In the film Little Miss Sunshine many characters have difficulty finding their true identity. Olive, a 7 year old girl wants to win the Little Miss Sunshine beauty pageant and is unsure of her true identity because of this. Richard, her father, is an unsuccessful motivational speaker and businessman and this effects his perception of himself. Another character, Dwayne, loses his sense of identity when he realises he is colour blind. The uncle in the film, Frank has been suicidal due to losing his love and is not happy anymore.

Olive is the youngest of the Hoover family, her aspiration to become Little Miss Sunshine’s beauty pageant winner takes her family on the journey. Olives faces many challenges on her way to compete in the pageant …show more content…

And fuck the Air Force Academy. If I want to fly, I’ll find a way to fly. You do what you love, and fuck the rest.”

Frank, the uncle of the Hoover family, is introduced into the film in hospital, as he tried to commit suicide. He lost the love of his life to a man who is the second highest regarded Proust scholar in the US, (whereas Frank is the first), this is what causes him to constantly find unhappiness in his life and question his identity and if he even belongs in the world anymore. During the film there is a part where the family stop at a petrol station and while Frank is inside he runs into the love of his life, Frank isn’t in the best way when he sees him though. As he was buying heterosexual pornographic material for Grandpa, this sends the wrong idea to his ex. Frank again sees only the misfortunes in his life and the fact he cannot find happiness. But what Frank soon finds, is that if he looks hard at his family and sees how much they love him he might just get out of the depressed rut he was in during the majority of the film.

The film Little Miss Sunshine explores the Hoover family, and how they find difficulty seeking their true identity. The characters that are portrayed with the biggest identity crisis are; Olive, the youngest of the Hoover family, who wishes to become a beauty pageant winner where the odds are all against her. Richard, the father figure and key motivator of the family, is arrogant but