Deconstruction of Characters in Little Miss Sunshine

Deconstruction of Characters in Little Miss Sunshine

Little Miss Sunshine (2006)

Little Miss Sunshine, directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, is a film about a dysfunctional American family and their journey to the Little Miss Sunshine beauty pageant for their daughter, Olive.

The film highlights many social and moral issues, although, it is done in a way that encourages people to embrace the issues with a more open attitude. This is further shown through the use of comedy as a coping mechanism, allowing the public to be able to deal with the issues in a less awkward manner.

Genre Theory

Little Miss Sunshine conforms to Fiske’s theory of genres reflecting a social/moral world. This is due to the film being under an independent production company, and therefore having more flexibility to explore modern day issues.

This is done by having most of the characters in the film representing a moral issue, for example:

Olive – Olive is the slightly chubby, 7 year old daughter of the family. She has little talent but is obsessed with beauty pageants, especially the Little Miss Sunshine pageant.

Her story represents the American Dream and the endless quest of trying to fulfil aspirations. Olive’s family, as much as being supportive, tell her to aim for something else.
The film highlights the moral issues of choosing whether to aim for your goal no matter what people say, or whether to listen to peoples’ constructive criticism.

Dwayne – Dwayne is the 15-year-old teenage son of the family. He suffers with depression and is portrayed to hate everyone and everything.

Dwayne is the character representing depression. This is a current moral and social issue as the number of teenagers suffering with depression has doubled in the last 20 years – it is now 1:15 for boys and 1:5 for girls. Due to the film being aimed at families, it allows comfortable conversation about depression with children and their parents.

Rates of Depression in Teenagers

My Mad Fat Diary is a TV drama that also focuses heavily on teenage depression and anxiety. It is about a girl, Rae Earl, who struggles with depression and anxiety and how she deals with normal teenage issues i.e. bullying, exams and friendships.

The main target market are teenagers, which means they are given an educated understanding of what depression is, ways to help people suffering with depression, or even making them feel as though they are not alone.

This is commonly used in TV dramas and films as it influences people to speak about social issues with those they are closest with, as well as encouraging people who are suffering to talk to a friend, family member or doctor.

Grandpa – The grandpa of the family is a heroin addict.

Substance use and abuse is becoming a large issue worldwide with around 1 in 3 adults having taken an illegal substance in their lifetime, and 21% continuing to. The moral issue being picked up by the film is that drugs can be fatal if not handled responsibly. At the end of the film, grandpa dies from drug overdose, this is becoming more of an issue as the US have seen a gradual increase in deaths through drug use. The reason of highlighting drug use in the film is to elaborate how harmful they are, and how they can affect the family around you. It also related drug use to what seems like a normal American family, again, highlighting that it could happen to anyone.

Increased Drug Use

Overdose Death Rates