Little Miss Sunshine, Essay Example

Identify and describe the individual chronological life cycles (Borysenko, Carter & McGoldrick) of three members of the Hoover family; three tasks each is encountering; and how you perceive each is coping.

The three members of Hoover’s family that I intend to focus on are Richard, Olive and Dwayne. First, I am going to talk about Richard. Richard is the son of Edwin and father to Dwayne and Olive and a husband to Sheryl. Richard appears in his mid to late 40s and does not seem to have a steady job. It means that he is in the middle adulthood stage of the individual life cycle-a person emerging into authentic power and becoming more aware of other people’s problems. At this developmental stage, Richard aspires to become a great motivational speaker. He is the second husband to Sheryl, and as part of his journey towards becoming a motivational speaker, he holds frequent lectures with his multigenerational, blended family about how people win or lose in life. Richard believes that he is destined to win and that his nine-step program “Refuse to Lose” is apt to become a winner. He publishes a book about his nine steps of becoming a winner in his desperate pursuit of victory so that he and his wife Sheryl can overcome financial struggles. It means that he is involved in mentoring the next generation through his motivation which is characteristic of individuals in the middle adulthood stage of the human life cycle. Richard is driven by his ambitions of becoming a great person who is financially stable and believes that through the publishing of his book, he will earn a lot of money, and their worries will reduce.

According to Henry and Miller (2004), financial constraints, ways of dealing with children, and sexuality are among the most commonly experienced issues in families. These issues also significantly affect the individual development cycle. For Richard, his life gets driven by the pursuit of money and financial stability. It gets triggered by the state of financial struggles he faces in his life when he faces denial about where his position in life as he approaches middle age. He copes with the situation by using clichés and catchy phrases to hide from his unsuccessful life. A person of his age and stage of the human life cycle recognizes one’s accomplishments and accepts limitations (SOCWK 321_ M4- A14 (1).pdf).

The other individual named in the video is Olive. Olive is a seven-year-old biological child to Richard and Sheryl and is in her middle childhood age which involves a lot of moral development including “mind logic” and “heart logic” (SOCWK 321_ M4- A14 (1).pdf). Currently, Olive contests for the Little Miss Sunshine beauty pageant. She unexpectedly becomes a runner up in the competition while visiting Cindy, Sheryl’s more successful sister during a spring vacation in California. Olive becomes obsessed with beauty pageants which cause her parents to take her to California to complete the Little Miss Sunshine beauty pageant when she advances in the higher position.

Developmentally, the life cycle of Olive appears as one of a person who gradually becomes more aware of what it means to be a girl, growing into a young woman in North American society. The increase in awareness of “otherness” in terms of gender, sexual orientation, class, culture, disability, and race are some of the critical developmental aspects at her life cycle stage (SOCWK 321_ M4- A14 (1).pdf). She appears to develop knowledge about nature and has an increased understanding of self about gender, abilities, race, and culture. During her developmental stages, Olive is perceived by many as attractive and a winner. She earns approval from many men, including her father and grandfather. After staying with Cindy, Olive becomes more determined to win and has set goals to achieve her dreams which makes her relationship with her grandfather stronger. Olive’s spirit of hard work seems to be inherent from her father, Richard

Dwayne is the other character and member of the Hoover family. He is a fifteen-year-old Sheryl’s son from the first marriage which is not described in details. It means he is in his adolescence stage of the individual life cycle- a phase at which a person tries to look for an identity. At this stage, also, a person continues to voice authentic opinions and feelings related to societal, peer pressure, and parental contexts to conform to age, racial stereotypes, and gender. Unlike Olive, who copes with the situation of her struggle to win the approval of her father by fantasizing about the victory in the beauty pageant, Dwayne uses silence to deal with his situation and struggles. He instead decides to stop talking to the other people who he terms as crazy. He wants to remain silent until he achieves his goal of becoming a pilot in the Air Force. Dwayne is portrayed as a disciplined person who is characteristic of his developmental stage of adolescence. At this point in an individual life cycle, a person increases in self-discipline for intellectual and physical work, sex, sleep, and social relations (Carter & McGoldrick, 1999). Dwayne appears to be developing a philosophy of life and a spiritual and moral sense of identity, which is also a significant aspect of the stage he is in of individual life cycle.

As observed in the context of the development process of the three members of the Hoover family, individual life cycle develops in the context of the family cycle (McGoldrick & Carter, 1995). Each of the three named persons has significant similarities in their development. They all show a spirit of hard work, determination, and commitment to achieve their dreams. However, all have different ways of coping with their challenging situations.

Identify and describe the current family life cycle stage(s) (Carter & McGoldrick) of the Hoover family; and how you perceive the family is coping (before they arrive at the Little Miss Sunshine Beauty Pageant).

