Student: Andrea Munjiza

Mentor: Dr. hab. Krzysztof Abriszewski

Seminar: Philosophy and popular culture

Miss Congeniality (2000)- analysis

Semiotic-strucural analysis
EVENT
a) Hart gets in a
physical confrontation
with a male character

EXAMPLE
- childhood scene where Hart fights off a bully
-she defends herself after being held captive by a Russian
mobster
- she and Matthews discuss going undercover while
wrestling; talent show scene with Matthews
-tackling a member of the crowd during talent show
-fighting security guards on stage

b) Hart displays
masculine
features/discards
feminine ones

- childhood scene
-masculine mannerisms and appearance: unkempt hair,
whiping nose with sleeve, mannish walk, raw humor,
snorting while laughing, lack of table manners, lack of
dance talent, packing arms under her dress etc.
-making fun of feminine characters/ other contestants:
Matthews' date, footage of previous pageants, feminine
beauty secrets
-makeover scene; falling over during the 'Mustang Sally'
scene, infront of the bus,on stage...

c)Hart is scorned for

her looks/behavior

- childhood scene
-Hart isn't initially considered as a choice for going
undercover
-Matthews notes to his date that Hart is not the person to
give a female point of view
- Victor: the lunch scene/overnight practice/diet
choices/vocabulary
-other criticism: Ms Morningside, her police crew

d) Enemy plotting

-writing of letters
- the assembling of the bomb

Student: Andrea Munjiza

Mentor: Dr. hab. Krzysztof Abriszewski
Seminar: Philosophy and popular culture

Miss Congeniality (2000)- analysis

-explosion of the mannequin
-Ms Morningside talking to her son about new potential
terrorist groups to copycat
-Frank leaves a box in the janitor's room and replacing the
crown
-final confrontation: Matthews/Frank, Hart/bomb
e) Hart's
transformation gets
her positive feedback

- virtual makeover
-'Mustang Sally' scene
- Ms Morningside embraces Hart while meeting her after
her makeover
-Matthews noting several times about her newly-found
attractivness; ultimately making a move on her
-gradually accepted by her co-workers as attractive (''What
a way to go'')

f) Hart almost
discloses her true
identity but manages
to find an explanation

- yelling out 'Jesus Christ' during pageant inauguration

lunch
-spotted meeting Matthews during the night by other
contestants
-tackling a member of the crowd during talent show
-her replies at 'question and answer' rounds
-she checks out the suitcase containing a microphone
-signaling from the stage to the team that the crown is the
bomb

g) Hart confronts
rules/authority figures

- confrontation with her boss after the undercover Russian

mob scene and upon requesting to further track Ms
Morningside
-confronting Victor about his guidance, his elitist attitude
and scrutiny
-eating pizza and drinking beers before the finale
-confronting Matthews about his passivity
-pushing ''Rhode Island'' to show off forbidden talents

Student: Andrea Munjiza

Mentor: Dr. hab. Krzysztof Abriszewski
Seminar: Philosophy and popular culture

Miss Congeniality (2000)- analysis

OPPOSITIONS
EXPLANATION
1)Hart- Matthews

-main romantic oppostion which blooms during Hart's

transformation into a comely woman and a liberal-minded
person

2)Hart- Victor

- Hart and Victor first share the opposition of the student

and the Mentor, filled with tension and misunderstanding
-this ultimately leads to a mutually accepting, friendly
relationship

3) Hart- Police Crew

- Hart is a laughingstock for her crew members, while

being the only competent and insightive one on the team
-later recognized as alluring and an equal member

4) Hart- Boss

-main source of confrontation on her job; her tendency to

question authority and McDonald's inflexibility create at
least two confrontations

5) Hart- Other
Contestants

-Hart is highly judgemental of her fellow contestants; their

manner of speech, their apparent shallowness and
stupidity, difference in priorities, their trained speech and
composure

6)Hart- Villain

- although the Villain is not a consistent character

throughout the movie ( at first it's 'the Citizen', and then
it's Ms Morningside and her son Frank), there is an ongoing
tension between the two, as the appearence of the threat
and the attempt to solve the mistery of the identity of the
Villain is the main incentive for any kind of narrative
development

