After reading this article, it occurs to me that one can find the theme of “repairing of the fractured family” in virtually any movie. I tried to think of some movies that, at first thought, one would think very unlikely to contain that theme. But, sure enough, with just a bit of thought, it’s there:
The Great Escape - A group of men, torn from their families and imprisoned, form a makeshift family so that they can escape, fight to protect their families and/or return to their families.
The War Wagon - John Wayne forms a makeshift family in order to exact revenge on the man who stole his ranch and robbed him of his future family.
Speed Racer - Speed loses his brother (part of his family) then forms a new family bond with Racer X while resisting the efforts the Royalton head to lure him into joining that family, and instead saves his family’s business. (Okay, so maybe this one wasn’t even unlikely at the outset).
Friday the 13th - Mrs. Voorhees is trying to repair her broken family (the loss of her son) by exacting revenge on those responsible (who themselves, as camp counselors, are a sort of makeshift family).
2001, a Space Odyssey - The apes learn to kill in order to provide for and protect their families; Bowman and Poole form a makeshift family with HAL as the benevolent patriarch, then Bowman must fix it when the head of the family goes wacko.
So, list the unlikely movies that nevertheless still contain the “repairing of the fractured family” theme.
Fantastic Voyage – The surgical team must form a family (with Raquel Welch as Mom – yum!) to repair the head of their family, who was injured.
Terminator 2 is fairly obvious. The main dramatic tension is whether the T-800 is going to be part of the family unit.
Metropolis (or, Freud Kicks Marx in the Head) is all about society as a whole as a family, with the classic Father-Government/Mother-Social Services/Children-Industrial Labor division.
Blade Runner is interesting in that it focuses on one of the Antagonists: Roy Batty is the Protagonist on the Hero’s Journey to Atonement with the Father (Tyrell). Too bad we never see most of Roy’s Journey.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show
Where to begin? Well, first off, you have Brad and Janet, who agree to start a family unit of their own, a branch extension of the “normal” Earth family. On their way to give the good news to another member of this extended family, they inadvertantly (or possibly not) encounter an entirely different family, headed by Dr. Frank N. Furter. The good doctor is attempting to merge the two distinct lineages, first through medical means (using Eddie’s brain to build Rocky), and later through more conventional means, i.e. physical mating.
Members of the alien “family” obviously object to this attempt at eugenics, preferring to keep their family “pure”, and dispatch Frank and his hybrid creature to their reward, and cleanse the ship of any remaining otherworldly influences, preserving the integrity of their “family” for future generations.