Continuity mistake: At the orientation breakfast, when Stan Fields begins to speak, a very blonde Miss Arkansas moves between the very front table and the very back table in the subsequent cuts. (00:41:16)
Continuity mistake: When the ladies are on the way to the breakfast and they start to sing the Miss United States song, they show a shot of the ladies seated in the back of the bus and you can clearly see the girls in red that were handing out pamphlets. When they show the shot of the bus taking off, the girls aren't behind the bus as clearly seen in the shot before. (00:38:10)
Continuity mistake: When Gracie walks down and up the stairs, she gives her weapons to Vic. Look at the handcuffs on Vic's finger. First they're around his finger, held in the palm of his hand, in the next shot they're outside his hand, in the next shot they're in his palm again, then in the next shot they're outside his hand yet again. (00:47:15)
Continuity mistake: Matthews and Clonsky are in the agents' hotel surveillance room. In the shots facing the monitors, the equipment near the small monitor sits higher than that monitor and there is no equipment on the TV. In the shots facing the agents, the equipment near the small monitor sits lower and closer to that monitor and there is electronic equipment on top of the TV. (00:57:00)
Continuity mistake: Gracie as a little girl calls the boy "wimp", and you see her left plait behind her shoulder. Then, in the next shot you see it in front of her shoulder. The same thing happens with her hair tails when she is talking with Victor before she does the talent demonstration. (00:02:05)
Continuity mistake: When Matthews and Hart are walking on the pavement, in order to meet with Miss Morningside, Matthews' tie is red in small stripes. When they sit together in the room, his tie is grey with a few small white and black stripes. (00:21:55)
Continuity mistake: When she is practising in the blue dress in the middle of the night, while she is removing her weapons etc., her long blue gown sash falls off both her shoulders and is hanging on her arm, but a second later, it is hanging on one shoulder. (00:47:15)
Continuity mistake: When Cheryl, Miss Rhode Island, is bringing Gracie hot chocolate, you can see the top cap on the thermos is loose, camera then zooms on Gracie, then back on Cheryl, and suddenly the top cap is fully snapped on. (00:43:20)
Continuity mistake: When they are having pizza and beer at the club, Miss California puts her slice down on the silver pie platter on the table as Gracie and Cheryl take a seat. In the shot from behind Miss Texas the pie platter is seen again and the arrangement of the slices is different on the platter. Also when Hart says, "We'll stay here", and in this front shot she takes a bite of her slice and Cheryl picks up a new slice and takes a bite out of hers. In the back shot, Cheryl picks up a new slice and takes a bite again. (01:08:40)
Continuity mistake: Victor and agent Matthews rush back stage at the pageant and are stopped by the Pageant Matron. There is a monitor next to Victor and it shows Miss Rhode Island twirling her batons without flames, and also as soon as Vic calls Matthews 'muffin', in the background we see Cheryl raising her flameless baton on stage in the background. Yet in the previous and following shots the batons have flames. (01:27:10)
Continuity mistake: Gracie Lou enters the dressing room prior to the bathing suit competition, we see her peeking around a rack of clothing with only her head visible, with a towel wrapped around her. The agents in the surveillance room see the other contestants on the monitor, yet the flag cam, which is pinned onto the top of the sash just above the 'N' in New Jersey, is very clearly covered with the towel that she has wrapped around herself, until she walks over to the mirror. (01:01:35)
Continuity mistake: When Gracie throws the crown, it blows up the Statue of Liberty prop. When the camera shoots back to Gracie and Cheryl, Cheryl faints into Gracie's arms and the sash falls down from her shoulder. In the next shots of the audience and the runway, Gracie falls down with Cheryl, but Cheryl's sash is up on her shoulder again. (01:40:10)
Answer: It is an image Victor Melling conjures in an effort to elicit a calm, zen-like state for Grace. He is trying to assist her to focus on the competition, rather than her fear of walking the stage in a two piece swimsuit.
Michael Albert