This is also a film about Belonging: 2009 – 2012 . More on that later.
This film has as its basis a physical journey ( road from home across the United States to a beauty contest which Olive has entered, trained by her grandfather. On the journey everyone goes on an inner journey:
- Olive lives out her fathers principle of success
- Richard finds what he really values after career failures
- Dwayne comes to terms with his family and his ambitions
- Sheryl has re-established her family by making her family take this journey
- Frank finds meaning to his life after his abortive suicide attempt.
It’s also an imaginative journey in it’s conception:
- the bus that slowly falls apart but brings the family together
- the training of Olive, not fully revealed until the end
- the mishandling of the grandfather’s body that occurs because of the need to respect a father by a son
- the satire on beauty contest: Olive is the real beauty in pageant of plastic Barbi dolls
- the humour that permeates the film.
eruditeHSC 
hello i am currently in the process of doing my related text little miss sunshine with the book hukleberry finn for physical journeys is there any information you could give me on any similarities or contrasts?
greatly appreciated.?
as the person before me, i am also doing little miss sunshine as a related text for physical journeys and was wondering if you had an information about this film in relation to physical journeys? thank you heaps =]
how does the film little miss sunshine relate to belonging?
thanks
Little Miss Sunshine is about a dysfunctional family finding themselves on a road journey – finding where they belong in the family and coming to terms with themselves. You can look at the son who won’t speak and the suicidal brother in particular. But they all have something to learn. Belonging is quite complex. Here’s a link to the range of ways to look at it: http://www.e-rudite.net/belonging.htm
how does little miss sunshine relate to the book alibrandi?
In both texts there is a significant improvement in family relationships because of better understanding of each other. What triggers that change in understanding is different in each text but at the end of each text the principal characters are less alinated from each other and have a better sense of belonging. They also have a greater sense of their own identity. It’s up to you to focus on one or two characters in each text in some detail to see what are the key moments in their growing understanding of themselves and others around them.
Hope that helps.
how does the movie cover
“visual text” of little miss sunshine represent the concept of journey?
If we’re thinking of the same thing, the bright yellow suggests warmth and happiness, lightness.
The VW van is pointing in a direction, the family are running in the same direction. Problems are suggested by the son pushing the van. The line, “Everyone pretend to be normal.: The band of photos at the top are smiling.
i need help on how little miss sunshine can be related to belonging. are there any specific scenes that i could focus on?
thankyou
I’d suggest scenes with Olive and her grandfather (intimacy and support), the performance at the end when the family gets on stage (support and a sense of finally being a family) with Olive and the scene where the brother walks off to sulk (alienation, empathy, acceptance) and Olive brings him back into the family group.
Are there good film techniques, use of music that can be used to show concept of belonging?? Thankyou
I need to know the prescribed text to help you here.
Um, this is with Little Miss Sunshine
The title has tow levels of meaning: literal. The contest is the reason for the trip and Olive is a little ray of sunshine. It is also ironic because one aspect of the film satirises these kinds of competitions and Grandad’s training of Olive (kept secret) is his tilt at those contests..
The trip (or quest – a literary motif and therefore a technique)) is a means of exposing the family tensions; Olive and her Quest is the device that ultimately brings the family together. The scene where Olive coaxes Dwayne back onto the van demonstrates her role so well. The camera angles are used to separate Dwayne and his family, to place emphais on his isolation but to also show Olive moving from family to Dwayne as ‘the Olive branch’ and healer. (You need to look at it and apply your knowledge of camera angles here.) Another good sequence of scenes is the contest in which the family unite behind Olive and from memory low camera angles when they are all on stage give them the power in the room and the unity as a family.
I hope that helps.
How does the theme of success realte to belonging?
Success is about our self worth/self esteem and what gives us those or reinforces our sense of them helps to strengthen our sense of belonging.
Hope that is clear?
Yeah thanks!
Also, is the van a motif in the film? and how does it relate to the family?
I’d say it could be. It would represent ‘home’ and the process of ‘bonding’. It also represent ‘journey’. Both literal and spiritual. It’s the device or tool for these things. I hadn’t thought of it, I must confess.
hi,
just wondering what the main themes of belonging are in the film ‘little miss sunshine’ ?
Family and acceptance/difference. The family as a community and the family within the community at large? What do you think?
yeah thats what i was thinking.
could you go at the angle that the family belongs to themselves? that they belong to their own morals and values?
You don’t belong to your morals. Your a morals are something that grow as you do from experience and become an expression of who you are. The family comes together on the trip; the trip is the device that brings them together. They are a family that has started to unravel and the trip is what reminds them of what matters, bringing them together.
