing Olive her ice cream and the other family members teasing her that they will eat all her ice cream up if she just sits there pondering whether or not to eat it. As they reach their spoons towards the bowl, Olive bolts up in her seat and protectively wraps her arms around it. Olive dismisses the pressure to be a winner from her father, and lives in the moment, as any child should. Thus, the ultimate conclusion of the film is also exemplified in this particular scene: a person does not have to fit into society's "norms" in order to be a winner.