Opposites Attract: Difference between revisions

[[File:WallEEve_9140WallEEve 9140.jpg|link=WALL-E|frame]]

{{quote|"''Strange extremes meet in love's pathway.''"|''[[The Scarlet Pimpernel (novel)|The Scarlet Pimpernel]]''}}

Strong relationships, in both TV and real life, thrive on how each member compensates for [[Foil|the other’s weaknesses with his/her own strengths]], and vice versa.

[['''Opposites Attract]]''' has become so widespread in [[Buddy Cop Show|buddy cop shows]], in the form of Serious White Guy meets Loud Black Guy, that it branched off into [[Salt and Pepper|its own subtrope]].

About the biggest challenge in creating a day-and-night dynamic is to keep the ''attract'' and ''repel'' cases relatively balanced. When the pendulum swings too far toward the ''repel'' side and the characters seem more interested in torturing each other than helping out, it’s no longer cute to watch; it’s just [[The Masochism Tango|masochistic]]. The key (both in fiction and in [[Real Life]]) is to watch the pair's goals. If they want the same thing but use completely different methods to achieve it, it's [['''Opposites Attract]]'''. If they want ''different'' things entirely, it's a divorce waiting to happen.

If you add a third-party mediator for balance, you get a [[Power Trio]].

Popular [['''Opposites Attract]]''' dynamics include:

* [[Atlantis: The Lost Empire|Milo Thatch and Princess Kida]], she's the [[The Chief's Daughter|Native]] [[Tomboy Princess|Princess]] who is one [[Bare Your Midriff|P]][[She's Got Legs|r]][[Foot Focus|e]][[Dark-Skinned Blond|t]][[White-Haired Pretty Girl|t]][[Stripperiffic|y]] [[Freudian Slip|Gi]][[Hilarity Ensues|rl]]. Then there is [[Nerd Glasses|Mi]][[Adorkable|lo]] [[Moe Stare|Jam]][[Socially Awkward Hero|es]] [[Give Geeks a Chance|Tha]][[Michael J. Fox|tch]]....[[Geeky Turn On|'nuff said]]. It turns out they do have a surprising amount of things in common though. And they both agree that Atlantica should stay intact, though Milo technically isn’t a native.

* ''[[WALL-E]]'' has [[The Woobie]] Wall-E and [[Action Girl]] EVE. Both were built for a similar purpose, however. And they find out that they have surprising amount of things in common. Still, EVE is able to explain to Wall-E that they are in a bad situation when he assumes otherwise…and he finds himself agreeing.

* Brainy ambitious women regularly find [[P. G. Wodehouse|PG Wodehouse]]'s [[UpperclassUpper Class Twit]] [[Jeeves and Wooster (novel)|Bertie Wooster]] romantically irresistible.

* Kenneth Oppel's ''[[Airborn]]'' series has Matt Cruse, poor cabin boy, and Kate de Vries, rich wanna-be scientist... cue angsting about how they [[Star-Crossed Lovers|can never be together...]]

* From the ''[[The Wheel of Time]]'', Mat is a Farmboy turned [[Four-Star Badass]] raised in a [[Arcadia]], Tuon is a [[The Empire|Empress]] and Chessmaster who was raised in a [[Deadly Decadent Court]]. They're married.

** Captains Carrot Ironfounderson and Angua von Uberwald in ''[[Discworld]]'' are on opposite ends of the [[Sliding Scale of Cynicism Versus Idealism]]. He inspires her to fight injustice, she reminds him not to set his expectations too high.

** Similarly, in ''[[Discworld/Interesting Times|Interesting Times]]'', it's strongly suggested that [[Wide-Eyed Idealist]] Twoflower's daughter Pretty Butterfly inherited her Rincewindian view of the world from her late mother.

{{quote| '''Leonard''': Are you even listening to me?<br />

* ''Microsoap'' used and deconstructed it. As the kids describe it, "It was a case of [[Opposites Attract]]. Then it was a case of [[Opposites Drive Each Other Crazy]]".

* [[XThe X-Files|Mulder and Scully]]: Skeptical, scientifically oriented [[Fiery Redhead|redheaded]] Catholic meets agnostic UFO/supernatural enthusiast. [[True Love Is Exceptional|And it works]].

* ''[[Degrassi]]'' has done this for just about every pairing and friendship it can. It'd be faster to list the exceptions.

* The show ''[[Dharma and Greg]]'' revolves around this trope. Dharma is a free-spirited, tolerant, and ditzy flower child. While Greg is an upright, conservative, somewhat uptight lawyer. Despite the fact that they have virtually nothing in common they got married on their first date.

* ''[[ICarlyiCarly]]'': [[Subverted Trope|Subverted]] or [[Inverted Trope|Inverted]] with the [[AbuseDouble IsStandard Okay When ItsAbuse (Female Onon Male)|Sam/Fredde]] arc depending on what aspect you look at. The subversion is they are complete and total opposites that become physically attracted to each other but eventually break up when the actual relationship fails. They are unable to find any common ground in their interests and actually end up sabotaging them for each other when they try being involved in each other's activities. It ends up being one of the main causes of their break up. The inversion is Sam wants someone abnormal like her, and Freddie wants someone more normal like him, so that while they did have an [[Opposites Attract]] vibe, it's not what they need in a partner, making it clear that in their case they are attracted by similarity not opposition.

