AS IF!

Art by Meredith Rogers

What do the movies Clueless and Cruel Intentions have in common? Hint: it’s not just iconic ‘90s fashion or killer soundtracks. What both movies share is a gross, and frankly creepy, plot device known as the stepsiblings-to-lovers trope. While technically no incest is committed, featuring a love story between two characters that are known to have been raised as family should make audience members uneasy. Nothing says romance like having the same parents, right?

Clueless’s Cher Horowitz may have spent half the movie focused on the fact that she’s a virgin who can’t drive, but she really should have been more focused on the fact that she was in love with her stepbrother, Josh. Let’s dissect why this relationship was wrong on so many levels. First of all, Cher is a high schooler and no older than 16 by the end of the movie, meanwhile Josh is in college, so one can assume he is at least 18 years old—ew!

The producers of Cruel Intentions sure had some cruel intentions with the lead characters, Kathryn Merteuil and Sebastian Valmont. The film is based on the 1782 French novel, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, so all the blame can’t be put onto the movie’s writers. However, they didn’t have to take the stepsiblings-to-lovers trope as far as they did. In one of the movie’s first scenes, stepsiblings Kathryn and Sebastian are seen cuddling on a couch together, engaging in some, let’s just say, heavy petting. Audiences are to believe that Kathryn and Sebastian have some hot, sexual tension going on, as if that’s something to root for. This theme continues, with Kathryn becoming overly jealous when her stepbrother begins to get romantically involved with schoolmate Annette Hargrove. Because if Kathryn can’t have her stepbrother, then no one can. How sweet!

If you thought this strange movie trend was left in the ‘90s with jelly sandals, you would be wrong. Somehow, it has seeped into the 2020s— simillar to how Y2K style has come back from the dead. Someone in Hollywood decided that Cruel Intentions needed a TV reboot, and the TikTok- viral movie, My Fault London, is centered around a stepsibling romance, just with British accents.

It’s great to have movies that showcase strong stepsibling dynamics, as long as filmmakers keep the emphasis on the sibling part of the word.