7)Rules- Rebellion

-Hart is a highly anarchycal character- her lifestyle does

not conform to traditional rules of femininity, she questions
the decisions of authority figures (Boss, Matthews, Victor)
-she also encourages others to embrace unruliness
( Devil's Panties, flaming batons, eating pizza, urging
team-mates to bend the rules and help her catch the
Morningsides, acting against specific ordersduring the
operation)
-Matthews, while being Hart's boss, still shows a tendency
to obey by the rules, but, in the end, chooses to help his
co-worker despite previous orders
-Cheryl fears to defy her parents

Student: Andrea Munjiza

Mentor: Dr. hab. Krzysztof Abriszewski
Seminar: Philosophy and popular culture

Miss Congeniality (2000)- analysis

8)FeminintyMasculinity

-a highly noticable and important oppositon

-many of the charachters seem to present us with features
of the opposite sex: Victor's feminine mannerisms and
general refinement; Matthew's, Frank's and Mr Fields' lack
of assertiveness; Hart's aforementioned tomboyishness; a
cross-dressing virtual dress-up game
- beauty queens are opposed to the police force, both
being representatives of the two sides of the opposition

9)Meekness- Bravery

- many pageant contestant display a tendency to act

naively and timidly, especially the contestant from Rhode
Island, who is affraid to do anything risky (involving
wearing red underwear and reporting a rape crime), while
Hart has the courage to speak her mind and act
spontaneously if she feels the situation demands it

10) StereotypesOpenmindedness

-upon arrivng to the pageant, Hart is highly stereotypical of

the ladies involved in the contest
-she later learns to embrace the diversity of women and
priorities

11)Genuiness-Acting
a Part

-while Hart, as well as the main part of the police force, are
still very raw and uncouth in their behaviour, they are
contrasted with a highly trained world of show-business,
where every word is carefully instructed and every gesture
is strategically chosen and trained to induce the best
response

12)MessinessGlamour

-the casualness of the police force meets the glamourous,

luxurious world of beauty pageants

13) Feminism- Sexism

- many memebers of the police continuoulsly make sexist

remarks throughout the movie
- Hart, although a beliver in the feminist movement,
doesn't act accordingly: her derision of women with
different worldviews often induces uncalled-for,
mysoginistic comments
-Ms Morningside does her best to describe the contest as a
scholarship, in an attempt to disregard the notion of
pageants as parades of brainless girls

14) AnonimityExposure

- at the beginning of the movie, we are presented with the

lonely, boring and anonymous life of Gracie Hart, who is
later introduced in a world where every step one takes is

Student: Andrea Munjiza

Mentor: Dr. hab. Krzysztof Abriszewski
Seminar: Philosophy and popular culture

Miss Congeniality (2000)- analysis

scrutinized by the media (preliminaries, the finale)
- while the pageant gets much media coverage, the Citizen
works quietly and secretly

Hero's Journey
Explanation

Phase
1) Ordinary world

2) Call to Adventure

3)Refusal of the Call

4)Meeting with the

Mentor

5) Crossing the First

Threshold

6) Tests, Allies,

playground scene- Hart's personality is depicted

clearly since her early childhood; she is an
independent tomboy who stands up for others and
for herself, but encounters rejectment from (male)
peers
undercover work in the Russian restoraunt- Hart is
seen in her normal environment, doing undercover
work with her other cops, while still being unsightly
and a maverick
apartment scene- a lonely life with microwave
dinners, venting frustrations through boxing
policework- doing coffee runs, scorned by her boss,
shows the most competence, but her work fails to
be acknowledged
McDonald presents them with the case of the
Citizen
Hart is selected by Matthews to be the undercover
agent at Miss US (albeit as a last resort)
Boxing scene- Matthews is convincing Hart to join
the operation through a wrestling match, she
rejects the option
Hart meets Victor over lunch, where she is finds out
about his career path and gets a taste of his
demands
Makeover scene- Hart is for the first time
introduced to the practices of beauty queens;
waxing, make-up, diet, hair styling; walks out
looking presentable for the first time in her life- this
time as Gracie Lou Freebush
Bus and inaugural lunch- she meets Miss Rhode
Island on the collective bus ride to the inaugural
lunch, where she is aquainted with other important
contestant and attends some welcome speeches by
Ms Morningside and Stan Fields
Tests: dancing practice, overnight practices with

