Important themes/ideas in the film:
- Societal expectations/influence - The importance of family - Definitions of being a winner/ The difference between winning and being a winner Important character development in the film: Olive - At the start of the film she is innocent and naïve to adult problems and expectations. This allows her to be happy and comfortable in herself and who she is. - Richard exposes her to societal ideals of beauty which make her begin to question herself and make her unhappy - as seen in the scene with Grandpa. Luckily Grandpa crushes these expectations and teaches her that trying makes you a true winner. - Olive is again exposed to societal ideals of beauty at the pageant when she sees the other competitors. She again begins to question her appearance which is seen when she is evaluating her stomach in the mirror. - At the end of the film the protection of her family and Grandpa's wise words allow Olive to keep her innocence and perform on stage. It is this naivety and innocence that allows Olive to not care, and not be aware of what people think. She just has fun. • - Olive gets up on stage and, “kicking ass,” shows everyone what a true winner is. She literally dances allover societies ideals and the competition of life. Richard - Richard has an unrealistic view and ideal of what a “winner” is supposed to look like. - He is unsympathetic towards “losers” in the world, not realising that he is one himself. He also instills negative ideas into Olive like, “There is no point in entering a competition if you don’t think you are going to win. So, are you going to win Little Miss Sunshine? - Caught up in his unrealistic dream, Richard alienates himself from the things in his life that are most important, his family. - Richard is so blinded by, and focused on his dream of being a “winner”, that he is unaware of the harmful messages/phrases he is putting into peoples heads, especially Olive’s. - During the course of the film Richard is shown the realities of life and that sometimes the competition is just too strong. - Richard tries to withdraw Olive from the pageant when he realises she is not going to win. However he finally acknowledges her courage and “winning” attitude to life, and joins in with her on stage, protecting her and not caring what the audience thinks. - Richard begins to see what is important in life, and what being a “winner” is all about. It is about trying and being there for your family. |
Some Key Scenes
This opening scene is important for setting up each character's individual goals/dreams - Especially Olive and Richards. Most of the individual sequences start with close ups on characters so that we believe their goals/ dreams are achievable, but then there are cuts to longer shots or wider shots that reveal that they do not live up to the requirements to fulfill their dream. (You have a whole sheets worth of specific techniques and effects used in this scene from class. Watch the scene and look for the techniques being used and their effects.)
Important theme shown in this scene = Societal expectations/influence
Important technique in this scene = Visual Motif (Which means a symbol repeated throughout the film) of mirrors and reflections. The beauty pageant Olive is viewing is reflecting onto Olive's glasses. Mirrors and reflections in this film represent expectations placed on characters by either themselves or society. In this extreme close up shot the reflections on Olive's glasses represent the societal expectations of beauty being reflected onto her. Olive's youthful innocence means that she is not consciously aware of this expectation and influence being projected onto her, but it is actually influencing her dream to be in beauty pageants. This technique shows the important theme of societal expectations and influence and shows how we are exposed to societal expectations from a young age, without necessarily realizing it. This also shows Olive's naivety at this stage of the film, as she is unaware that she does not fit the expected image of being a beauty queen.
Important theme shown in this scene = Societal expectations/influence
Important technique in this scene = Visual Motif (Which means a symbol repeated throughout the film) of mirrors and reflections. The beauty pageant Olive is viewing is reflecting onto Olive's glasses. Mirrors and reflections in this film represent expectations placed on characters by either themselves or society. In this extreme close up shot the reflections on Olive's glasses represent the societal expectations of beauty being reflected onto her. Olive's youthful innocence means that she is not consciously aware of this expectation and influence being projected onto her, but it is actually influencing her dream to be in beauty pageants. This technique shows the important theme of societal expectations and influence and shows how we are exposed to societal expectations from a young age, without necessarily realizing it. This also shows Olive's naivety at this stage of the film, as she is unaware that she does not fit the expected image of being a beauty queen.
Sample essay with activities :)
If you are curious about who these two are:
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