I was sitting on an airplane, traveling back to Miami, and when I was scrolling through what movies to watch, I encountered “Little Miss Sunshine”. I heard a little bit about the movie, one of the most current themes - when watching trailers and clips- was that it was wholesome. When I watched the movie, I was hooked from the start to the end. 

 

Most people don’t understand nor like a movie where nothing really happens. Where the start isn’t really a start and when the ending isn’t really an end. This movie is just a small part of a family’s life; however, the movie goes over themes that most people are frustrated or struggling with. An example of these themes are failure and success as well as being happy and content. 

 

There are many scenes in the movie that are beautiful to me. However, one scene that stuck with me is the scene between Dwayne and Frank. Dwayne vowed to not speak until he was able to join the air force academy and he kept at it for 8 months. When Dwayne realized that his chances of ever joining the air force academy were ruined he freaked, storming out of the car and screaming at the top of his lungs. Later on - when the family arrived at their destination - Dwayne and Frank are talking on the pier. Dwayne mentions how he wishes he could go to sleep till he was 18 so he can skip high school and everything else that goes along with it. Frank decides to tell Dwayne about a French writer who hardly had a job and spent a lot of his life writing a book that no one read. The point of mentioning the French writer is that when the writer looked back at his life he realized the years that he suffered were the best years of his life because those were the years that made him who he was today. 

 

The message that Frank was trying to tell Dwayne is that suffering is important, it is a part of life. And how once you went through the suffering, sometimes you’ll wish for it to come back because those were the times you were learning and growing. Think back all the way to quarantine, when everyone was unhappy because they were trapped inside of their house doing absolutely nothing. Well, when I talked to other people about their quarantine experience they explained to me that they sometimes wish they could go back. During quarantine, most teenagers were discovering more about themselves and what they liked, without the conformity and pressure from their peers. Quarantine was also a time where people appreciated the opportunities they had to communicate with people in person and take chances.

 

This movie will always be close to my heart. A beautiful, comforting movie that doesn’t have any true story but true meaning.