OUR PROJECT
Little Miss Sunshine (2006) follows the experiences of different members of the Hoover family throughout their road trip across New Mexico and into California, highlighting their disparate and often exaggerated personalities. The movie offers insight into the lives of the different characters, who are all, in their own ways, a little bit less than mentally healthy. They each uniquely express their dissatisfaction with their lives, the road trip, or both, and the movie is a good example of the various ways mental illness can manifest. In this project, we explore those different manifestations, namely that between Frank and Richard, and come to the conclusion that, despite their disparate personalities and expressions, they could reasonably be diagnosed with the same mental disorder according to the DSM. This is because the DSM criteria for many diagnoses are broad and can theoretically define people with opposite manifestations. We then argue that diagnoses of mental disorders pathologize people and therefore change how they interact with the world and how other people interact with them. This, in addition to the fact that DSM categories can describe a wide range of people, leads us to the stronger conclusion that mental illness diagnoses should be distributed with restraint.
OPENING SCENE
CHARACTER INTRODUCTIONS
Little Miss Sunshine (2006) is a film following a highly dysfunctional family as they take a cross state trip to see their daughter perform in the titular Little Miss Sunshine pageant competition. We are first introduced to the characters making up this family by seeing brief glimpses of their lives.
First, we have Olive, who becomes obsessed with competing in beauty pageants after visiting family in California and placing as runner up in a local competition. She is shown watching old clips of Miss America winner announcements and imitating the winners’ behavior. While she is definitely the most well adjusted member of the family, this introduction speaks to her deep desire to win, which is heavily influenced by her father, Richard.
Richard is shown to us as a motivational speaker. His Nine-Step Refuse to Lose program centers around the idea of a “winner waiting to be awakened” inside all of us. While he is committed to living these steps, and is shown eagerly presenting the program, it is clear that his program is lacking, as when the presentation concludes and the room is revealed his audience is small and lackluster. He continues to smile in the face of scattered applause, though, showing his deep belief that sheer effort and willpower will eventually get him the success he craves.
Next, we are shown Dwayne, Richard’s stepson and Olive’s half brother. He is doing a rigorous workout routine and marks 473 on an ongoing numerical list on his wall, which is counting down the days until his 18th birthday. Dwayne’s dream is to fly jets for the airforce, and has taken a vow of silence (inspired by Nietzshe, as seen on giant tapestry on Dwayne’s wall) until he achieves this goal. While he has a soft spot for Olive, Dwayne generally dislikes everyone in his family, and it is clear that his dream of flying is more accurately a dream of escape.
Edwin, Richard’s father, is also seeking escape, but in the form of heroin. He is shown snorting drugs in the bathroom, presumably while Olive is watching the tapes. We later learn that the reason he lives with his son is because he got kicked out of a senior living facility for drug use. His justification for this is that he’s old, so now’s the time to do it, but it is clear that in the eyes of his son he is just giving up, which makes him a loser.
Sheryl is Dwayne and Olive’s mom, and besides Olive, is the glue that holds the family together. She is shown racing to the hospital while smoking a cigarette and having a heated conversation with Richard about retrieving her brother Frank from the hospital, who just attempted suicide.
While on the phone, Richard questions if she’s smoking and if there’s anywhere else Frank can go, illustrating Richard's tendency to care more about his family having 'winning habits' (not smoking) over actually caring about his family members themselves (focusing on inconvenience of Frank staying with them rather than asking Sheryl if she is ok/what he can do to help). Sheryl clearly cares for her family and wants them all to be happy, even if their happiness pulls her in many different directions while she simultaneously tries to be a good wife, mother, and sister.
When Sheryl arrives at the hospital we meet Frank, the final member of the family, and the movie begins in earnest. Before going into the room, Sheryl speaks to his doctor. While Frank can hear them discussing him, he shows no motivation to be involved in the conversation. When Sheryl enters the room it is tense, but she quickly rushes to him saying “I’m so glad you’re still here” (5:00). She embraces him, but Frank continues to look out the window, replying despondently “Well that makes one of us” (5:04).