The Best Sisters in Pop Culture

Dottie & Kit, A League of Their Own

Picked by Erin Vail

Being lifelong athletes, it makes total sense that my sister and I love sports movies. Miracle, Rocky IV, The Mighty Ducks, The Rookie, The Sandlot. You name it, we love it. That being said, there aren’t too many female-driven sports movies, let alone sports movies about sisters! So my sister spotlight falls on Dottie and Kit from A League of Their Own due to its perfect sister/sports blend.

Dottie and Kit didn’t always get along. From the beginning, they fought about chores and who was a better ball player and all kinds of normal, sister things. The bickering and fights continued, even while they were playing professional baseball: potentially the coolest escalation of sister fighting. But they took care of each other: Dottie always looked out for Kit, no matter what the cost was to Dottie herself, and Kit made Dottie laugh and have fun. They were different people with different interests, but still had inside jokes and a natural bond.

Dottie’s and Kit’s sisterhood felt like a real sibling relationship because you could really feel how much they loved, admired, and respected each other, even when Kit thought Dottie had gotten her traded to Racine. You could also see and feel the inherent competitiveness between the two: sometimes serious, sometimes playful, but always present.

As an older sister, of COURSE I identified with Dottie: not in terms of athletic skill (although she was catcher and I was soccer goalie—similar specialty positions), but in the sense that I’d always been told growing up to take care of my sister, and I think I always tried my best to do that. Plus, Shannon is a lot more fun and definitely funnier than me, no offense to Geena Davis. Dottie and Kit’s relationship is still exemplary of the support, silliness, kindness, and struggle that goes into being a sister every day.

Heather & Heidi Burge, Double Teamed

Picked by Shannon Vail

The major leagues. The Olympic National team. The pros. The WNBA. The heroes. The highest high a young woman dreams of. The Disney Channel Original Movie, Double Teamed.

Double Teamed has everything my sister and I ate this the fuck up as young, impressionable kids. It tell the story of twin superstars Heather and Heidi Burge. It’s got sisters. It’s got sports. It’s got ladies supporting ladies. It’s got this mom.

Although my sister and I never played basketball like the Burge twins, we killed it on the soccer field and have this movie to thank for some of our game time inspiration. We saw two sports role models who got along about as well as we did. Being close in age—not quite twin status, but 18 months apart felt like it sometimes—my sister and I fought as much as any sisters and got on each other’s nerves whenever we were put on the same team or participated in the same activities. As the younger sister, I often felt like I was tagging along with my older sister. I wasn’t a bother because I’m definitely the cooler sister, but I did sometimes want to do my own thing instead of following in my sisters wake.

Just like us, Heather and Heidi did not always enjoy spending time together. But after moving to a new school in the hopes of better chances at volleyball scholarships and quite literally never picking up a basketball, both sisters worked their naturally tall blonde butts off and quickly become the stars of the basketball team. Not without some jealousy and sacrifice, the Burge twins get noticed by college scouts who hint at the creation of a women’s professional league. Heather and Heidi go on to play in the WNBA, but not without learning lessons of teamwork, friendship, and the strength of the bond between sisters.

Obviously as two young athletes my sister and I latched onto this movie. We felt connected to their struggles and their accomplishments. We also felt their twin bond (again, we are not twins) and have stuck with their classic response, “What freaky twin thing?” whenever we do something only the two of us are in on.

Buffy & Dawn Summers, Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Picked by Jillian Conochan

She tops TV Guide‘s list of Most Loathed TV Characters. Entertainment Weekly calls her one of the 21 Most Annoying TV Characters Ever. The Prompt Mag was inclined to agree… and then came “The Gift,” the season 5 finale of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Buffy Summers is your average demon-killing only child. At age 19, she awakes to find her fully-grown, semi-biological little sister. Buffy and her ‘Scooby Gang’ friends are so accustomed to seeing f*cked up weirdo sh*t that they don’t even blink; Dawn is accepted into their existence in Sunnydale, California AKA ‘The Hellmouth’ without any hesitation.

