“I’m Too Broken to Belong:”

Subverting the Victorian Nuclear Family through the Concept of Family of Choice in The Irregulars (2021)

Abstract

Family occupies a central position in (neo-)Victorian fiction. Yet, the ideal nuclear family
myth is often contested, since this institution tends to be portrayed as dysfunctional, broken
and oppressive. By contrast, alternative reconfigurations of the heteronormative household
in neo-Victorianism encourage an empathic and tolerant engagement to both Victorian and
contemporary eccentric family models. The Netflix original series The Irregulars (2021)
follows this pattern by placing a gang of Othered outcasts rejected by their families at the
centre of the narrative. In this article, I analyse how the series subverts the traditional
conceptualization of the Victorian family and proposes, instead, an alternative concept of
community: the neo-Victorian family of choice.