I REALLY NEED HELP!
I NEED A TEXT THATS NOT A MOVIE THATS RELATED TO JOURNEY AND LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE,
CAN U PLEASE HELP ME
NEED THIS QUICK
I’m going to be a teacher and say you shouldn’t leave things to the last minute.
Suggestions are:
Shaun Tan The Arrival picture book
Shaun Tan Rabbits picture book
J D Salinger The Catcher in the Rye novel
W Golding The Lord of the Flies novel
Tim Winton Blueback novella
Che Guevara The Motorcycle Diaries autobiography
Other suggestions at: http://www.e-rudite.net/aosresources.htm
Judy
eruditehsc– ur the best wat would we do without u.
r u a teacher?
any ways thankyou very much u and all the others that make school abit easier, were freaking out here.
Thank you – I aim to please!
I am a teacher of very long standing and I like to think this helps in some way. Always ask so you cut down the freaking out feeling. That’s what I’m here for. And there is also the website: http://www.e-rudite.net.
PLEASE HELP
I NEED A TEXT THATS NOT A MOVIE THATS RELATED TO PHYSICAL JOURNEY AND LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE
NEED IT QUICK
You don’t need to send twice. You should have the answer.
hey guys,
I also did Little Miss Sunshine in my belong module for the HSC last year 🙂 i got some self-made notes for reference. Ask Me. Good luck guys!
That’s generous!
The characters in Little Miss Sunshine go on a real journey so that Olive can enter the pageant. As they go on that journey they all undergo a spiritual journey and in some way – great and small – they change in positive ways. Think Olive’s brother and father.
Hey i want to ask, ‘How does little miss sunshine relate to journey’s’
Name of text; Little Miss Sunshine
Text form: Film
Director: Jonathon Dayton and Valerie Faris
Date of publication: October 6, 2006 (Australia)
1. Write a brief description of the text – mentioning its purpose and audience
The film is a road movie about a dysfunctional family’s trip to a children’s beauty pageant, with a large portion focusing on events related to the family vehicle, a Volkswagen Microbus. Together, the motley six-member family treks from Albuquerque to the Little Miss Sunshine pageant in Redondo Beach, California to fulfill the deepest wish of 7-year-old Olive, an ordinary little girl with big dreams. Along the way, the family must deal with crushed dreams, heart breaks, and a broken-down VWbus, leading up to the Surreal Little Miss Sunshine Competition itself. On their travels through his bizarrely funny landscape, the Hoovers learn to trust and support each other along the path of life, no matter the challenge. The purpose of this film is to reflect the “winning”, an importance placed on status, wealth and power culture of the American society. The composer aims to satires this society, with a message that not all wins and loss are artificial and tangible, that is, the comfort and security found in belonging. The audience is positioned to empathise with the imperfection of human beings, allowing many to belong emotionally with the film. “Little Miss Sunshine” has audience aimed at adults, reflected in the violent use of a language and at times reference to drugs and sex. The values and attitudes of the audience in today’s society will come to self-realisation of their loss of connectedness to their family members for the reason of having an career or reluctance to belong because they are out of the “norms” of the society.
2. What aspects of Belonging are described in the chosen text?
Belonging to a family, acceptance of identity and individuality
-the six member family support and comfort each other regardless of their failures, and misguided beliefs.
Challenging the ideas of the larger world
-Non-conforming to the idea of success as an acceptance by the society
The strength of family bond
-Physical segregation of Grandpa’s death only reinforced the family bond
3. How is the concept of Belonging conveyed through representation of people, relationships, places, ideas, and societies in the chosen text?
People- The family’s sole oasis of serenity and self-possession is Olive; her accepting and understanding nature offers a sense of belonging to the rest of the family. She is focused on her fantasy of being a beauty pageant queen and lives out her fathers’ principle of success showing her devotion and sense of belonging to both her ambition and her father.
-Grandpa has been rejected by his retirement village that could not come to acceptance and belong with his unacceptable behavior, as he establishes his sense of belonging by consuming drugs. His family providing a home is an expression of understanding and accepting of his illegal habits.
-Frank is a renowned Proust scholar who lost both the male grad student he loved and a Macarthur Foundation genius grant to a rival academic. Attempted suicide of Frank was due to broken bond with his male lover, and loss of his job as a renounced Proust scholar. In the opening scene when Sheryl meets Frank, ‘I’m glad you’re alive”, Frank responds, “That makes one us”, showing that he doesn’t want to belong to the world, when their self worth is rejected and lost
-Dwayne is a Nietzsche devotee that maintains a vow of silence until he’s old enough to become a fighter pilot, a rebellious teenager that sees belonging only in the ideas of Nietzsche. He is reluctant to belong to his family, because he sees that they are strange and do not “belong” with the norms of the society.
