Little Miss Sunshine: Dysfunctional Hoover Family

Jeannette and her siblings had to help her mother get through the day because life was so stressful for them all. “At times I felt like I was failing Maureen, like I wasn’t keeping my promise that I’d protect her―the promise I’d made to her when I held her on the way home from the hospital after she’d been born. I couldn’t get her what she needed most―hot baths, a warm bed, a steaming bowl of Cream of Wheat before school in the morning―but I tried to do little things” (Walls 206). This is showing how as times get more tough, and the family is treated worse by society, the family members are unable to take care of each other the way they would want to. This shows how social injustice gets in

Each person’s honesty reveals his or her perspective on the story of Diane. The film uncovers details of the marriage of Sarah's dad Michael and mom Diane. Each sibling describes Diane as exciting and Michael as more mellow. The family members then continue describing the in’s and out’s of Diane’s family, life, and

How he treats others is a direct reflection of how he truly feels on the inside. Of course, a movie would not be a movie without obstacles to overcome and Little Miss Sunshine fills that category. We watch the characters being hit with one problem after another. Each character has their moments of emotion and vulnerability, which reveals many true intentions. After Richard goes back to plead his case for his book deal, he is majorly shot down.

Another important part of family dynamics that I recognized in this film was how much Arnie's condition brought the family together. For example, when Arnie was arrested for climbing the water tower, after repeated warnings, his mother finally came out of the house with the children and they all went to get him out of jail. Also, Arnie's 18th birthday party was a big collaborative effort. In the scene where Arnie was saying that he wanted hot dogs at his party, the mother and sisters seemed to be creating their own picture of what the party should be like. I felt that the party was also a way of celebrating the care that they had provided for Arnie over the years. The mother also places a lot of pressure on the children and their roles. Several times throughout the film she stated that they "need to try harder" to watch Arnie, take care of him and fulfill their responsibility. These children appear to be selflessly engaging themselves with Arnie's and their mother's needs. This creates a very complicated and dynamic family.

Mama’s dream In a Raisin in the Sun, Lorraine Hansberry tells readers a story about the Younger family who struggle with money, racism, and most importantly, family conflicts. These conflicts arise when the family inherits 10,000 dollars because everyone in the family has a different idea of what they should do with the money. Ever since Mama got married she had plans of what to do with her life, and thought some of them could come true with her new wealth but she hated to see everyone in the family fight over money and slowly break away from what a family should be like. Because of Mama wanting to do what is right for her family, Hansberry shows readers that sometimes larger things come up in life that cause one to put their dreams on hold.

What is family in your opinion? Family can be a source of support, compassion, optimism, love and happiness, but family can also be a cause of depression, betrayal, hurt and pain. Family is not always determined based on having the same DNA but it is the relationships that people can make or have with one another. Family can consist of several different people like, friends, co-workers, classmates, a community, etc... Some family members can be your worst enemies because they have the most information of secrets to bring a relative down. Being able to trust a person, depend on them, and be carefree is a person that can be valued as being a part of a family. In the movie Little Miss Sunshine, their dysfunctional family is loving, supportive, optimistic and motivating. The movie is filled with humor about a modern middle-class family that is about to encounter a financial catastrophe but in the midst of their struggles they still find the beauty in life and the meaning in life. The beginning of the movie Richard, the father is giving a motivational speech about winning, he states “There are two types of people in this world, winners and losers”.(Little Miss Sunshine) Richard is a protagonist motivational speaker that is obsessed with winning. He is so consumed with achieving that he ridicules his family for not being perfect throughout the film. Richard trying to build up the ideal life or what he thinks is the ‘American Dream’ around himself. He chooses to ignore aspects of the life around him that he sees as unacceptable or out of sync with his ideal lifestyle, trying instead to fulfil his role as the authorative head of the family and provider. Sheryl is the mother who is optimist, she is always giving words of encouragement even when Richard is trying to bring down his family and she is all about being truly honest. Frank is the brother of Sheryl whom at the beginning attempts to commit suicide due to a broken heart and losing his standing as Americas pre-eminent Proust Scholar. Dwayne is the son of Richard and Sheryl and is committed to joining the air force. He also is very committed that he takes a vow of silence until he gets into the air force, but then he finds out he is color blind and breaks his

