Little Miss Sunshine

Before this class I had never heard of  Little Miss Sunshine so I wasn't quite sure what to expect. I did a little research before I watched the movie and thought it was going to be a little different than what I was used too. After watching the movie I learned to not judge a movie based on pictures that you have Googled. The movie was comical but had a serious message.

Little Miss Sunshine is the perfect example of a dysfunctional family. Every member of the family has their own quirks but they all seem to fit together. The movie proves that some things in life just happen but family, no matter how dysfunctional, can help you through it. The bad luck of this dysfunctional family, can help bring any family closer.

The use of color is huge in this movie. Right away we are almost overwhelmed by the color yellow. It's the main color of the movie poster and also the color of the family van. I think the color yellow is used because it is a happy color and also symbolizes optimism. It also catches people's eye, hence it being the main color on the poster! Whenever we see the color yellow in the movie, it gives us a hint that something good is bound to happen. I think Olive is characterized by the color red. Red can stand for fear, anger, love, or even confidence. I think in this case it stands for fear but also for confidence. Olive is scared to perform in the Little Miss Sunshine contest, but she also shows her confidence and goes on with the show! Other characters in the movie may have been characterized by color but it was less noticeable. (Chapter 7)

Chapter eight is all about the sound effects and dialogue of the movie.  It is hard to notice all of the little sound effects in movie unless they hit you right on the head. During movies we are most likely to pay attention to what is going on in the film and the dialogue than the special sound effects in the movie. The one sound effect that really stood out to me was the annoying van horn. Right away the horn made me think that they were going to be busted for hiding their grandpas body in the van. After thinking about it after the movie a little more I think they horn could also stand for the numerous struggles they encountered on their road trip to California. Instead of quitting like most horns would have it kept going on, just like the family did even through all of the obstacles there were faced with.

The dialogue of this movie seemed pretty normal to me. Well besides Dwayne, who didn't speak for half of the movie. They characters spoke just like normal families would talk to each other. They argued, they asked never ending questions, they annoyed each other, and they cared for each other. I think the dialogue hit it spot on when it came to acting like a family.

The soundtrack to this movie didn't really catch my attention. After reading the textbook I noticed that they movie mostly used traveling music. This really fit well with the movie since they did road trip to California in their van. The one song that really stood out to me was Olive's song choice for the pageant. Superfreak was hilarious and extremely fitting for the family. It went perfectly with their dysfunctional family.

The only actor I knew right away in this movie was Steve Carell so there wasn't much of the star system going on.  This movie is a great example of ensemble acting though. No character really stood out much from the others. They all were part of this average Joe family.  Each character needed to have its own quirks and qualities. Casting the characters in the movie was no walk in the park.  Each character in the movie had their special qualities. Olive was an outgoing little girl, the grandpa was not up to date on the times and didn't really watch his mouth, and Dwayne acted as the annoyed son who just wanted to get away.  Of course the other characters had their special characteristics too, but you get my point. (Chapter 10)

In my opinion, I believe the directors, Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, wanted this to be an optimistic and hopeful comedy.   The whole movie is based on a road trip a dysfunctional family takes to California. He chose all the right actors to play the characters and brought together a group of individuals with very different personalities that ended up matching perfectly to the movie.  They used their soundtrack to match up with the road trip theme even.  Basically, they turned this movie into a comedy about one awkward family. (Chapter  11)

Overall, I thought the movie was very entertaining. I even found myself getting embarrassed for some of the main characters. Although there are a few graphic and wordy parts, I would recommend all families watch this movie. It shows that no matter how embarrassing or annoying family members can get, the will always do what is best and help each other out.