Relationship;
-Dwayne’s quote “I don’t want to be your family!”,“I hate everyone” shows his unwillingness to belong to his family and society. His perceptions of belonging changes when he discovers of his colour blind and sees that his family was there to comfort and support him, regardless of his failures. This is shown in the line “Life is one beauty pageant after another, there’s school then work”, showing his acceptance of the obstacles of his belonging to his ambitions.
-Richard is a motivational speaker on a career downslide committed to his philosophy at the expense of his family. Sheryl’s impatience with Richard’s philosophy, hinting at deeper marital disharmony and a possible divorce shows there is no longer sense of belonging between them. However, Richard finds what he really values in his father and Sheryl, Dwayne and Olive after career failures, and seeks to find a belonging by fulfilling his duty to drive the VW bus to the Little Miss Sunshine contest.
-In the bus when Richard talks about his 9 step, Frank uses sarcasm “Wow, Richard, you’ve really opened my eyes to what a loser I am” shows his reluctance to associate and belong to Richard.
-The intimate relationship between Olive and Grandpa. “I’d like to dedicate to this to my grandpa” shows her strong bond between Grandpa regardless of him not physically belonging to her.
Events- In the opening scenes, we witness each characters involved in their own worlds, barely communicating, unable to even sit at the table together for more than a couple of minutes, the frustration reinforce the lack of connection and unwillingness to associate with each other.
-Death and Resurrection; In addition to Grandpa’s death, we see Olive’s hopes for pageant success apparently die- and then be reborn when Richard demonstrates his character change by stealing the body. The purpose of the death and resurrection stage is to metaphorically reflect the death of Olive’s belonging to her ambitions and the resurrection through Richard’s strengthened sense of belonging to his family.
-Scenes with Olive and her family joining in their daughter’s burlesque routine at the end shows the family’s choice not to belong to the society, but alliance and loyalty to its unconventional family members.
– Frank’s changed perception of belonging is evident as he progresses from a depressed state to a triumphant component of this family on a mission. When the family must push-start the van, Frank adopts a “winning” attitude, wanting to be involved. His clear rushing of adrenaline, letting out a “woo!” and it’s “mission accomplished.” shows a newfound sense of belonging for Frank.
-When Dwayne discovers of his color-blind and his dream to become a pilot is demolished, his family steps in and supports him. This acceptance is important for Dwayne to find where he belong in the family and coming to terms with themselves.
Place: – The landscape of the isolated desert that progresses to grassland and then the modernized city shows the family’s progression from a displaced, lack of communicating members to more connected and unified family
Idea During Olive’s dance performance, Richard chooses to join Olive on stage rather than succumb to the contest’s ideas of success and failure. This shows Richard sense of belonging is family is stronger than the belonging he finds in selling his philosophy of turning loser into winners.
4. How do the composer’s choice of language modes, form, features and structure shape a sense of Belonging?
Features; The VW bus that transports the Hoovers from their home acts as a symbolism, of the family who are a wildly imperfect machine, made up of ill-fitting components and prone to malfunctions minor and major. The VW van pointing in a direction shows the family’s slow progression to unity, the yellow colour of the Van suggesting the warmth and happiness of belonging.
The title “Little Miss Sunshine” also has two levels of meanings; the literal is the name of the contest and is the reason for the trip to fulfill Olive’s ambitions as beauty pageant contest. The trip, a literary motif is a means of exposing the family tensions; Olive and her quest is the device that ultimately brings the family together. The metaphorical is Olive that acts as a little ray of sunshine to her family, comforting and accepting each member of the family, even if they do not belong to the “norms” of the society. Humor is evident through the film’s satire of these competitions placing its values on artificial and sexualized pre-teen. This is evident through Grandpa’s training of Olive’s burlesque dancing in breaking the contest’s convention symbolising the composer’s attitude towards the society’s loss of sense of belonging in seeing the natural and warm Olive, the real “Little Miss Sunshine”.
-When Dwayne learns of his colour blindness and discovers he has to abandon his dreams to become a pilot, the camera reframes as Dwayne stand up and approaches his mom, “you’re not my family”. The distance between Sheryl and Dwayne creates the z-axis on the frame; the separation places an emphasis on Dwayne’s isolation. The following low camera angle of Olive moving from the rest of the family to coax Dwayne in the foreground to return to the van highlights empathy and acceptance.