Viewers, on the other hand, are all “WTF, mate?” / “Buffy doesn’t have a sister!” This wasn’t your average case of a disappearing character, à la Judy Winslow, who was mostly irrelevant and chopped for budgetary reasons after 3 seasons of Family Matters. Quite the opposite! Showrunner Joss Whedon wanted to introduce a character with whom Buffy could have a “really important, intense emotional relationship” that wasn’t romantic. Thus, Dawn was born.

I use the word “born” loosely, as technically Dawn is a supernatural ‘key’ that could open other dimensions, who monks had animated into human form in order to safekeep her from an immortal villain. And who better to provide protection than young Buffy?

What about that pesky task of, you know, her not existing for 14 years? Easy. The monks falsified Dawnie’s records and infused memories into Buffy and her associates’ brains. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, only in reverse. Still with me?

Perhaps the monks did a little too good a job of making Dawn a real girl, because she was annoying af. A whiny, self-absorbed brat who somehow simultaneously ran away and tagged along. Dawn was the epitome of the TV trope ‘Female Who Indignantly Endangers Friends and Family.’ Later Dawn turned to kleptomania and cutting (which would make an amazing name for a mockumentary emo band).

In the season 5 finale, Dawn is peak-Dawn, whimpering on a tower that is momentarily the single most important point in all of time and space. Yet instead of exasperating, Dawn’s traits… work. To Buffy fans, she is finally human.

Sympathy for Dawn lasts all of 60 seconds, because immediately thereafter our hero takes a flying leap off the tower to sacrifice herself and save her sister; all of humanity. It is a moving scene that earns “The Gift” a ranking of #5 on Buzzfeed‘s list of every episode of BVS and places Buffy and Dawn Summers on The Prompt’s list of Best Sisters in Pop Culture.

Riley & Ryan Curry, Warrior kids

Picked by Kelaine Conochan

Sorry to interrupt all these well-developed characters and relationships. But I’m here for the real deal. Real sisters. Real life. Really the most important, adorable, and necessary sisters in the pop mainstream.

First off, look at sweet baby Ryan. She’s all smiles and eyeballs. So innocent, so kind, so warm. I say this with the utmost respect, she has all the cuteness of the baby from Dinosaurs, with none of his bratty, assholic features.

Ryan Curry is a little tiny pocket of sunshine, whose gigantic, beautiful Bratz doll eyes (clearly she’s Ayesha’s mini-me) are a portal into some other dimension, where innocence is not yet lost.

But then let’s flip over to big sister Riley, who is probably my favorite living person.

Riley Curry is all mischief. Whether she’s disrupting her dad’s press conference, hanging out courtside, or putting on a show at her house, you’re going to know that Riley’s in the room. She is a comedian and a dancer and a certified HAM. She’s everything that a little kid should be.

The Curry sisters rule. And with a combined age of 7, we’ve got a LOT more years to watch them whip, nae-nae, and steal the limelight.

Anna & Elsa, Frozen

Picked by sisters Monica McNutt & Melanie Blanks

Frozen was a paradigm shift in the animated princess film genre. No more rescues by the prince—in fact, the prince was truly a toad. Sisters to the rescue, chicks over…  you know the rest. While both my sister and I were in our twenties, I used my god-daughter as an excuse for us to go see Frozen live on ice. But let’s be real—we all wanted to see the show. Because Anna and Elsa are definitely our pop culture sister favorites (next to Riley and Ryan Curry—great pick, Kelaine).

In the spirit or our favorite track, “Do You Want to Build a Snowman,” here’s a little remix that reflects on our childhood sung as a duet.

Melanie: Do you want to play with Barbies?

Monica: No, I’d rather play some ball… It’s too bad for you, because I grew, I’m big and you’re so small.

Melanie: One day we’ll be best buddies, and height won’t matter, I wish that time would fly.

Do you want to play with Barbies?

Monica: *not singing* I already told you no.

Melanie: OK, bye.