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How Is Edwin Hoover Selfish

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In the film Little Miss Sunshine directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, baby boomers, represented through Edwin Hoover, can be interpreted as either being selfish or he can be seen as rejecting a totalitarian society. Edwin Hoover is a grandfather who lives with a middle class American family because he was kicked out of his nursing home for doing drugs. These same traits however that demonstrate him as being irresponsible however, are what can show the generation of baby boomers as being leaders in a just revolution that disregards notions of rules emplaced upon us. In many ways, Edwin Hoover can represent baby boomers as being selfish. After getting evicted from his nursing home, Edwin Hoover goes to live with his son's family. In …show more content…

When Edwin’s daughter in law brings home chicken he gets angry that they constantly have chicken instead of something nice. This shows how he cant be happy for what life he has, he always reminisces on better times or complains about the life he currently has. He also complains about the household compared to nursing home that he got kicked out of. What Edwin can’t seem to understand is that it was his actions that put him in in the situation he is now. His inability to realize his own mistakes and ultimately confess his problems makes him irresponsible and selfish. Furthermore, he constantly states that it doesn’t matter that he does heroin or isn’t married. This can reflect on his generation, that were baby boomers. Baby boomers are often recognized as being addicted to drugs, having unprotected sex, and disregarding government rules. Edwin demonstrates these traits without thinking how it might affect the family. Edwin’s theory is that since he is old he should do whatever he wants to do to enjoy the rest of his life. But Edwin doesn’t realize that hurting himself will also hurt the family. When Edwin eventually and inevitably overdoses on heroin, Richard says, “God Damnit Dad.” The entire family is …show more content…

Edwin gets kicked out of the nursing home for doing heroin, but he was just doing what he wanted without regard for the constricting rules that we live by. Synecdoche is used when he stands up against society's rules in the nursing home. There we understand that Edwin is taking another step that was part of what he represents, baby boomers. Baby boomers are just like Edwin and they also believed in extending their own sense of reality beyond a contained lifestyle, and enjoying themselves by doing drugs and have lots of sex was their way of experiencing that. Edwin can be seen as taking a new approach to normal film conventions by being presented as a different and unexpected kind of person that even breaks our expectations, which are from our constant life believing one thing does this and nothing else. I believe the directors push this idea throughout the film in multiple scenes with the background idea that life is better to be short and happy than long and unhappy. We see the family try to contain those unorthodox ideas but as the film progresses we see the family come around to the grandfathers idea and even others as well. In the hospital they realize that Olive needs to get to the beauty pageant so they break the rules and steal Edwin’s body. When they arrive at the pageant and they are late the father literally gets on his knees and begs, and someone breaks the rules

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