I will be analyzing one of my favorite movies, "Little Miss Sunshine," in defense of the idea that dramatic comedy is in fact a meaningful art form. Aristotle decided on two main elements that define a comedy: all the major characters must be ordinary people; and the circumstances of the protagonists life go from bad to good. To quote the article given to us on comedy, "A comedy is a story of the rise in fortune of a sympathetic central character."
"Little Miss Sunshine" is the story of a very ordinary family, each member having their own set of problems that they deal with throughout the movie. In this movie, I consider the protagonist to be the same as the comic hero, youngest daughter Olive Hoover. She has been invited to compete in the "Little Miss Sunshine" pageant all the way out in California. She snags the respect of the audience with her seven-year-old charm and they are therefore rooting for her [and her family] the whole film. The only way to get Olive to the competition is to have the entire family pile into their beat up VW bus and take the trip together. An outrageous, hilarious, and completely lovable adventure of course ensues. SPOILER ALERT! Although the family just barely makes it to the pageant in time, and Olive does not even come close to winning, the ending is so fantastic and funny that its a happy ending without technically being a happy ending (one would expect for Olive to win).
One of my favorite things about this movie is how real all of the characters are. Their emotions seem realistic and valid and the entire movie is this weird mix of happy and sad. To me, the movie has always been very on point when it comes to accurately demonstrating human emotion and relationships, without being overly dramatic or unrealistic. Besides being a great thing about the movie, this closeness to how human nature actually is also strengthens the movie as a meaningful work of dramatic comedy. "Little Miss Sunshine," in its following of the comic hero and her totally average family, is an underdog story with a twist. While Olive did not win the pageant like she wanted, the audience still gets the feeling of satisfaction that typically comes with a comedy and seeing commendable people succeed.
I love this movie!! I feel like a lot of modern comedies don't end how we are supposed to expect them to according to Aristotle, in that the comic hero doesn't always win the prize or marry the prince. Maybe the elements of comedies haven't changed but the execution has??
ReplyDeleteHey this is a great post, thanks for sharing! I love this movie and I could not agree more with what you said. Even though the characters may seem ridiculous at times, they are staying true to themselves and end up proving their real worth. Olive keeps dancing at the end despite being booed at. Ultimately, the whole family and the journey they go through symbolize Aristotle's description of a comedy.
ReplyDeleteVery insightful Meghan. This movie is fantastic and is for sure a meaningful form of art. The family deals with ordinary problems, there is a lot of satirical techniques such as irony, (older brother wants to be a pilot but is color-blind) and the characters end up better than they were in the beginning of the movie. Great post!
ReplyDeleteI think Little Miss Sunshine is an interesting choice. Though things don't end up the way Olive may have hoped, her influence ends up bringing the family together in a way they never were before, which is an interesting way of achieving comic status.
ReplyDeleteI love this movie, and I think your analysis of it is great. You have pointed out things I haven't noticed, and I especially like your comment on the pointing out of happy and sad. I think that this movie portrays those two emotions without making it a cliche; it is so much more raw.
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