The Hoovers family is in the life cycle stage of launching children and moving on (McGoldrick & Carter, 1989). This stage entails accepting a lot of things like there are many ways in which people can get into or leave the family. This family appears as a blended family that has people from different generations in that the family has people from a different generation that is from the old to a young girl. Thus, with all these people together, there is a need to develop strategies to cope as a blended multigenerational family (Arndt, 2006). This family I s composed of Richard and Sheryl who form the Hoover’s family. There are two children Olive and Dwayne who are Richard and Sheryl’s children. There is Richard’s father Edwin and Frank, Sheryl’s brother. It is an extended family since it includes relatives, kin and other members of the family connected to the family system (SOCWK 321_ M2- A5.pdf). It is therefore essential that this family realigns its relationships with each other to create room to accommodate the in-laws (Arndt, 2006).

The couple that has formed the Hoover’s family that is Richard and Sheryl are from different families that failed previously, and thus they had to divorce. Therefore, the two are in a stage of overcoming the pain and frustration they had in their previous marriages (SOCWK 321_ M4- A16.pdf). At the same time two family cycles including family life cycle for divorcing families and family life cycles for remarried families (SOCWK 321 M4.pdf).

This family is also at the stage of families in later life (McGoldrick & Carter, 1989).  This stage entails the family, accepting that the generational roles are changing. They need to support the central role for the middle generation as well as devise ways in which they will wisely handle the elderly (McGoldrick & Carter, 1989). This family has some children who want to get supported in achieving their dreams. With all the changes that have taken place, this family has to decide on what they are willing and ready to help and what they are not which does not favor one child to the expense of the other.  Richard’s father is growing older, and he needs to get handled wisely. With the kind of information, he keeps bringing forth, and the behaviors he gets involved in, he is treated in a way meant to protect him, maintaining respect between the family and gives him a chance to share his wisdom should be devised. Also, the other adults, Richard, Sheryl, and Frank are growing older, and there have to be ways that will guide the relationship, and interaction between them will also be necessary. Without such strategies, this family may end up arguing forever.

With all the issues that these family members are experiencing, each of them has developed his or her ways of trying to cope with each other. First, the family seems to have ways of managing their communication. At the begging of the film, Richard tries to stop Frank from telling Olive why he wanted to kill himself. On their trip also, Richard warns his father against what he is telling Dwayne. It indicates that some things are not entertained in this family and which should not be spoken (Arndt, 2006). At other times, the people talk to each other violently and shouting at each other.

Richard is in a state of self-denial, and he tries to cope by avoiding those things that will reveal him as being unsuccessful in taking care of his family, and he sees himself as a winner. He uses the program he develops “nine-step program” to depict himself as a winner (Arndt, 2006). Sheryl shouts at others and also resolves to the smoking cigarette in the absence of other people as a way of relieving her stress and other issues. Dwayne sops speaking to the other members o the family, and he vows not to do that until he has achieved his goal of joining the Air Force Academy. Olive also keeps herself engaged in practicing for the beauty pageant. Frank had attempted suicide after which he went to live with Sheryl’s family, and Edwin who keeps himself busy with Olive and he keeps on talking and shouting about sex even when his son stops him because of the little Olive (Arndt, 2006).

What are the dominant culture’s influences on the Hoovers and how are they dealing with them (before they arrive at the Beauty Pageant)?

Before getting to the Beauty Pageant, marriage and divorce are seen as some of the dominant. In this context, we get informed of Sheryl’s prior marriage which gave her a son by the name Dwayne. After filing a divorce, Sheryl gets married to Richard, and their marriage is described as one which faced many challenges, particularly financial constraints and emotional pressure. Other sociocultural issues influencing Hoover family is homosexuality. Frank is a homosexual, and at one point, he tried to commit suicide when his boyfriend rejected him. It therefore, shows that the family is an LGBT one as gays falls under this kind of family (SOCWK 321- M3. Pdf.). The masculine figure seems to be overtaken by a female character by the name Sheryl, who is named as the breadwinner of the family. In all societies, there are rules guiding behavior and practices within and between families developed by the community. For instance, most systems assign the head who makes the decision and represents the family. In most of the western and eastern societies, the male is the head of the family (SOCWK 321- M2.pdf). Also, Sheryl fails to express her feminine example to her daughter Olive when she fails to cook. Instead, she gives her family fried chicken for days in a row. The mother figure is supposed to guide her daughter by setting an example which Sheryl fails to accomplish as a mother.

The society strives to uphold the idea of a perfect family since much criticism from the community faces those who do not perfect their families. It is vividly demonstrated by the strange looks given to Hoover’s family by the crowd when it first makes an appearance to the pageant. Delving into cultural norms, the Little Miss Sunshine portrays about five concepts showing the values and assumptions of the dominant ideology in the movie. These concepts include marriage, settled man, the ideal male, the idea of America as a place where everybody is happy, and the ideal female concept (Martin, 2012). The roles in the Little Miss Sunshine play out in a manner that is least expected by the audience. Hoover’s family is presented as one who has met the average family and societal standards.

