Like Parent, Like Spouse: Difference between revisions

The same goes for straight men using their mother as a guide when choosing a wife. Lesbians and gay men are likewise influenced by their same-sex parents, and people who grew up without knowing their parents at all will likely find themselves subconsciously looking for other templates.

 

{{examples}}

 

* Yuuna from ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'' is another example that got its own manga chapter.

* Setsuna in ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam 00]]'' loves Princes Marina Ismail in part because of her close resemblance to his mother. Made somewhat disturbing by the fact that as a [[Brainwashed and Crazy]] [[Child Soldier]], Setsuna ''killed'' his mother and father.

* [[Katekyo Hitman Reborn]]: Kyoko is strikingly similar to Tsuna's mother.

* Shikamaru Nara in ''[[Naruto]]''. His mother Yoshino is [[Tsundere|obstinate and rough but also has a sweet side]], similarly to the other two prominent ladies in his life: Temari, his final opponent in the Chunin Exam and most frequent ally outside the Konoha 12 since, and Ino Yamanaka, his [[Generation Xerox|Ino-Shika-Cho]] teammate. He and Temari [[She Is Not My Girlfriend|deny any relationship]] despite being seen together so much, and Ino's romantic inclination once leaned toward [[Base Breaker|Sasuke]] in Part 1, but her feelings are unclear now. Most shippers say one of these two "troublesome" women will and/or should become his one. Ironically, another girl named Shiho has shown a major romantic interest in Shikamaru and is the total opposite of his mother, Temari, or Ino.

* ''[[30 Rock|Thirty Rock]]'' had an episode where Liz's much-younger boyfriend's mother turned out to be the spitting image of Liz, even ''wearing the same outfit''. Creeped out, Liz ended their relationship.

* ''[[Friends]]'' parodied this, where Rachel's father is visiting at the same time as her mother, and as the two hate each other, Rachel has to sleep them in separate rooms. When Ross tries to get Rachel's father's glasses, drink and cigarettes, Rachel's mother notices, and advises Rachel see a psychiatrist as "you've chosen a boyfriend who is exactly like your father."

'''Rachel:''' Yeah, why? }}

* An episode of ''[[Scrubs]]'' in which Carla realizes she's exactly like "Mama Turk" and has a mini [[Heroic BSOD]] as a result.

* Kate's two potential love interests on ''[[Lost]]'' each remind her of one of her fathers. Jack represents the stand-up guy she thought was her father. Sawyer represents the rogue "stepfather" who turned out to be her biological father (whom she also killed).

* [[Castle]]'s mom and first wife are both [[Heroes Want Redheads|redheads]], and his first wife is a lot like his mom.

* ''[[Press Gang]]'': Spike's mom is a copy of Linda, spike's girlfriend, down to her being played by the same actress in a flashback.

* ''[[Frasier]]'' dates a woman who is the spitting image of his mother - Niles and Martin see it, but Frasier can't or won't. An old home movie eventually tips him off.

** Also in ''[[Two and A Half Men]]'', the father of Charlie's semi-stalker, Rose, is [[Casting Gag|played by Martin Sheen]].

* On ''[[Parks and Recreation]]'', Ron has two bitchy ex-wives, both of whom are named Tammy:

* Referenced in ''[[The Big Bang Theory]]''. After psychoanalysing Penny, Leonard's mother tells him that if he wants to have sex with Penny he should use the same kind of cologne her father wears.

** Similarly, Howard thinks it's hot when his fiancee yells at him and sounds ''exactly'' like his mother. (But then, Howard's relationship with his mother is rather abnormal.)

* Discussed in ''[[Home Movies]]''. Brendan starts putting on weight, so Coach McGuirk tells him to go for the girls whose fathers were fat during their "impressionable years." McGuirk later on goes on a disasterous date with the school nurse, and one of the first questions he asked was if her father was fat. In another episode, he drunkenly tells his date "Y'know, I think it was Charles Darwin who said that men want to marry their mothers. So maybe that's why I like you, cause you remind me of my mother. Which is funny, because I hate my mother..."

* In one episode of ''[[American Dad]]'', Hayley dates her father's CIA body double.

 

== Real Life ==

* A lot of baby birds will upon hatching imprint on one of the first things they see. As adults, sometimes they go for their own kind, sometimes... they don't.

** The (nonfiction) book "When Elephants Weep" details the case of Tex, a whooping crane who was hand-raised and, when mature, rejected male cranes for "Caucasian men of average height with dark hair." Whooping cranes are so endangered that it was thought vital to get her into "breeding condition," at which point she could be successfully artificially inseminated. So the director of the International Crane Foundation, who met the necessary criteria, spent many weeks courting her. It worked, making this a case of [[Interspecies Romance]] with emphasis on "romance" in the non-euphemistic sense of the word.

*** On a related note, putting whooping crane eggs into the nest of related sandhill cranes and letting the sandhills raise them results in whooping cranes who are attracted to sandhills. The resulting hybrids are not viable, though.

** Well, think about it in an evolutionary sense - your very existence is proof that your parents are a successful template to follow!

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Parental Issues]]

[[Category:Like Parent, Like Spouse]]