Little Miss Sunshine is the story of a little girl named Olive who has a dream of winning the Little Miss Sunshine beauty contest. Olive comes from a family that is full of problems. Her father (Richard Hoover) is a motivational speaker who is desperately trying to sell his 9-step program for success, her brother (Dwayne) has taken a vow of silence to join the Air Force Academy, her uncle (Frank Ginsberg) is a homosexual Proust scholar who attempted suicide after a failed attempt at a relationship with the love of his life, and her grandfather (Edwin Hoover) who is a drug addict who was kicked out of his retirement home for snorting heroin. Through all the problems the family faces they come together to help Olive reach her dream of winning the Little Miss Sunshine beauty contest. The family travels 800 miles in 2 days on the quest to reach Olives dream on a road trip full of its up and downs. Olive competes in the contest by dancing to the song “Super Freak” in a performance that shocks and horrifies the audience and judges. The family then finds itself in custody of the police who offer to release them with the condition that Olive never competes in a beauty contest in the state of California again. They then find themselves traveling back to Albuquerque on an adventure that has strengthened their bond and brought them closer together.

In the film the family struggled with showing equal attention to each other because they are dealing with biological problems that are breaking them apart. Also

but the mere fact that they both share one thing in common with Mrs. Mini Wright they are women and they stand together “The two are thrown together by circumstances, and neither of them seems too pleased about the situation. These surface differences and initial skepticism are important to the story because of the way the women’s relationship changes and deepens beyond their exterior difference, resulting in a shared female experience.” (Grose 41). Connections made between people during difficult and unusual situations create bonds that establish support for one another. All three of these women are bonded and have established that they will support each other during this

This essay explores the common elements found in three texts. The three works are; Little Miss Sunshine, Aphrodisiac, and The Summer People. Little Miss Sunshine was produced in 2006. It is an American comedy drama that was directed by Valerie Faris together with her husband Jonathan Dayton. Michael Arndt wrote the screenplay. The main movie characters include; Tony Collette, Alan Arkin, Greg Kinnear, and Paul Dano. Big Beach Films, through an US$8 million, produced the comedy movie. The movie generated adequate critical review, and generated a global gross profit of US$100.5 million. The film received four Academy Awards nominations. It won three movie Awards; Michael Arndt received the Best Original

The realistic portrayal of family life in Little Women

Little Women depicts the life of four children who struggle to support themselves and their family when their dad goes to fight in the Civil War. The book and movie focuses on the characteristics of a peaceful and cooperative family and the relations that this specific family have together from childhood to adulthood. Each of the four children (Jo, Beth, Meg, and Amy), have disparate personalities that tend to conflict with each other, thus making the plot interesting. Despite the different problems the siblings have with each other however, they resolve them and embrace their struggles and tough situations with positivity. The book and movie are both astounding interpretations based on the author's own personal experiences with her family.

The overall plot of the movie is the image of the father transforming and dealing with being a single parent and handling being a full time advertising executive. With the beginning scene of the mother exiting displays she felt like her life was dwindling away as a wife and caregiver and that’s when the father had to take on the full load. For the next few scenes, the father and son displayed resentment towards one another because of the changes in the household dynamic. When at work, the husband’s new home environment starts to affect his office environment. His boss gives him a new and very important account even though he was unsure if he can perform his duties like past accounts before. These dissimilar factors caused a blow - up between father and son at dinner one evening. After the blow - up, the son admits to the father that he fears that his father would leave him too like his mother did,

In Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris’ 2006 movie Little Miss Sunshine, they depict the tribulations of a dysfunctional family trying to get their daughter to a beauty pageant, while encompassing strong portrayals of common issues in the United States today. It communicates the individual’s struggle to be perfect, as well as the difficulties of the average middle class family in society. In this paper I will analyze three characters; Olive, Dwayne, and Richard Hoover, identifying their life stages, psychosocial development, role in the family and their resiliency through the stories challenging circumstances.

The Final key technique which is employed by the cinematic team of Little Miss Sunshine is the use of sound. Throughout the film there is an evident mixture of diegetic and non-diegetic sounds. In the scene were Frank and Dwayne are out on the pier, starts with a non-diegetic voice over from the Little Miss Sunshine pageant saying ‘America, it’s so beautiful’. These words introduce the scene as the diegetic sounds of nature at the beach take over and remind us of nature’s healing presence as we then see the first real bonding between Frank and Dwayne. The directors have chosen to use