6 Siblings in Story Land

How Kin in Pop Culture Are Signs of Our Times

By Charlotte Alter

ABC’s long-running show Modern Family has something for everyone: marriage (first, second and same-sex), child-rearing (of babies, step- and adopted children), and the hilarity that ensues.

IN REAL LIFE, SIBLINGS CAN BE A PAIN: THEY STEAL YOUR clothes and take the car keys and tell Mom and Dad when you go to a party the folks weren’t supposed to know about. But that’s just your siblings, the people who wore out your future hand-me-downs and somehow always manage to sit in the front seat. Fictional siblings, in TV shows and movies, are something else entirely. As with almost every other relationship, siblings are much more interesting when they’re not your own.

Sibling narratives don’t usually have the timeless passion of love stories or the perennial adventure of a quest. Instead, they’re windows into how we establish our identity. Stories about brothers and sisters are ultimately psychological squabbles between who they are and who they might have been. Our siblings—and for now, we’re talking about full biological siblings—are the ultimate representations of what you would have been like if Mom’s and Dad’s genes had reshuffled in a slightly different combination, at a slightly different time. They signify all the different ways to be your parents’ child. They’re you, but not quite.

In that sense, stories about siblings reflect how people of a particular time and place thought about identity, and how that identity can be seen through the lens of history. For example, Old Testament stories about biblical siblings often boil down to stark conflicts, usually as a duality: good vs. evil (Cain and Abel), firstborn vs. second-born (Esau and Jacob), fertile vs. barren (Leah and Rachel). Isaac and Ishmael, half brothers and sons of Abraham, are widely interpreted to be the forefathers of different but related faiths: Judeo-Christianity and Islam.

In Greek (and later, Roman) mythology, siblinghood was used to personify the connections between the world’s most powerful forces. That’s why Zeus, the god of the sky; Poseiden, god of the sea; and Hades, god of the underworld, are all brothers. Their sisters Hera, Demeter and Hestia signify the linked realms of family, harvest and home. And brothers Ares and Haphaestus, sons of Zeus and Hera, are the gods of war and weaponry. If mythology is an attempt to make sense of the natural world, then divine siblinghood is a way to link the mysteries of the universe into a recognizable family structure.

In Shakespeare’s time, siblings became a useful narrative device. In his plays, siblings are mostly used to illustrate the close link between family and destiny, even when characters are lost at sea or in disguise (think of the two pairs of twins in A Comedy of Errors or Viola and Sebastian in Twelfth Night). The repeated idea that a shared bloodline would bring back people from shipwrecks or reveal true identities reflects the Elizabethan obsession with family lineage as an indicator of fate.

Moving into the 19th and 20th and into the 21st centuries, siblings began to reflect more particular realities, expectations and family dynamics of changing times. The March sisters of Little Women are nuanced in ways that Leah and Rachel never were, just like Cal and Aron of East of Eden are far more complex than Cain and Abel. As we moved into modern times, siblings slowly began to represent psychological and cultural plurality. Siblings become frameworks for understanding the cultural expectations placed on individuals and families, and vehicles for discussing race, gender, class and violence that is happening outside the family structure. Some classic examples:

Pride and Prejudice (1813 novel, 1940 and 2005 films)

Pride and Prejudice

The five sisters in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice illustrate the extremely limited range of appropriate behavior available to English women of a certain social class in the early 19th century, all ultimately concerned with the right or wrong way to find a husband. Elizabeth Bennett, the protagonist, is clever but judgmental, while her sister Jane is beautiful and shy. Mary is unattractive but accomplished, while Lydia (and Kitty) are both flirtatious and wild, which leads to major trouble for Lydia. The girls’ personalities are examples of the ideals and perils of 19th-century womanhood.

Little Women (1868 novel, 1994 film)

Little Women

If the sisters in Pride and Prejudice present various “types” of potential wives, the four sisters in Little Women illustrate the range of possible accomplishments available to women in mid-19th-century America. Meg fulfills the domestic expectations, Jo is a writer, Beth plays music, and Amy paints—at that time, some of the few creative outlets available to women.

The Boxcar Children (1924–)

The four orphaned Alden siblings in the wildly popular Boxcar Children series mimic a complete family structure in a single generation. The oldest siblings, Henry and Jessie, play the role of parents to the younger siblings, Violet and Benny. The children’s novels are parables of how young people can take on adult responsibilities.

