Little Miss Sunshine Belonging

In the film “Little Miss Sunshine” the directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris cleverly form this scene through different aspects such as dialogue, music, body language and cinematography. In this scene Dayton and Faris portray the change in the characters attitudes and relationships in the Hoover family. This scene shows the contrast between the Hoover family at the start of the film and how much they have improved as a family by the end of it.

A key technique Dayton and Faris use to convey the positive change in the relationships and the characters attitude in the Hoover family is shown by the use of dialogue by Richard and Dwayne. The dialogue in this ending section suggests that the family has become closer, stronger and healthier

The music in this ending scene shows the contrast between the change in the relationships through the ending and beginning of the film. This is shown when “and the winner is” is played in a more upbeat, happy way during the final scenes of the film. It shows us a dramatic change in the relationships when the family is working together to get the yellow VW van started and no one is arguing or being difficult. The van starts easily and it shows us it will be a very pleasant drive home compared to the beginning of the film where the music is played slowly and sounded very dull which represented the drive to Albuquerque which was not a positive journey. You see the family struggling to cooperate and get along. In this section the audience can see the comparison before the pageant and after the pageant and how the relationships in the Hoover family have improved greatly. By the end of the film we can see that the car ride home will be a relatively positive experience. We see the van drive off with into the sunset “And The Winner is” playing showing us that Little Miss Sunshine is concluded in a good way putting old problems to

This is shown by the long shots of Richard, Dwayne and Frank dancing with Olive on stage. The cinematography in these ending scenes shows us that the Hoover family is more supportive of each other and realises the importance of looking after each other. This is shown through the long shot of Olive dancing on stage with Richard, Frank and Dwayne standing in a row behind Olive background dancing. The background is shallow focused to keep the attention on Olive. From this camera shot we can clearly see the support Richard, Frank and Dwayne are showing towards Olive. In this particular section of the film the audience can see how supportive Richard, Frank and Dwayne have become of Olive. We see them dancing ridiculously and enjoying it showing us they are not concerned about what they look like. This long shot shows us that Richard has realised the importance of supporting his family and instead of implying that there is no room for ‘losers’ he is encouraging Olive to be proud of herself and concentrating on making her feel like she is still a winner to