Regarding financial struggles evident in this family as each member tries to make ends meet, it reveals their abilities and class. Cultural and financial classification is what makes the family be regarded as of a standard class. Money defines a class (SOCWK 321_ M4- A14 (1).pdf)

Hoover’s will survive because they have always shown determination in their endeavors and have adapted to many challenging situations. They are, therefore, able to cope with the challenges by the use of various tactics and strategies. As seen earlier in the film, when Richard faces criticism due to his lack, he uses clichés and catchy phrases to hide from his unsuccessful life. Also, the members of this family are dreamers and ambitious. For instance, Olive copes with the situation of her struggle to win the approval of her father by fantasizing about the victory in the beauty pageant.

What family dysfunctions do you perceive with the Hoovers (before they arrive at the Beauty Pageant)? To answer this question, utilize the lectures and readings studied in Modules 2-4, as well as direct examples from the video.

Hoover’s family portrays dysfunctional in different aspects of their lives which may be as a result of their various addictions among other factors (McGoldrick & Carter, 1989). First is in the way Dwayne behaves, which shows that he is frustrated and not contented with his family. He feels unloved and uncared for by his family such that when his uncle asks him whom he plays with, he writes down that he plays with no one and hates his family. Dwayne further expresses his frustrations to his family when he indicates that he does not want to go with them but to be left on his own (Arndt, 2006). Even after he is convinced about going by his mother, Dwayne states that he will not have fun and he feels that it is unfair.

Second is in their communication.This family does not seem to agree on various occasions with what one or some of their members talk about. At some point in the movie when Olive asks her uncle what happened to his hand and he says its an accident, Olive wants to know more about the accidents. When Frank starts explaining to Olive what happened, Richard stops him saying that the information is not suitable for a seven-year-old girl. However, Frank does not agree with this, and he says that Olive will finally know what happened, and so he goes ahead to explain what happened, but Richard again stops him (Arndt, 2006).

Also, this family has several cases where some people are judging themselves harshly (Bethinking.org, 2019). Richard does not want to come into terms with the fact that he lost his job. Therefore, his wife is providing for the family. Instead, he keeps his mind focused on his program, “nine steps to winning” (Arndt, 2006). He believes that this program will make him famous and bring him a fortune that he will use in taking care of his family.

The family also has some victims who abuse drugs and substances. One is Richard who no longer lives where he is supposed to be living in his retirement because of the addiction he had to drugs (Arndt, 2006). Sheryl’s brother Frank is also a victim of drug use who tries to kill himself because he loses his job and the person he loves.

Why will the Hoovers survive? (use information from the readings and lectures, as well as direct examples from the video).

Hoover’s family will survive because each of the family members will understand the stage in their life cycle. With this understanding, the family members will know that they are each different handling situations, and they will understand why the other person behaves in the way they do. They will also know that they are indifferent generations which differ in the way they do things (SOCWK 321_ M2- A4.pdf). They will even understand the variations that exist between them by living as a nuclear and extended family together. The bigger the family, the more the challenges. However, with the understanding of the variations, these challenges will become more manageable.

The family has also had a happy and humorous moment on the way to the beauty pageant. As they were chasing after their car with each of them running inside it as it drove off gave them a lot of pleasure. For some time, they seemed to have forgotten their troubles. Humor offers people a chance to laugh which distracts them from the trail of thought that could be disturbing their minds.

Another way that the family will survive is by accepting their odds and that their past was not as good as they expected. Therefore, they push on into the future with positivity. It is the case for Frank when he explains that he should not have done what he did. It means that he accepted the things that happened. Acceptance is the first step towards healing, and if the other family members all own up to their past odds and mistakes, they will survive the dysfunction.

References

Arndt, M. (2006). Little.Miss.Sunshine.2006.mp4. [online] Google Drive. Available at: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B0fawk1o1hTZZFdvQlNXTDZ1Y1U/edit [Accessed 25 Sep. 2019].

Bethinking.org. (2019). Little Miss Sunshine. [online] Available at: https://www.bethinking.org/culture/little-miss-sunshine [Accessed 25 Sep. 2019].

SOCWK 321_ M4- A14.pdf. The expanded family life cycle. Individual, Family, and Social Perspectives. Needham: Allyn and Bacon.

Henry, R., & Miller, R. (2004). Marital problems occurring in midlife: Implications for couples therapists. American Journal Of Family Therapy, 32(5), 405-417. doi:10.1080/01926180490455204

Martin, N. (2012). Little Miss America: An Ideological Analysis of” Little Miss Sunshine.” Cinesthesia, 1(1), 5.

SOCWK 321- M2.pdf. Definitions, cultural variations, and demographic trends. Families: Changing trends in Canada, 3-27.

SOCWK 321_ M2- A4.pdf. Social class and the family life cycle. The expanded family life cycle: Individual, family, and social perspectives, 3, 88-105.

SOCWK 321- M3. Pdf.

SOCWK 321_ M4- A16.pdf)

SOCWK 321 M4.pdf

SOCWK 321_ M2- A5.pdf