My all-time, No. 1, biggest kryptonite trope of them all is Found Family.
Found Family is:
When a bunch of disparate characters come together – sometimes by chance, sometimes through adversity – and find a sense of community, love and encouragement that they may have never had before (or had and lost).
When characters are able to be wholly, truly themselves without negative repercussions; they can reveal all of their oddities or flaws or past mistakes and still be genuinely accepted by their chosen family.
Where wounded characters can recover from past traumas, now that they have a safe harbor and a solid support system.
Platonic, or romantic, or any mixture of either.
The trope really resonates with queer and neurodivergent audiences, who often live vicariously through such characters, savoring that sense of home they may have been denied in real life.
And it’s one of the most cathartic, healing frameworks in fiction, honestly: a tonic to the loneliness and disconnection a lot of folks feel in modern, COVID-plagued society. For those of us in search of, longing for, a sense of community?
Found Family gives us that.
As a writer who loves tropes, and seasons her writing with them the way many cooks use garlic – wildly, with reckless abandon – it’s the one I reach for the most. The one I find most satisfying. Every story I’ve ever written has Found Family at its heart, in fact.
And so many of my favorite pieces of media do, too. This week, here’s a look at just a few of the greatest.
4. “Fruits Basket” (manga/anime)
The Sohma clan has carried a literal generational curse for centuries: 13 members of the family are possessed by Zodiac animal spirits. Should anyone of the opposite gender embrace them, they transform into their animal, and as soon as one of them dies, the curse is passed on to the next generation.
Those afflicted by the Zodiac curse struggle to lead normal lives or have healthy relationships; many are directly abused by others in the family, or have suffered terrible tragedies due to the curse’s influences.
Enter Tohru Honda, an orphan who has the one kind of magic that can break the Sohma curse: a heart big enough to take in the whole world. With her unflagging kindness and optimism, Tohru quickly begins to heal the old scars of her newfound family, guiding each of the 13 to the happy ending they deserve.
Some may argue that this isn’t technically a true Found Family story, since the Sohmas are actually blood relatives. But most of them are very distantly related, and many are greatly alienated (from one another and the wider world) before Tohru comes along to pull them all together like the loose threads in an unraveling sweater.
And with Tohru as the heart of the whole story, this is, more than anything else, a tale of a lost and lonely orphan making her own family after losing her original one.
3. “The Fast and the Furious” franchise
What started as a tale of modern day Robin Hoods stealing DVD players from truckers, and has since turned into a series about a team of secret agents fighting world terrorism with the judicial application of cars, is still – at its core – about a literal ride-or-die Found Family.
Spend any amount of time on social media and you’ll probably see a ridiculous meme about Dom Toretto (Vin Diesel)’s passion for his family. Family is the Fast crew’s superpower. It enables them to survive falls from helicopters, and missile blasts from submarines, and collapsing buildings, and dozens of car crashes…
Mock these action-heavy flicks all you like – it doesn’t change the fact they’re delightful. I also personally adore how sprawling and multicultural the Toretto clan is at this point (10 movies in).
And in terms of character motivation, there’s nothing better than “MUST PROTECT MY FAMILY!” when it comes to reasons to have beefy guys punch other beefy guys.
2. The Batfamily (“Batman” comics, shows and movies)
The old joke is Bruce Wayne/Bats has never met a plucky orphan he didn’t want to adopt. And if that orphan has black hair and blue eyes? Dude’s instantly pulling the papers out of his utility belt.
I hate recent live-action films have followed the “brooding lone wolf” trend when it comes to Bats, because the Dark Knight has never really been a solo act. He’s always had Robin (at least one, sometimes two) or Nightwing or Batgirl or the Red Hood or Spoiler … Not to mention good ol’ paternal stand-in Alfred Pennyworth, sass master, crack shot and butler extraordinaire.
My favorite kind of Bats is the Grumpy Dad! Bats, who may be covered in bruises from his latest tussle with Clayface but can still find the time to help Dick or Tim with their history homework.
And few things are more delightful than when the whole Batfamily can interact with each other, as proven with the recent Webtoon run of “Wayne Family Adventures.” Dick and Jason get to be the Cool Big Brothers, Aunt Kate comes around to support her nephew’s coming out, Damian discovers the joys of Jane Austen and everyone engages in tactical snowball warfare.
I cannot recommend that series enough; go check it out immediately if you want to smile for a solid hour.
1. “Howl’s Moving Castle” (book by Diana Wynne Jones and movie by Studio Ghibli)
A family isn’t always a mom, a dad and two-point-five kids.
Sometimes a family is an immature wizard, a girl cursed to be an old woman, her sister, a snarky apprentice, a fire demon, a turnip-headed scarecrow, the Witch of the Waste, a literal moving castle and a dog.
And sometimes that girl has to figuratively kick that wizard in the rump to get him to grow up and break his own curse, and then believe in herself (and not that silly old rule about eldest daughters) to break hers.
While the book and movie are vastly different creatures, both are delightful fantasies founded on Found Families, with a dash of Beauty-and-the-Beast vibes thrown in for good measure. A combo that makes this one of the greatest offerings of the trope in my personal books. (Plus the movie has all of those super satisfying cleaning montages! It’s cathartic all the way down!)
ANGIE BARRY is a contributing columnist for Shaw Media. To suggest future topics for The B-List, which covers topics in pop culture, history and literature, contact her at newsroom@mywebtimes.com.