Little
Miss Sunshine
Within
Little Miss Sunshine there are sociological messages to explore. We are
following an estranged family who are taking a trip to make little girls dreams
come true. Essentially everyone was out
too complete some kind of dream. The Hoover family is comprised of Olive
Hoover, Dwayne Hoover, Richard Hoover, Edward Hoover, Sheryl Hoover, and Frank
Ginsberg. Olive is a little girl who
competed in a pageant and since then made it her dream. It reveals the social
pressures revolving around beauty. Dwayne, her older brother, has taken a vow
of silence until his 18th birthday to become an Air Force pilot.
It’s a look into the dedication some have to the military. Richard Hoover,
their Father, aspires to be a motivational speaker for those who feel like
losers. Many before him had thought they found the secrets to make people
happy. His dad Edward recently returned home from the retirement home where he
was kicked out for drug use. His age and the demographic he represents are
important to the quality of life in the country. Sheryl, Richards’s wife, is
trying to be the glue and is stressed. Her brother Frank comes in at a time
where he just attempted suicide after a series of bad events. The things which he says made him lose his
value of life are things anyone could have experienced. I will look at each character to explore in
depth they’re part in sociology.
First
we are introduced to Olive Hoover. She is admiring Mrs. Louisiana on the television. Olive Mimics the pageant queens happiness
during the moment of winning. Her Aunt
or Sheryl the mother’s sister took Olive to a pageant and let her compete in
California. They were called The Little Miss Sunshine regionals, the
pre-qualifying pageant. There are
obstacles Olive must face and the first one is her father. It is hinted at that
Olive is an overweight girl and she is the last person to know. Olives father
used an opportunity to criticize her weight by explain ice-cream creates
fat. Suddenly he asks are the Miss American pageant queens fat or skinny.
He attempts to teacher Olive winners are only skinny and she will be fat. This
pressure on a young girl is the societal norm. It creates eating disorders and
devalues of self-worth among alarming rates of teen. Olive has a chance to ask Mrs. California herself
if she eats ice cream, and she does. Proving to Olive that a woman can be both
skinny and beautiful and not be afraid of what they eat. We see more society
pressures and the standard of beauty during the Little Miss sunshine
competition. When other children are spray tanned, and showing as much skin as
possible to impress the judges, Olive states true to her style. For the Bathing
suit, it was a one piece modest outfit and for the formal dress it wasn’t as
situating the hips. The largest controversy was during the talent portion.
Olives grandpa choreographs and extremely sexual and inappropriate song. It was
blatantly honest and highlighted the fact that there isn't outrage toward
dressing a child as a sex object.
Pageants are made to explode and elaborate on changing a young girl into
the sexy women they want to immolate. After a tussle on stage to let his
daughter perform the father dances her routine with her in support. A sweet bonding of this strange family
happened and it resulted being banned from competing ever again. Olive won by
leaving the ordeal unjudged and unchanged from her.
Next
we look at Richard Hoover. He is an aspiring motivational speaker who wants to
changes large groups of people’s lives for the better. From the turnout at his
speech it seems to not be going well. We come into his story while wanting book
deal. It is about his motivational 9
steps to stop being a loser. His character is driven to only be a winner. When
news of Olive’s pageant comes it’s at a crucial point of waiting on his publisher
to sell his books. Part of the decision to that the road trip to California is
when he Tells olive to not even try if she’s not going to win. Because she
believes in herself, he believes they are going to win Little Miss sunshine.
Along the way, it’s clear his work affects his family negatively. Because he
believes he has the best way to not be a loser then he is insensitive. He
insults olive about her weight, point out Franks flaws, and condescends his son’s
efforts. Suddenly Richard Loses the book
deal. This puts him back in his place where maybe he is the loser all along. He
begins to see what the pageant is and how this judging is wrong. Richard is
scared for olive and doesn’t want her to compete. Now a new man he does the unthinkable during
olives show. To show support in his daughter he begins dancing with her first.
Richard doesn’t have the answers to fixing societies problems. Learning that he
was flawed also changed how he’ll treat the people he cares about.
The third character to analyze is Dwayne. He
is 15 years old with died black hair and typical angst posters. What makes him
interesting is his vow of silence for 9 months. Whenever he has a chance he is working
out. The driving force of this life
direction is the Counting down to being 18 to join the air force. He feels he is surrounded by idiots and Hates
everyone. He loves his little sister the most and continues the road trip just
for her. With her help by showing him a simple eye test it was revealed he is
color blind. His months of devotion to joining the air force were wasted. Now
that he can speak, his options begin spilling out in the same colorful way
their grandpa spoke. He doesn’t like society or the pageant. By pointing out
the hypocrisies of the whole organization he proves he’s got good intentions of
wanting Olive to not compete anymore. With his family, as they danced in spite
of the disruption, they took back little of the morality. Dwayne’s commitment
to forcing the armed forces built his character to be resilient.
Next
Grandpa Edwin Hoover the drug addict. He was kicked out of the retirement home.
Edwin Believes being old is the reason why
to do drugs. When Richard losing his
book deals he shows he is a good father. He’s proud of him trying to get a book
deal. When olive is being insulted by her father he tells her that she
beautiful. He calmed olive down when she fears she’ll be a loser and her father
wouldn’t like her. Shortly after Edwin dies from drug over dose in the hotel
bathroom. The hospital wouldn’t release the body so they stole it and traveled
with it. Richard decides it’s not right anymore and calls California’s merge.
He left behind good lessons though he was crass. His advice resonated with what
every character needed to hear.
Finally
Frank Ginsberg, Sheryl’s brother had the most effective character in my opinion.
He attempted suicide after losing his boyfriend and job and his home. He grew the most, developing to be a part of
this family. The scene of his sprinting to register olive in showed he loves
her. The trip gave him vitality back into his life. Even after running into his
ex it didn’t send him spiraling. He showed allot how in America the struggles
we face affect all kinds.
We
all have our own obstacles and goals and this family highlights sociology in
the dynamic. For Olive she wasn’t one of the countless girls sent down a dangerous
path of conformed beauty. Richard learned from his mistakes that a mass of
people aren’t a one size fit deal, it takes all kinds. Dwayne’s reproach the dilemmas
teens face about what they’ll do when they grow up taught him life is about
experiences. Edwin was a hidden part of the retirement age no one gets to see.
Frank got the bad end of allot and it showed the pressure someone can be under
because of societal norms. All together this large family solved a few flaws
but like there wasn’t a real happy ending. Learning about sociology is about
observing the big picture and accepting humanity in all its different shades.
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