Little Miss Sunshine

Such a perfect movie about our need to belong to something, anything. Some analysis..bit boring

In the 2006 film Little Miss Sunshine, directors Jonothan Dayton and Valerie Faris, explore our need to belong, through their use of satire and costuming, the importance of one’s notions of identity and sense of self in creating this sense of belonging. 

We see humanity's need to belong and the different ways in which this need can manifest itself; even with people who have passed away. Olive must come to terms with the sudden death of her grandfather; the person to whom she felt closest within her family. Through the use of dark humour in “I'd like to dedicate this to my grandpa, who showed me these moves” [...] “Where’s your grandpa now?” “In the trunk of our car”, the composers are able to disguise Olive’s feelings of loss while indicating the connection she still feels with him after his death through their dance and demonstrating her need to belong.

Human fragility and the result of which can be humans choosing not to belong is also seen in Little Miss Sunshine. Uncle Frank attempts to use suicide as a wayto escape the pain of losing his lover to another. In, “I fell in love with someone who didn’t love me back” followed by Olive’s reaction of “That’s silly” a contrast is drawn. Olive, who has experienced so little in her young life, has her innocence reflected onto Frank who is constantly dressed in white,.  Frank’s choice of lover who was not in love with him again demonstrates humankind’s need to belong despite the damage that can be caused by this need. Humanity needs to feel a sense of belonging and it is this need to belong that often has a huge effect on how one perceives oneself and that person’s notions of identity. In the 2006 film Little Miss Sunshine, the child- Beauty pageant arena is satirised, thus creating a microcosm of the whole of society and the way people change parts of themselves to feel a sense of belonging and how this pressure can affect both self image and worth. When Olive asks her Grandpa “Am I pretty?”, her questioning leads to a great sense of belonging being forged with the audience. We realise the lengths that people will go to belong and humanity’s need to feel a sense of belonging. In his response “I'm madly in love with you and it's not because of your brains or your personality,” through the repeated use of humour, an attitude rarely expressed yet commonly felt is represented. The importance of image over all else is examined and

we once again experience a jolt when shown the attitude that is rampant in today’s society.

"I'd like to dedicate this to my grandpa, who showed me these moves."