Character "Little Miss Sunshine" Case Study of Case Study

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Character "Little Miss Sunshine"

Case Study of Character "Little Miss Sunshine"

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The film that we are going to focus on in this essay is "Little Miss Sunshine." The film was released in 2006. It was directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris and written by Michael Arndt. The film stars Steve Carell, Toni Collette, Greg Kinnear, and Abigail Breslin.

Abigail Breslin was the lead character of this film as she played a cute young girl who goes by the name of Olive Hoover. "Little Miss Sunshine" is a film that revolves around Olive and her dream of joining the Little Miss Sunshine pageant. This beauty pageant contest takes place in California while the family lives in Alburquerque.

Olive's family is very supportive of her as she is apparently the only one in their family who is honest and determined to accomplish her goals. The rest of the family on the other hand, is going downhill and each member of the family is confused in his/her own way. Olive's father "Richard Hoover" believes in a theory about success which he developed himself and is head strong about it even though his theory is failing badly for him in real life as he is facing bankruptcy.

Olive's mother "Sheryl Hoover" is trying her best to support everyone in her family but she cannot take it anymore because of her husband's stubborn attitude as a result of which she wants a divorce despite the fact that she has 2 children. Olive's brother "Dwayne" wants to become a pilot and he is firm about his decision. However, he later on finds out that he is color blind as a result of which his dream of becoming a pilot shatters and he thinks that life is too difficult for him.

Other than Olive, Olive's uncle "Frank" plays a big part in a movie as Frank tried to commit suicide due to a number of reasons. He thinks that he is a failure and since he even failed at committing suicide, he loses all hope but "Sheryl" decides to take care of him by keeping him with her family. As he starts living with the family, his past issues start to fade away as he is distracted and focused in helping the family out and helping "Olive" achieve her goals.

Lastly, Olive's grandfather, Edwin Hoover is a heroin addict but he is source of inspiration for Olive as he is like her mentor for the Little Miss Sunshine Pageant.

Olive Hoover was a part of a competition which leads to the final round of the "Little Miss Sunshine beauty pageant." She came second in it as she worked really hard for that competition. However, things change when she receives a phone call from one of her aunts who tells her that the girl who came first in that respective competition had to forfeit because of some reason as a result of which, Olive wins the competition and qualifies for the final round of Little Miss Sunshine beauty pageant.

Now her goal is to go to California in order to compete for the final round of the beauty pageant. The whole family is shocked and astonished by this news as becoming the Little Miss Sunshine is a big deal for a young girl which is the reason why, they can't deny Olive's request of going to California. The family is going through a very tough time but despite that, the whole family decides to go to California with Olive in order to support and help her out.

Bio-psycho-socio Analysis of Olive Hoover

The character "Olive Hoover" will be focused in this case study. Olive is a young child who is determined to achieve her goals. She is a cute girl with a weak eye sight as she wears spectacles and apparently, she is not one of those "beautiful" or "over the top." That does not stop her from participating in the Little Miss Sunshine beauty pageant however and she stays determined throughout the whole process. Olive is a chubby short girl and she is one of those girls who are very honest and strong from the inside.

Psychologically, Olive is a straight forward, curious girl who is willing to learn things as they come. She is a very fast learner and wants to understand everything. She is an innocent little girl and she understands "wrong doings" despite the fact that in her own family, from her grandfather to her uncle, have not been the perfect role models for her. She is confused in a way as well as she wants to make her family proud and she is not sure whether she can win the Little Miss Sunshine Beauty pageant or not. Despite the fact that the whole family is going through major issues, Olive is the bright side of the family and due to her fun-loving personality, the whole family sees and shares a bit of happiness of Olive's happiness.

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Socially, Olive is very active in her family. She has a very deep and understanding relationship with her mother as she listens carefully to everything her mother tells her and she shares her views openly with her mother. The young enthusiastic girl enjoys talking to her mother and the love amongst these two characters is evident from the beginning.

Olive's relation with her father on the other hand is a bit confusing as she wants to make her father proud but she is not sure whether she is good enough to do so or not. Olive's father wants Olive to succeed by any means necessary and he does support not anyone who does not believe that he/she is going to be a winner. That is the reason why Olive is a little reluctant while talking to her father but her unconditional love for her father is not affected by these issues.

"Dwayne" is a very deranged young boy but he loves his sister very much which is the reason why he is very supportive of her. The two siblings understand each other pretty well despite the fact that they do not talk to each other. They help each other out in various situations as well and Dwayne tries to do his best to help his sister in every possible way.

Olive has a very special relationship with her grandfather as "Edwin" is not just her grandfather, but he is her mentor as well. She opens herself up to her grandfather when she is confused and she trusts her grandfather very much which is the reason why she stays in the same room with her grandfather in their home, and even when they make a trip to California for the Little Miss Sunshine beauty pageant.

Lastly, Olive's relationship with her uncle "Frank" does not develop much as she does not get to spend too much time with him since he came to the house. However, she wants to understand Frank as she asks him a lot of questions and she wants to know what happened to her uncle which urged him to try to commit suicide.

Family Resiliency

Resilience means to be flexible or to mould something in a particular situation in order to support it. We can say that resilience in this context means understanding a situation and sacrificing or behaving accordingly. (Walsh, 2002)

Therefore, we can say that family resilience means that when a family or an individual who is a part of the family decides to be resilient, or flexible for the betterment of the family, that is family resilience. (McCubbin and Patterson, 1983)

Family resilience can be defined as a term used when a family decides to display traits that successfully lead to the adaption and coping to a particular or significant adversity or hardship. If a family decides to sacrifice for the good of the "family," that is family resilience. (Luthar, 2006)

In the film Little Miss Sunshine, the family ultimately decides to help Olive with her goal and dream as they all resiliently decide to forget all their issues and support the little princess of the family for the better good. Little Miss Sunshine pageant's finals is something Olive had been waiting for since a long time and it means a lot to her. Since the family is aware of that, they all try their best to mould themselves and fight with every obstacle that comes their way.

We can say that Family Resiliency theory was applied in this film as the whole family faces one issue after another but still they all try to stay strong and get past all those problems in a way that Olive's dream does not get affected.

Firstly, the car that the family is using is a Volkswagen bus which is barely drivable but they all decide to live with it and every time they have to stop the car, they have to push the car in order to restart it. The car does not function properly throughout the film as….....

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