For decades, the cinematic family was a rigid institution. From the saccharine unity of The Brady Bunch to the nuclear anxieties of Home Alone , the screen mirrored a cultural ideal: two biological parents, 2.5 children, and a picket fence. When divorce or remarriage appeared, it was often the stuff of tragedy or fairy-tale rescue (think The Parent Trap or Cinderella ).
From the tearful breakthroughs of Instant Family to the quiet devastation of Marriage Story , cinema is finally giving the blended family the complexity it deserves. We are no longer watching Cinderella scrub floors while her evil stepmother schemes. We are watching real people, at crowded dinner tables, trying to pass the mashed potatoes to someone who used to be a stranger. -JustVR- Larkin Love -Stepmom Fantasy 20.10.2...