Little_Miss_Sunshine

The statement 'Our happiness depends on the strength of our relationships' is largely true, as an individuals happiness or subsequent dissatisfaction is often a mirror image of the many interpersonal relationships surrounding them; however our happiness as whole relies on many other aspects impacting our lives. This is shown in the film Little Miss Sunshine, the short story 'A mother's fondness' by Marion Rachel Stewart and the poem 'Aussie Love Poem' by Anonymous. These three texts successfully demonstrate the effect that strong relations have on ones happiness. The film Little Miss Sunshine is a great representation of the above statement, demonstrated by the relationships between all of the family members. In the film, the character 'Dwayne' does not have good relationships with any of his family members, which reflects in his unhappiness throughout the film. In the dinner scene at the start of the film Dwayne writes a note to Frank saying "I hate everyone", Frank then asks "What about your family'", resulting in Dwayne underlining 'everyone' to exaggerate his hate towards his family. His vow of silence is an underlying factor of his general unhappiness and hatred towards his family. Furthermore, the connection between happiness and relationships can be viewed in the short story 'A mother's fondness', as the daughter is unhappy with the way her mother treats her. The mother and her daughter have a relationship of turmoil as every time they communicate, a fight results. Through viewing both sides of the story, we can see how much the mother truly cares for her daughter; however, due to the tension in the relationship and resulting poor communication, the daughter never sees this side to her mother. This results in the daughter's unhappiness, reflected by how hurt she feels at her mothers handling of the situation. The poem 'Aussie love poem' shows a strong relationship between a man and his wife. In stanza 4 the poem says "The moment that we met, I thought you was as good as I was ever gonna get" Although Dwayne's relationships with his family contribute to his unhappiness, another major contributory factor is when he finds out he is colour blind, resulting in him not being able to fulfil his goal of becoming a pilot. His irritation at himself for not being able to become a pilot results in Dwayne taking out his anger on his hate for his family, saying "No, you're not my family! I don't wanna be your family! I hate you fucking people! Divorce' Bankrupt' Suicide' You're fucking losers, you're losers!" Although his relationships are a catalyst to his unhappiness, other aspects impacting his life such as his inability to fulfil ambitions are the true reason behind his dissatisfaction with life. The mother's happiness is not necessarily based on the strength of her relationship with her daughter, other factors such as the safety and wellbeing of her daughter is what makes the mother happy. In the story the mother says "I knew she would not see my anger as love for her", this shows that although they may be fighting, she still loves her daughter and is worried for her safety even if the daughter doesn't believe her mother feels that way. In the poem, the relationship aspects are not the only factors that give the impression of a strong relationship between the man and his wife. It's also that the man is accepting of what she looks like regardless of if her "bum is on the big side" or her "belly isn't flat no more" which makes the man happy in his relationship. Our happiness definitely depends on the strength of our relationships; however there are other aspects that contribute to our happiness as seen through the relationship with Dwayne and the rest of his family being unhappy because he cannot fly, the mother just being happy that her daughter is safe, the daughter being unhappy with the way her mother treats her and the man being content with the relationship he has with his wife.