A Family That Defies What Is Normal

   A Family That Defies What is Normal


Little Miss Sunshine is a film released in 2006 that tells the story of a family traveling to California for a beauty pageant. Although this movie appears to center around the beauty pageant, the main focus is actually of the family members and how they learn and grow throughout the film. The Hoover family is definitely not an ordinary family - each member has specific interests and issues that they deal with. The family consists of Richard (a struggling motivational speaker), Sheryl (Richard's wife, who is losing her patience with her husband and feels overworked), Dwayne (Richard and Sheryl's son, who has taken a vow of silence until he has fulfilled his goal of being a fighter pilot), Olive (Richard and Sheryl's daughter, who is the one participating in the beauty pageant), Frank (Sheryl's brother who is temporarily living with the family after attempted suicide), and Edwin (Richard's father, who has a heroin addiction). 

 
 Each of the characters defy what is considered "normal" in our society one way or another. First there is Olive. She does not pay attention to how others perceive her, and does whatever makes her happy. She goes about the beauty pageant in her own unique way- different from how every other contestant was. This is something that almost every other person struggles with, yet for Olive it does not bother her. Since Olive is generally a very positive person, it can be argued that she is what helped hold the family together when certain tensions were high. Her optimism and happiness are able to calm people down. Dwayne is also a very interesting character that defies what is perceived as normal. The ability to remain completely silence for such a long period of time in order to fulfill a goal is truly incredible. It is something that would be extremely difficult for most people, and what other people might find to be really strange to do. 

    The character that probably had the most development by the end of the movie was Richard. He begins the movie hoping to get a book deal for his his motivational "nine steps". This desire to be a motivational speaker often clouded up Richard's ability to notice how dismissive and rude he was to his family. He was tone-deaf towards Frank's suicide attempt,
and caused strains in his marriage with Sheryl. He is all about winning and successfully reaching the end goal, without appreciating who and what is around him. In fact, he goes as far as trying to talk Olive out of competing, since there was a slim chance that she could actually win. However, throughout the movie this attitude begins to deteriorate. By the end of the movie he has learned that there is actually more to live than winning and losing. He able to appreciate the people around, rather than being selfish and close minded. 

    Little Miss Sunshine is an engaging movie, telling the story of a dysfunctional family taking a road trip to California for a beauty pageant. Along the way, they discover and realize things about themselves, that brings them closer together as family, and realize that there is no need to follow what is normal, but rather be happy. 


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