Little Miss Sunshine, directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, offers a compelling commentary on the central idea of the dangerous and superficial nature of capitalist values. One of the most powerful scenes that convey this idea is at the end of the pageant where Olive performs her act (“the performance scene”). Dayton and Faris use a wide range of visual language features to convey this important idea in the performance scene.
At the first shot of interest, Olive begins her dance. In these initial shots, Dayton and Faris reveal that Olive does not fit into the conventional idea of a beauty queen, a loser in the eyes of our capitalist society. Olive, however, is indoctrinated by the values Richard and our capitalist society promotes …show more content…
The spectators of the beauty pageant, and even the Hoovers prior to the pageant, blindly succumbs to the unfulfilling values pertaining to success and beauty. For the Hoovers, this shot serves as a turning point of what values they should prioritise: family over fame and fortune. The audience sees this in the long shot of the MC chasing Olive. Unbeknown to the judge’s offense, she continues her dancing. The fact that the MC could not take control of Olive reveals that Olive really doesn’t care about what other people, and consequently society, thinks of her. This attitude can be juxtaposed with that of Edwin’s: a very witty, liberal and non-conforming one, one that isn’t severely damaged by society’s dangerous and superficial values. This creates hope for the audience in that there are forces here that are working to oppose the values of capitalist societies and its dangers. The audience finds out that she performs because it what she loves doing, and for her own sense of fun. This also shows that Olive cannot be controlled by the capitalist values that people older and less innocent unwillingly follow. The audience then sees Richard from a point of view mid shot running towards the stage. The audience sees his character develop from a slave of capitalism – who promotes these dangerous, superficial values – to one that protects Olive from these values. His newfound values defend his family’s interests, instead his prior beliefs that money and success is everything. His dialogue in this shot, “just let her finish”, reveals to the audience that Richard finally has a sense of what Olive really wants: to have fun and enjoy herself, and realises that Olive is unaware that everyone disapproves of her performance, and protects her confidence from being shattered. The audience
At the first shot of interest, Olive begins her dance. In these initial shots, Dayton and Faris reveal that Olive does not fit into the conventional idea of a beauty queen, a loser in the eyes of our capitalist society. Olive, however, is indoctrinated by the values Richard and our capitalist society promotes …show more content…
The spectators of the beauty pageant, and even the Hoovers prior to the pageant, blindly succumbs to the unfulfilling values pertaining to success and beauty. For the Hoovers, this shot serves as a turning point of what values they should prioritise: family over fame and fortune. The audience sees this in the long shot of the MC chasing Olive. Unbeknown to the judge’s offense, she continues her dancing. The fact that the MC could not take control of Olive reveals that Olive really doesn’t care about what other people, and consequently society, thinks of her. This attitude can be juxtaposed with that of Edwin’s: a very witty, liberal and non-conforming one, one that isn’t severely damaged by society’s dangerous and superficial values. This creates hope for the audience in that there are forces here that are working to oppose the values of capitalist societies and its dangers. The audience finds out that she performs because it what she loves doing, and for her own sense of fun. This also shows that Olive cannot be controlled by the capitalist values that people older and less innocent unwillingly follow. The audience then sees Richard from a point of view mid shot running towards the stage. The audience sees his character develop from a slave of capitalism – who promotes these dangerous, superficial values – to one that protects Olive from these values. His newfound values defend his family’s interests, instead his prior beliefs that money and success is everything. His dialogue in this shot, “just let her finish”, reveals to the audience that Richard finally has a sense of what Olive really wants: to have fun and enjoy herself, and realises that Olive is unaware that everyone disapproves of her performance, and protects her confidence from being shattered. The audience