A Streetcar Named Desire (1947 play, 1951 movie)

A Streetcar Named Desire

Everyone thinks this film is about Marlon Brando, but really it’s about the relationship between two sisters, Blanche and Stella. Together they represent the two sides of female sexuality: sensual pleasure (Blanche) and domestic motherhood (Stella). Their co-dependence and mutual destruction is not just a portrait of sisters but also a statement on mid-century sexual mores.

East of Eden (1952 novel, 1955 film)

East of Eden

The Elia Kazan film, based on the John Steinbeck magnum opus, follows Cal and Aron as modernizations of Cain and Abel, brothers who are rivals for their father’s approval. Cal is the cunning opportunist, while Aron is sensitive and idealistic, and they’re competing for professional success and for the love of the same woman. Out of jealousy, Cal manipulates Aron into enlisting in World War I, in which he gets killed in battle. But unlike in the Old Testament story, their father forgives Cal on his deathbed.

The Godfather (1972, 1974)

The Godfather II

Brothers Sonny, Fredo and Michael Corleone embody the three possibilities for a male heir: Sonny is impulsive, Fredo is weak, and Michael is cunning. They don’t battle one another for control of the Corleone family, but their story, and particularly Michael’s story, is about the tension between individual motivations and family obligations.

Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)

Hannah and Her Sisters

In Woody Allen’s tale of three sisters, the siblings exist in an unstable triangle of romantic partners and professional ambitions, sharing everything from husbands to money to theatrical aspirations. Hannah, Holly and Lee (one stable, one volatile, one lost) illustrate the tension between support and competition among adult female siblings.

The Simpsons (1989–)

The Simpsons

Bart and Lisa Simpson popularized the trope of the goofball brother and the smartypants sister, a combination that never gets old. That stereotype rang true for a generation of high-achieving girls and video-game-obsessed boys in the 1990s.

Friends (1994–2004)

Ross and Monica are siblings, but they’re also part of a large and warm circle of friends. This was one of several TV shows in the 1990s that blurred the lines between family units and friendship circles, further expanding the definition of the family bond.

The Parent Trap (1961, 1998)

The Parent Trap

The twins in the Parent Trap perfectly embody the notion of siblings as simultaneously opposite and identical beings. In both movie versions (the 1961 version named the twins Susan and Sharon, while the 1998 version called them Annie and Hallie), the twins have identical appearances but opposite personalities, and a shared goal to get their parents back together. This mix of physical similarity, personal differences and shared values represents siblinghood in a nutshell.

The Virgin Suicides (1993 novel, 1999 film)

The Virgin Suicides

The Sofia Coppola movie, based on the Jeffrey Eugenides novel, about five beautiful teenage sisters who kill themselves is a perfect example of the voyeuristic view of sisterhood as a cult.

The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)

The Royal Tenenbaums

Chas, Margot and Richie Tenenbaum all become extremely successful early in life in different fields (business, playwriting and tennis, respectively), but their careers fade as they age. Their story is about how the bizarre rituals of siblinghood unite people who have nothing in common (even if there is a subplot in which Richie falls in love with Margot, who is adopted).

Modern Family (2009–)

The hit comedy follows three generations of the Pritchett-Dunphy family and shows how siblinghood changes across generations—and how it doesn’t. It’s clear that the rivalry and camaraderie between the young Haley, Alex and Luke will probably endure into adulthood, just like it did for their mom, Claire, and uncle Mitchell. The boisterous Pritchetts and Dunphys are also a vehicle for progressive social messages about gay marriage and multiracial blended families.

Frozen (2013)

Frozen

This is the ultimate story of sisters who fight and make up. After Princess Elsa accidentally freezes Anna’s heart with her magical ice-powers, Anna can be cured only by an “act of true love.” That act isn’t a prince’s kiss—instead, it’s Anna’s self-sacrifice to save her sister. Ultimately, the pair realize that sister-love is the key to controlling Elsa’s perilous powers.

Empire (2015–)

Empire

It’s King Lear re-imagined in the hip-hop universe, with brothers instead of sisters. Sickly hip-hop mogul Lucious Lyon must decide which of his three sons will take control of his record label when he dies, so business-oriented Andre, sensitive musician Jamal and wild-child rapper Hakeem have to compete for control of the family business. Empire became a monster hit in 2015, not only for its soundtrack but because it tells a story of black creativity and ambition within a family context.