The most revolutionary frontier is the queer blended family. In The Kids Are All Right (2010), we saw a family shattered not by infidelity, but by curiosity about a biological sperm donor. More recently, Bros (2022) tackled the anxiety of merging lives when one partner has never believed in marriage, and the other has a very specific vision of a "traditional" home.
JustVR: Exploring the Larkin Love Stepmom Fantasy and the Evolution of Immersive Content justvr+larkin+love+stepmom+fantasy+20102+top
To understand modern cinema, we must look at the ghost of tropes past. The quintessential blended family text was The Brady Bunch (TV, but later films). Here, blending was frictionless. The children merely squabbled over the bathroom. The parents (Mike and Carol) solved every problem by the end of the half-hour. This was the "velvet revolution" model: combine two families, add a maid named Alice, and stir. The most revolutionary frontier is the queer blended family
Manchester by the Sea (2016) shows the impossibility of blending when grief is unprocessed. Lee Chandler (Casey Affleck) cannot be a stepfather or even an uncle because he is frozen in time. The film’s devastating conclusion suggests that some families cannot be blended; they can only be fractured. It is a necessary counter-narrative to the "happy ever after" of most family films. Sometimes, blending fails. JustVR: Exploring the Larkin Love Stepmom Fantasy and
Perhaps the most honest film about modern blending is Sean Anders’ Instant Family (2018). Unlike the glossy Daddy’s Home sequels, Instant Family dared to show the "honeymoon phase" ending ten minutes after the foster kids arrive.