According to director and playwright Samuel Beckett, nothing is funnier than unhappiness. The film Little Miss Sunshine (2006), directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris represents this sentiment. This film explores the classic theme of the underdog. The Hoover family; Richard, Sheryl, Grandpa Edwin, Frank, Dwayne, and Olive all exemplify failing at achieving their (American) dream or holding up to a set social normative in some form or another. We were previous introduced to this idea of characters failing in their pursuit of an object of desire by Žižek. In my opinion the Hoovers represent postmodernist attributes but have a modernist aesthetic in the sense that they value and put emphasis on the family as a central unit. All of the characters challenge the image of the nuclear family rather than the concept of family.
Grandpa Edwin is an eccentric, out spoken, sharp-witted, and fun-loving elder. He demonstrates his love and support towards his two grandchildren by offering them his wisdom. This consists of very direct, yet insightful advice. Among his quotes is the following, “Life is one ***king beauty contest after another…Do what you love and ***k the rest!” This is something that my own grandfather has explained to me on numerous occasions with respect to my decisions in life, minus the swear words of course.
This quote refers to life as a performance. In our day-to-day lives we all wear masks, compete, and conform to standards that are placed upon us by society, our parents, our peers, or even our own selves. This metaphor uses the ideas of glam, pseudo, competitiveness, perfection, and a standard of beauty found within the realm of beauty pageants in order to represent the everyday struggle to obtain the American dream and be a part of the social normative. Grandpa reminds Olive to be her authentic self in spite of everything. While he does not advocate against having goals or striving, he reminds her, not to compromise, to value her family, to be authentic, and of course to do what she loves.
This film demonstrates many comedic performance traditions. I have chosen to describe how deadpan and bathos are used within this film in order to promote the film’s ideological framework. In the film Dwayne has taken a vow of silence until he is able to attend the Air Force Academy. He is in his teenage years and is undergoing very common attributes of this age such as teenage angst, hormonal changes, and gaining a sense of identity. During this phase he has a hard time relating to his family and feels very alone. Due to the fact that he is unable to speak he uses a notepad in order to communicate with others. His sentiments combined with earnest, and dry delivery makes all of the scenes with him and his notepad very funny. This is an example of deadpan. Dwayne’s efforts represent his pursuit of a desired object, that he is unable to attain. At this point in the film he does not realize that he is an underdog.
The scene in the hospital after the death of Grandpa Edwin is when bathos begins. The Hoover family has just experienced an unexpected loss just before Olive is obligated to perform within a beauty pageant, and while the family is desperately attempting to race against the clock in order for her to qualify. Instead of going through the proper protocol at the hospital which includes filling out hospital paperwork, attaining a death certificate, and making funeral arrangements, Richard decides to steal the body in order for Grandpa to have a proper burial and to go to the beauty pageant. The family works as a team and steals the body then places it in the trunk of the camper-van. It only gets more ridiculous after this. Now that the dead body is in the van, the horn is now honking continuously. The Hoovers are pulled over by a police officer and Richard fails to act inconspicuous. He is asked to open up the trunk revealing the dead body wrapped in sheets. The officer is distracted by Grandpa’s pornographic magazines and decides that since he and Richard have a commonality, Richard will simply get a warning. The police officer then picks up Franks homosexual pornography magazine that is in the same pile and is at a lost for words. He leaves Richard abruptly. The brief encounter with the officer and Richard shows what is the normative vs. what is perceived to challenge the normative.
Amanda L. Thomas 