The difference between movie families and real ones

Whether it’s the Fast and the Furious franchise or Mrs. Doubtfire, family is a massive theme in movies. We all want to have a family, and somewhere to belong. Family seems to be one of those things that is accepted by everyone as a fundamentally important part of life.

It doesn’t take much to notice that families in reality, are a little bit different to how we represent families in the movies. In the movies there are a series of grandiose events where characters put their family above everything else, because family is what really matters (this is what these movies are getting at).

A typical movie family moment would be the mum pushing her kids to safety, while telling them how much she loves them… all before she fell off a waterfall… only for it to be later revealed that she survived all along.

In the real world, my mum pushes me to study more for exams and asks why I’m wasting my time on doing things like making lunch (although she is right that I procrastinate too much, and I do appreciate her keeping me on track, thanks Mum).

I guess the difference is that real world families don’t follow a designed narrative thread. Families aren’t a story thought out by a team of writers, they’re the culmination of a bunch of different personalities and the decisions they make every day. As a result, ‘family’ is a series of celebrations, compromises and mistakes with those you share a relationship of care and connection.

A lot of the time families are messy, confusing, and even infuriating. The thing the movies do get right is that family really is worth fighting for, because it is one of those things that really matters.