Little Miss Sunshine by Mackenzie Fraus

Setting-Yes

3002404_2 — 2024-03-21 15:58:00 UTC

I think the setting of "Little Miss Sunshine" fits in the stereotypical setting of a road trip movie. Road trip movies commonly have gas stations, diner, and are mainly on the road throughout the movie. In the movie we see the family travel from Albuquerque and are driving to California. We see them stop at a diner, gas station, mechanics, and then they arrive at their final destination. This movie fits perfectly into the road trip setting.

Setting-Yes

3002404_2 — 2024-03-22 15:37:58 UTC

In the setting of a tragicomedy, the setting is usually suburban/urban and more of a realistic feel. In my opinion, this movie fits into this setting. The family starts in Albuquerque, which is a city of New Mexico, and they are taking a road trip to Redondo Bay, a city in California. As they are on their road trip, they are driving through the suburbs of these two cities. They are stopping at gas stations and diners, this is a very realistic setting and fits in the tragicomedy setting.

Characters-Yes

3002404_2 — 2024-03-22 15:56:24 UTC

The typical characters you see in a road trip movie is a family or group of friends that are traveling together. This movie fits perfectly into this because we see the Hoover family traveling together. I feel like it is common for the characters to have conflicts with each other due to sitting in the same car over a period of time. In this movie, we see fights happen because they are all pent-up in the same car for hours. When Richard and Sheryl finally make it to the motel, they begin fighting, most likely because they are sick of sitting in the same car for so long.

Iconography-Yes

3002404_2 — 2024-03-22 16:05:44 UTC

This movie fits perfectly into the Road Trip category. All the factors like gas stations, highways, motels, highway signs, billboards, cars. This movie is based on the family going on a road trip and every piece of iconography is included. They stop to eat at a dinner and get snacks at the gas station, we also see signs everywhere they go.

Plot-Yes

3002404_2 — 2024-04-09 15:39:59 UTC

The typical plot for a road trip movie is "getting somewhere but making the biggest mess on the way". In this movie, so many things go wrong, including the dad losing the book deal, the parents fighting, leaving olive at the gas station, Frank bumping into his ex, the grandpa passing away, getting pulled over, getting to the pageant late, etc. This movie definitely fits because this family goes through so many obstacles and still makes in to the destination, even though they showed up late.

Mood-Yes

3002404_2 — 2024-04-09 16:12:26 UTC

The mood for this genre of movie is loud, suspenseful, exciting, and full of action. Little miss Sunshine fits into these perfectly. The family is always keeping busy and something is always happening. Towards the end, it is definitely suspenseful trying to figure out if they will make it to the pageant on time.

Cinematic Style- Yes

3002404_2 — 2024-04-09 17:58:01 UTC

Throughout this movie, there are many similarities that this movie and road trip movies have in common when it comes to cinematic style. There are many tracking shots, especially when the family works together to push the car when they need to start it up. There are many wide shots, including the shot of Dwayne finding out he is colorblind, and the family is up on the road behind him, this really shows off the setting and that's what the idea of wide shots in these movies are for.

Characters-No

3002404_2 — 2024-04-10 14:10:02 UTC

In my opinion, the characters in this movie don't really fit the tragicomedy characters, you often see a protagonist and their sidekick. In this movie, all the characters seem to have the same screen time and humor. Every character makes the audience laugh equally and has an impact on the plot. Olive is a funny little girl that makes every laugh and smile with her, "innocent" responses. The grandpa makes plenty of jokes throughout to make the audience laugh. They all have equal humor.

Iconography-

3002404_2 — 2024-04-10 14:16:10 UTC

Plot-Yes

3002404_2 — 2024-04-10 14:22:03 UTC

The plot of a tragicomedy is when there are many comedic moments, unpredictable, going through struggles but ending in happiness. Little Miss Sunshine fits perfectly into this plot genre. This movie is unpredictable like when Frank explains to Olive why e killed himself, the grandpa dies, Dwayne finds out he is colorblind, the cop pulling them over, etc. The family makes all these tragic moments very funny, like when Olive says it's silly that Frank said he wanted to kill himself, when they took the grandpas body from the hospital and when the cop pulled them over, and he found magazines instead of the dead body.

3002404_2 — 2024-04-16 14:20:59 UTC

I think the larger message of this movie is that you can make the best of the worst situations. The directors did a great job at choosing these two genres together to make this movie eventful. A road trip movie is meant to be filled with a bunch of events that make the movie fun to watch. A tragicomedy is meant to be filled with tragic events but make them funny. This movie was a great representation of both and did very well at mixing them together. The family handled the tragic events along the road trip and made them into funny moments. When the car broke down, and the family has to push the van to start anytime they need to leave, and then they have to run and jump into the car. When the grandfather passed away, and they carried him out of the window. The family got pulled over, and they thought they were going to get caught with the grandfather body, but the cops just found the magazines and let them go. Also when they showed up to the contest late and the entire family danced and sang with Olive. All these events happened during a road trip, but they were all tragic and turned into comedic moments. This movie did an amazing job at combining these two genres together.