* [[Action Girl]]/ [[Hot Amazon]] Zoe in ''[[Firefly]]'' is married to [[Non-Action Guy]]/ [[Ace Pilot]] Wash.

* ''[[CSI: NY]]'' City boy Danny Messer and country girl wife Lindsay "Montana" Messer. (she's still tough in her own right, though.)

* ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' is built on this. [[Alpha Bitch|Cordelia]] and [[The Generic Guy|Xander,]] [[Cute Witch|Willow]] and [[The Stoic|Oz,]] [[Dark Action Girl|Faith]] and [[The Heart|Xander,]] [[British Stuffiness|Giles]] and [[Cool Old Lady|Jenny,]] [[Parental Substitute|Giles]] and [[Your Mom|Joyce,]] [[Ho Yay|Buffy and Faith,]] [[Did They or Didn't They?|Faith and Angel,]] [[Took a Level Inin Badass|Willow]] and [[The Woobie|Tara,]] [[Foe Yay|Buffy and Spike,]] [[Nice Guy|William]] and [[Crazy Awesome|Drusilia,]] [[Anything That Moves|Faith]] and [[Reasonable Authority Figure|Wood,]] and there's likely several others unmentioned.

{{quote| The Brownian-Motion within this love potion,<br />

{{quote| '''Farina:''' “This is probably someone else's doing... Like Marcus, or Oswin... You know, Merlinus might try something like this, too...”<br />

* The Forerunners Didact and Librarian from ''[[Halo]]''. The Librarian is a [[Friend to All Living Things]] whose favorite species was humanity. The Didact is a [[Four-Star Badass]] in a society of pacifists, who was responsible for destroying humanity's empire and sending us back to earth as cavemen. Everyone lampshades how odd this match is; however, they both love each other fiercely.

{{quote| Bornstellar: Your relationship with the Lifeshaper does not seem ideal<br />

* [[Averted Trope|Averted]] in ''[[Slightly Damned]]''. The main pairing is {{spoiler|Kieri, a [[Making a Splash|water-elemental]] [[Our Angels Are Different|angel]], and Buwaro, a [[Playing with Fire|fire]] [[Our Demons Are Different|demon]]. Seems like a perfect setup for this trope...but in terms of personality, they're really very similar.}}

* In ''[[Dubious Company]]'', Walter is an [[Gadgeteer Genius|Educated]], [[Straight Man and Wise Guy|Goofy]], [[Sky Pirate]] [[Winged Humanoid|Bird Man]]. Tiren is a [[Blood Knight|Hardened]], [[Straight Man|Straight-laced]], [[Ninja]] [[Catgirl]]. [[Cool vs. Awesome|Clearly]], the crew [[Everyone Can See It|knows]] they were made for each other. Except [[Failed a Spot Check|Mary]], who insists that Tiren has eyes for Elator.

* ''[[Homestuck]]'': [[Manipulative Bastard|Vriska Serket]] and [[Wheelchair Woobie|Tavros Nitram]], as well as Vriska and [[The Hero|John]].

* ''[[L's Empire|Ls Empire]]'' has Carnation and Pix who are pure evil and pure good respectively.

* Robin and Starfire on ''[[Teen Titans (animation)|Teen Titans]]''. Robin is the [[Badass Normal|serious]], [[The Determinator|determined]] [[The Captain|leader]], and Starfire is the [[The Chick|sensitive, sunny one]]. However, both are highly intelligent…Starfire happens to enjoy learning about Earth from Robin. And both are deeply compassionate. And while Robin has rescued Starfire in the past, she is far from ungrateful and has done the same.

* [[Exaggerated Trope|Exaggerated]] in ''[[Kids Next Door]]'' with Kuki Sanban (Numbuh 3) and Wallabee Beatles (Numbuh 4);. heHe's an abrasive hard[[Hair-boiledTrigger Temper|abrasive]] proto-[[BadassBlood Knight]] with an extreme aversion to everything cutesy and sugary, while she's an [[The Pollyanna|upbeat]] Japaneseand girl[[The withCutie|extremely asweet]] kindJapanese heartgirl andwith an obsession for stuffed animals. In the series' [[Distant Finale]] {{spoiler|they get married}}.

* [http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=busting-the-myth-that-opposites-att-10-08-31 Actual science] tends to show that the best predictor of compatibility is in fact similar background, interests, and attitudes. A likely reason is that we tend to only ''notice'' the ways a couple are different (since it's not that surprising when two partners are alike), at which point we feel the need to form a theory to explain why all the couples we see are so different (when they are, in fact, [[Not So Different]]). The grain of truth in it is that a partner who's exactly like you ''in every way'' would probably cause all sorts of problems, so we do seek our opposites, after a fashion--justfashion—just not our ''total'' opposites.

* Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel. For example, Roger Ebert ''hated'' [[Mars Attacks (Film)!]] because Tim Burton "seemed to like the aliens more than the humans" (paraphrasing); Gene Siskel loved it for the exact same reason. Even in watching old At the Movies episodes, you can tell that Siskel is more carefree and cheery, while Roger Ebert is ever-sarcastic and snarky.

** The biggest case of this is perhaps their disparate views on ''[[Blue Velvet]]''. Ebert notoriously hated it and found the scene with Isabella Rosselini standing naked on [[Kyle Mac LachlanMacLachlan]]'s lawn to be misogynsticmisogynistic, while Gene Siskel loved it and compared it to ''[[Psycho]]''.