Little Miss Sunshine

Little Miss Sunshine

"Little Miss Sunshine" is a comedy-drama from 2006 that follows the road trip of a dysfunctional family to California for a beauty pageant. Married directors, Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris team up to bring viewers a testament into the busy lifestyle of many American families. The story is centered around the well-mannered, hard-working, little girl "Olive" (Abigail Breslin). Unlike most dramas or comedies this one doesn't solely focus on a protagonist or antagonist, but focuses on the personalities and problems associated with each character. 

One major aspect of "Little Miss Sunshine" is its brilliant music score. Throughout this film the composers matched the emotion of the scene with music that coincided. In the book, The Art of Watching Films, it states that music is used to enable the director to express feelings that cannot be expressed verbally or pictorially. In the movie the Directors, Dayton and Faris, use music to strengthen the positive feelings regarding the family. Most of the music used on the road trip had pop and live bands (Example: Chicago by Sufjan Stevens) that help the viewers realize the family is becoming stronger and that dysfunctionality doesn't mean there isn't love in a family.

The music score was not only used to produce positive feelings about the cast, but to add depth into the plot. In the film, "Dwayne" (Paul Dano) realizes that he is color-blind, while the VW horns blast repeatedly through traffic. Now to most people that seems like enough sound to capture the audience's attention, but the music score includes background noises that are sharp and distinct and add to the russel and bussel that is associated with this scene. The Art of Watching Films states that, "music functions in an important way by providing transitions or bridges between scenes." I believe this scene is a perfect example of musical transitioning because it is a life-changing moment for "Dwayne" and until then he was silent in the movie. After this major event "Dwayne" breaks down emotional and begins to talk again. 

Boggs, Joseph, & Petrie, Dennis. (2012). The Art of watching films. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill College.