Student: Andrea Munjiza

Mentor: Dr. hab. Krzysztof Abriszewski
Seminar: Philosophy and popular culture

Miss Congeniality (2000)- analysis

Enemies

7)Approach to the
Inmost Cave

8) Ordeal

9)Reward

10) The Road Back

11) Resurrection

12) Return with the

Elixir

ARCHETYPE

Victor, preliminary talent show with a possible

suspect, swimsuit and question-and-answer
preliminary, extracting info from Cheryl
Enemies: the Citizen, Kathy Morningside, Frank
Tobin
Allies: Matthews and other policemen, Cheryl and
other contestants, Victor
Hart is abandoned by her co-workers and mentor,
and has to enter the finale alone- looking credible
while still keeping an eye on the suspects; she
pushes through to get to the top five, when the
final struggle ought to take place
Hart has to fight guards, Cheryl and Mary Jo for the
crown which contains a bomb and which is
threatening the lives of everyone present
(meanwhile, Matthews fights Frank for the
detonator)
Hart finally gets a hold of the crown, but has to
immediately throw it away in order to save others
Her continuous, yet ambiguous flirtation with
Matthews finally culminates with a kiss
Morningside is arrested
Morningside tries to convince her that her attempts
were in vain
Hart's final chase is a fake one, as Victor lies about
a threatening situation just as she is leaving the
premises
Hart has to give a surprise speech, with which she
initially is not comfortable
Through her speech, she finally embraces her
feminine side and sets aside her prejudice against
other contestants, finally embracing the newly
coined friendships and liberating experiences; the
title of Miss Congeniality symbolizes this final
accomplishment

EXPLANATION

a) Hero

b) Mentor

c) Herald

Hart- a classical hero who transforms her looks and

her biased worldviews through dangerous, lifethreatening situations
Victor Melling-a pageant consultant, with a long
career of training young women who are entering
beauty pageants; leads Hart's makeover and
teaches her how to talk and behave, so that she
can look convincing
McDonald- he is the one who presents the police

Student: Andrea Munjiza

Mentor: Dr. hab. Krzysztof Abriszewski
Seminar: Philosophy and popular culture

Miss Congeniality (2000)- analysis

d)Shapeshifter

e)Shadow

f)Ally

g) Trickster

h) Threshold
Guardian

force with the info on the new letter by the Citizen

Matthews- invites Hart to go undercover
Hart, Matthews, other undecover cops- all of them
must change their appearance and behaviour in
order to infiltrate different targeted groups (Russian
restorant, pageant)
Cheryl- shy, innocent girl with a past that involves
violent animal activism and theft
the Citizen- an anonimous terrorist who uses
different weapons and has various targets
Ms Morningside and Frank Tobin a mother and son
duo who are plotting a revenge plan, because of
her recent layoff from the scholarship programme,
while seemingly looking after the girls and the
contest
Matthews (and the rest of the crew)- offer support
throughout her undercover work, Matthews also
acts as moral support and protects her integrity
(does not let others observe Hart while she
performs embarassing beauty preparations)
Victor- he stops being merely a mentor when he
decides to help out Hart in the finale, although he
won't be financially compensated
Other contestants- their friendship is most easily
observed when they help Gracie to groom before
the finale
Hart- main mischief initiator; makes others change
and challenge themselves ( eating pizza and
getting drunk with the contestants, buying flaming
batons for Cheryl, her distinctive sense of humor
and ability to make up stories and excuses on the
spot)
McDonald- puts Hart on paperwork duty instead of
the leader of the operation, has to conviced by
Matthew to let Hart join the team
Kathy Morningside- reluctant to give permission to
the FBI to have one of their agents in the
competition
Victor- upon seeing Hart for the first time, he
refuses to take the job