The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow

The popular Broadway musical and movie (1999), Annie, is about a young orphaned girl who is forced to live in a dirty orphanage run by the cruel Miss. Hannigan. Tired of being forced into doing chores Annie tries to escape multiple times, but always ends up back in the orphanage. One day Oliver Warbucks, a millionare who resides in New York City, announces that he will take in an orphan to spend the holidays at his house, and Annie is chosen.

The first half of the movie is filmed in the orphanage. The clip below of the girls singing “It’s the Hard Knock Life” is one of the most famous scenes from the movie. This clip provides a view into Annie’s life as an orphan. The ragged clothes and small living area portrays a life of poverty. The cruelty of Miss. Hannigan can also be seen in this clip with her yelling at the orphans to clean in the middle of the night.

The second half of the movie takes place with Oliver “Daddy” Warbucks. When Oliver Warbucks invites Annie into his home, her lifestyle drastically changes. The clip below illustrates Annie’s amazement at the fact that she no longer has to cook or clean for herself, instead she has people waiting on her. She is also surprised that she has access to life’s simple amenities such as a queen bed and a swimming pool.

 

As discussed in Assembling the Shots, “Juxtaposing contrasting shots can deepen a film’s theme” (Dick 83). This specifically applies to this movie because of the two contrasting lifestyles Annie experiences. The switch from a life of poverty in the beginning to a life of luxury in the end helps portray the dominant theme of the movie: Good things will come to those who do not lose hope. Many other juxtapositions aided in the establishment of this theme such as the change from poor to rich, dirty to clean, and a from a cruel to a loving authority figure.  

In the orphanage, the blatant thing that set Annie apart from the rest of the orphans was the fact that she was always optimistic and refused to lose hope. Annie was convinced that her parents would come back for her, and held onto that hope with a locket and note that her parents left for her. Many times in the beginning of the movie, the other girls would make fun of Annie and mock the letter her parents wrote her. However, they did not mock her because they were mean spirited, rather they were jealous that she still remained hopeful for her future. 

Although her parents did not come back for her, Annie’s hope was rewarded in a different way. A temporary visit became a permanent home when Oliver Warbucks adopted Annie and welcomed her into his family. Adoptions are a big deal in general, however this specific one pulled more emotions than usual out of the viewers because the filmmakers illustrated everything Annie was forced to go through as a child in the beginning of the movie.