-In the Opening montage when we meet the family, the chords of a dissonant musical theme, “the winner is” cue the movie’s sense of melancholy and instantly establish a sense of not belonging. The close up of Oliver and the reflection on her glasses showing the video of past pageant beauty winners shows her devotion to her dream. This is also evident with Richard who voices the steps to be a winner, in an attempt himself to belong to the “winning” culture of the American society. The close up of Dwayne in his monochromatic room and costuming express his self-alienation and an intent not be in unity with the rest of the family. This melancholy is also evident in sequences of Grandpa snorting heroin behind closed door illustrate rebelliousness, a reason that got kicked out of retirement centre. Frank’s close up of sad face in an isolated room after an attempted suicide, looking out the window shows his unwillingness to connect with people, the society, and even to his life. The difference of each and the choice not to belong reinforce the frustration in the scene.
-The final dance routine, the families all stand up and join her on stage, against the norms of the society reinforced by the playing of “super freak”, showing the families eschewing of the “norms” of the society. The low camera angles when all six members are on stage give them the power in the room and the unity as a family.
5. As a representation of Belonging- what has the text taught you about the Area of Study, Belonging and how has it influenced your thinking?
Upon individual reading, one could state that “Little Miss Sunshine” highlights the necessity of belonging to and being accepted by a family. The six member family seen in the beginning to be engrossed in their own thoughts suffers hardship, loss of self-confidence and dislocation. However, the family understands and acceptance shows the realisation of the strong bond which has allowed the family to develop empathy for others and gain a personal insight into their perspective.
I don’t usually mark essays here. If you send it to HSCsupport@gmail.com I will.
Sorry. You”ve attached the essay. As I said, you’re very generous.
OMG SO USEFUL
Hi,
Im writing a comparative essay on What’s Eating Gilbert Grape and Little Miss Sunshine and i was wondering if you could help me with these themes:
Emotional journey
Defending the honor of a family member
The building up to anger and frustration
If you haven’t seen Whats Eating Gilbert Grape, thats okay. Could you just explain the themes according to Little Miss Sunshine.
Thanks! (:
Both track emotional journeys even if they are somewhat different. You can focus on the Johhny Depp character and the father or the brother in Little Miss Sunshine. Two characters require defending in Gilbert Grape: the mother and the mentally challenges brother. Both have disabilities. In Little Miss Sunshine, you have the uncle and brother who experience degrees of alienation through personality issues/mental illness. The journey helps them grow.
Anger and frustration figure in both as a consequence of living with and dealing with the issues above. Working through these feeling can then lead to growth, a sense of healthier self esteem.
Hope that helps.
And don’t forget the dreaded techniques you also have to discuss.
Hi,
I was just wondering if you knew any techniques for Little Miss Sunshine that I could explore in relation to journeys?
Thank you!
I’d choose the scenes/incidents you want to talk about and then look at the camerawork used to film them. You might also look at dialogue. If you choose a couple of scenes I can help you better.
The journey the family takes is about finding belonging. The road journey is a metaphor for finding belonging, if you like.
Hey! My prescribed text is As you like it and i’ve chosen an additional which is The Mending Wall. I’ve displayed aspects of belonging through both by creating a dichotomy between the two. In AYIL, I talk about how belonging is important through how to characters have to go into the Forest of Arden to find themselves but however in the Mending Wall, I show the importance of belonging through the absence of belonging throughout the poem and how this affects the characters.
I am having trouble finding another additional that is about searching for identity and that fits in well with AYLI.
Could you please help me with some?
You could try:
Craig Silvey, Jasper Jones
Monica Ali, Brick Lane
Peter Goldsworthy, The Maestro
My Place, Sally Morgan
Falling Leaves, Adeline Yen Mah
The Boys are Back, dir. Scott Hicks
Genova, dir. Michael Winterbottom
Maestro by Peter Goldsworthy looks really good but it’s a ESL prescribed text? Could it still be used?
Yes, it can be used. And it’s a good text.
Any ideas on Little Miss Sunshine, in relation to stereotypes, and also film techniques, use of props?
“Little Miss Sunshine” works against stereotyping: Olive, her brother, her uncle and her grandfather. Her parents appear to be stereotypical suburban parents but as the journey progresses their confirmed faith in family and each other makes them individuals. The whole idea of Olive being prepped by her ‘alternative’ grandfather for a beauty contest is a satire of that particular stereotype. The techniques you choose are based on the scenes you decide to use as examples. For example, parts of Olive’s performance are filmed from backstage to show her joy in her chance to compete and the reactions of her audience.
