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Huck goes on a journey down the Mississippi River and meets different many people and experiences many challenges and must overcome various obstacles. that will change him. His companion is a negro, Jim, which raises racial issues particularly considering the context of the novel.

• Look for three key characters and evaluate the impact of each on Huck?

• Look for three key episodes and evaluate the impact of each on Huck?

Little Miss Sunshine operates in a similar way but operates on a more darkly humorous level. The central character is Olive whose quest is to participate in the “Little Miss Sunshine” contest in California. The Mississippi is replaced by the road they travel to California. Her companions are her dysfunctional family: her retrenched father, hippie grandfather, stoic mother and obsessive brother. They are joined by her gay uncle who has recently attempted suicide.
Although Olive achieves her goal and participates in the contest, the journey has its biggest impact on the other members of the family, who were, apart from Sheryl, reluctant to go.

• Choose two key characters and evaluate the impact of each of Olive’s quest

• Choose two key episodes and evaluate the impact of each on the characters you chose above

You also need to look at techniques: how the composer creates their meaning. With Little Miss Sunshine, consider:

• the use of the combi van as a vehicle in which to make the journey
• the choice of incidents the family confronts eg breakfast in the cafe; grandfather’s death; Dwayne’s colourblindness
• the way in which actors represent their characters eg Dwayne
• the use of humour
• the role of satire – the pageant
• the significance of the title – literal and metaphoric meanings

Remember, the techniques in a film are very different to a prose text, like a novel.