Cultural Critic on Little Miss Sunshine

Ali Burkhardt
Cultural Critic #5
Courtney Wika
March 29, 2007
Little Miss Sunshine

Stereotypes are an idea that people hold of someone else based mainly on their association with a particular group. Gender is a stereotype that everyone falls into in one way or another. The movie Little Miss Sunshine has many prime examples of how easy it is to assume stereotypes for people. Although it is not a movie about gender or prejudice it is relevant all throughout the movie when stereotypes are being used when you look closely. The stereotypes used throughout the movie show how this twisted family gets through a trip that they will never forget.
Cheryl is the first character in the movie that has a stereotypical role. She is a wife, mother and sister, and on top of these three roles she is also the primary bread winner of the family. As a wife and mother it is her duty to make sure dinner is on the table for the rest of her family, which she does by having store bought fried chicken and salad. Throughout the movie Cheryl acts as a mediator as well, she is constantly trying to reason between everyone. For instance, at dinner when Richard is being blatantly rude to Frank she is the one trying to calm him down, as well as the restaurant when Olive wants to order ice cream and Richard does not want her to, she tries to get him to be quite. This is something that any wife or mother would do.
As females Cheryl and Olive carry a different stereotype, one that is based on their gender. In a scene with Olive and her grandfather, Olive asks him if she is pretty. This is something that every little girl goes through and never would a male ask this question, nor would he get all worked up about it like Olive did. Also while the family is sitting in the waiting room of the hospital after they had just found out their grandfather had died, only Olive and Cheryl were crying, none of the males were. However, on the flip side Cheryl is breaking the stereotype of a woman by being the primary bread winner of her family, which is normally seen as being more of the man’s responsibility. Duane also points out how she is breaking a stereotype when he tells her not to let Olive perform at the end when he says, “You’re her mother, you are supposed to protect her!” This is also seen more of a fatherly role. Therefore it is both enhancing the stereotype as well as breaking them down as well.
The male gender also plays a huge role throughout the movie. After Olive had asked her grandfather if she was pretty, he answered with a stereotype that he apparently must have of all women. He told her he was madly in love with her because she was beautiful, not because of her personality of her brains, which would have been a more sensible reason. The part in the movie that shocked me was when Richard told Olive she should not eat ice cream because it will make her fat was very untypical for a male to say to a girl. Normally you would think that a mother would be more concerned about her daughters eating habits. However, at the end of the movie when Olive is performing her talent is the males in her family step up to the plate to protect her. When the announcer was trying to get Olive to stop dancing and get off the stage, Richard ran up and got him to leave her alone, therefore acting as a guardian of his daughter. He was then followed by the two other males in the family, Frank and Duane, and lastly Cheryl joined them on stage. Once again stereotypes are being both enhanced as well as broken down for the males also.
Therefore, although on the surface Little Miss Sunshine is just a hilarious comedy, it has many hidden meanings as well. It carries much more depth than you would think if you were just watching it for entertainment purposes. From personal experience I did not think twice about the gender roles or the stereotypes that were involved in the movie when I watched it the first time. Analyzing the movie gives a completely different perspective on an innocent family trip to California.