I need to know how to connect this movie with this quote
‘At the heart of our search for a sense of belonging will always be our relationships.’
any suggestions? thanks in advance 🙂
im using this related text with the poem Outcast By Claude McKay do you think i could link them at all? or should i choose a different one (its just a short poem)
Little Miss Sunshine?
The movie is a road movie in that it revolves around a long journey in which people who are in some way at odds with each other come to a better understanding of each other and themselves as a consequence. So the relationships they build on contribute to the change in their sense of belonging. Choose a couple of relationships to focus on.
The poem isn’t about the same issues as ‘Little Miss Sunshine’ but it can be linked because it deals with that sense of unhappiness that comes from not belonging. In ‘Little Miss Sunshine’ it’s family and in the poem it’s ethnicity/race.
I don’t know your prescribed text so I can’t help with linking them to that which is the most important thing.
I’m doing ‘Little MIss Sunshine’ as my chosen text related to journeys and was wanting some ideas on how ‘Little Miss Sunshine’ is relevant to journey, what is little miss sunshine saying about journey and how has the composer has represented his/hers ideas? thankyouu!
Hey i need to integrate this film as my related text to my prescribed text Daddy by Plath and also my other prescribed texts Journey of the Magi plus the Love Song of J.R Prufrock by T.S Eliot using techniques. I’m currently finding it hard to make connections.
Cheers Ethan
Little Miss Sunshine has several dysfunctional characters you could relate to the Plath poem. The uncle and the brother spring to mind but the overall tone is more sentimental and often satiric where the Plath is quite disturbingly dark. I’m not so sure how this text sits with the canonical texts you have. I guess it shouldn’t matter if you do it well.
Judy
Techniques don’t match across texts if that is what you are looking for. You can link ideas by their similarity or difference, but good writers are distinctive in their use of their techniques. Find what is strong: imagery or camera angles etc and look at how they are used, why they have been selected and what the impact is.
Judy
One idea/similarity i had was how Frank and Plath where both suicidal? But the way they want us to connect these is with a technique> this is where I am struggling.
You probably don’t need this now but:
Techniques won’t match meaning across texts if that is what you mean. Techniques are how composer’s make their meaning. You have two texts written independently of each other in different time frames/contexts. That both composers were suicidal is coincidental, however, for your purposes it is common ground. The techniques each uses are unique to their own composition and the meaning they are making. So the techniques you chose will be specific to each text, independent of the other. Plath’s use of language is striking but Frank is autobiographical and a different form of writing altogether, often characterised by relative simplicity.
Hi i’m actually using Little Miss Sunshine as a related text to Emma by Jane Austen for the area of study journey, and I was wondering what were the thematic links between the two as well as quotes and techniques I could use to show these.
Both are about ‘inner’ journeys. Emma has to learn to listen to and read people rather than make assumptions based on her own needs and wants. The family in ‘Sunshine’ learn to hear and read each other producing more productive relationships with each other. Techniques are the tools the writer uses to make their individual meaning and will be individual to each text. Although irony and satire figure in both it operates differently in each, partly because one is a print text and the other a visual text. However some characters are used for social satire eg Mr Elton, the beauty pageant judges.
hey
the above information is REALLY helpful!!
Any ideas of how to compare Little miss sunshine to “that eye the sky” by tim winton, especially in regards to similar themes.
Thanks
Hi,
I’m doing the Immigrant Chronicles by Peter Skryznecki for belonging and was tossing between two related texts.. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck or Little Miss Sunshine.
I really like both texts but in terms of relevance to my prescribed text, which do you think would be most effective/ has the most potential?
Thanks 🙂
The characters in Steinbeck are ‘migrants’ of a sort, through circumstances. They ‘belong’ together through friendship and need, but they also face the challenges of fitting in to places so I think the links with Skrzynecki are strong. You also have a good piece of literature to go with the poetry
Hi, How could i connect Little Miss Sunshine to the book (the one i’ve studied in class) “The Story of Tom Brennan” by J.C Burke. We are doing the module Into The World and how the main character Tom slowly comes back into the world after his brother Daniel is sentenced to a time in jail as he killed to of his friends and left his cousin Fin in a quadriplegic state. Daniel was drinking before he got into his car and in the end he crashed his car. My teacher told me little miss sunshine would be a great text to link to Tom Brennan but I’m not sure how to link it.