Little Miss Sunshine Mise En Scene

I am a firm believer of the notion that you can tell an entire story, with no dialogue, just by using mise-en scene. In Little Miss Sunshine, that belief is especially strong. According to Bordwell, mise-en scene is used to achieve realism by giving settings an authentic look and letting actors look and act as authentic as possible. From the very beginning, Little Miss Sunshine gives us exactly that. In it’s opening sequence we are introduced to 6 characters. First we meet Olive, wearing large glasses that cover up most of her face. When the angle changes and we get a better look at her we see she is standing parallel to a 60s model TV mimicking a beauty pageant contest, while wearing peculiar mismatched clothes. Olive is goofy looking, and a real contraction to the beauty queen she wishes to be. The setting of the room Olive is in looks right out of the 1960s, which suggests that the family can’t afford modern furniture due to the fact that the movie was set in the
We see that man line up the cocaine and light shines directly on the drug while he snorts it, maybe highlighting his addiction. We usually think of a young character doing drugs, but this man is wearing a fanny pack and a Hawaiian style shirt, indicating he is not your usual drug user. We then jump to a close up of a hand holding a cigarette while driving a car. We learn this is Sheryl, the mom. Her hair is messy and her face clearly displays impatience, those two factors alongside her smoking show us this characters main struggle is stress. Sheryl drives to a hospital and that is where we see her brother, Frank, sitting in front of a bright light coming from a window inside a cold and dull room. Frank attempted suicide, so this is a perfect use of mise-en scene. The bright light is a representation of his second chance at life, even though he is still trapped inside his