History Main / CommonalityConnection

* In TerryPratchett's ''[[JohnnyMaxwellTrilogy Only You Can Save Mankind]]'', Johnny manages to convince Kirsty to help the Captain when he refers to her by a female pronoun. Kirsty immediately assumes that it was sexism that turned her crew against her, and Johnny keeps his mouth shut about it's actually being matriarchial. Johnny also has the habit of imagining them as human so that a tea cart comes around every afternoon for a snack.

->''Once in a hotel dining-room, I said, rather too loudly, "I loathe prunes."\\

* In JohnMilton's ''Literature/{{Comus}}'', the Spirit urges that Sabrina will be glad to add the Lady -- she will be "swift to aid a virgin, such as was herself, in hard-besetting need."

* SquirrelBoy: In an attempt to play along Kyle's revenge scheme, Salty Mike pretends to be friendly with Andrew. It becomes legit when the parrot realizes that Andrew collects [[ItMakesSenseInContext rocks that look like Snack food]], a hobby he also shares. Rodney and Kyle aren't happy about this, but given the nature of the show, [[StatusQuoIsGood their friendship ends to keep the Status Quo in check.]]

* In ''Webcomic/{{Freefall}}'', [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1100/fv01005.htm both Sam and Florence were raised by people unrelated to them. Sam finds the notion they have more in common than they had thought is scary.]]

->''Once in a hotel dining-room, I said, rather too loudly, "I loathe prunes."\\

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** Later they, and Tash's brother, get a chance to BondOverMissingParents while taking turns toting a DoorstopBaby.

Contrast NotSoDifferent. Supertrope of BondingOverMissingParents. The lack of this drives JoinsToFitIn.

Compare FireForgedFriends; note that merely finding they were both soldiers or the like is this, though if they fought in some of the same battles, it may shade into that. Also compare LonelyTogether.

* This gets is played with in an episode of ''Series/{{NCIS}}''. Gibbs is trying to prove that a Medal of Honor recipient did not murder a another soldier during the battle of Iwo Jima during WorldWarII. However, the man's memory is failing and he no longer remembers what actually happened. All the other soldiers from the unit are dead so a desperate Gibbs brings in a Japanese war veteran who fought on the opposite side of the battle. Despite the fact that 60 years ago they were mortal enemies, their common connection is just what is needed to help the man remember how his buddy really died. This is then subverted when [[spoiler: we find out that the Japanese man was never on Iwo Jima and is just a chef at a restaurant Gibbs eats at.]] Then it gets double subverted [[spoiler: when he reveals that he actually fought on Guadalcanal where the American also served during the war.]]

* Creator/CSLewis recounts in ''Surprised By Joy'' when he went to visit a sick neighbor when he was a boy. He didn't even remember why, but when he was there, the other boy had a book of NorseMythology. When Lewis exclaimed What, you like that too, they spent the rest of the visit pouring over the book and forming a steadfast friendship.

-->-- '''CSLewis''', "On Three Ways of Writing For Children"

* ''TheSting''. While the con men are planning to pull a scam on Doyle Lonnegan, J.J. Singleton mentions that Lonnegan came from a place called Five Points. Later on, when Lonnegan asks Hooker where he's from, he says that he came from Five Points in the hope that it will cause Lonnegan to trust him.
* In Disney/{{Tangled}}, Rapunzel appeals to the thugs of the Snuggly Duckling -- haven't they ever had a dream? They reveal a lot of dreams -- mostly RealMenWearPink -- and even held her and Flynn escape.

* In PGWodehouse's ''Uneasy Money'', Elizabeth is reconciled to Bill as a house guest when he turns out to know how to handle bees, and is positively interested when he explains how he, like she, wants to live the {{Arcadia}}n life.

* In a {{Discworld}} story, Cohen the Barbarian goes to fight a troll. They end up talking about young people today because they find a common disgruntlement.
* In CSLewis's ''Literature/TheFourLoves'', this is how friendship arises.

* In AnneMcCaffrey's ''[[DragonridersOfPern Dragonsinger]]'', when Menolly is caught in a fight during a fair, another girl, jumping to join her side, calls for a boy to join in because Menolly comes from a sea hold. It works. Robison rebukes him because his father had sent him to be fostered where he was to broaden his mind.
* In AndreNorton's ''Dragon Magic'', four boys each find a jigsaw puzzle, make one corner -- and so one dragon -- of it, and get shifted to an ancient era to experience something related to it. This, and their attempts to research the facts, draw them together at the end.

* In TerryPratchett's {{Discworld}}:
** Cohen the Barbarian goes to fight a troll. They end up grumbling about Young People Today together instead.
** Angua, Cherie, and Sally, despite being a werewolf, a dwarf, and a vampire and the complicated history between those races, find enough in being all women to bond over. They even connect with Tawneee on the same grounds in ''Thud!''

* Attempted in the ''StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' epsisode "[[LowerDeckEpisode Lower Decks]]." Ensign Sam Lavelle tries to ingratiate himself with Riker in order to secure a promotion. Ben (the 10-Forward waiter, a lower deck version of Guinan) suggests that Sam find something in common with Riker and mentions that Riker is Canadian. Sam's grandfather was Canadian, so he tries to use that. Turns out, Riker is ''Alaskan''.
* This gets is played with in an episode of ''NCIS''. Gibbs is trying to prove that a Medal of Honor recipient did not murder a another soldier during the battle of Iwo Jima during WorldWar2. However, the man's memory is failing and he no longer remembers what actually happened. All the other soldiers from the unit are dead so a desperate Gibbs brings in a Japanese war veteran who fought on the opposite side of the battle. Despite the fact that 60 years ago they were mortal enemies, their common connection is just what is needed to help the man remember how his buddy really died. This is then subverted when [[spoiler: we find out that the Japanese man was never on Iwo Jima and is just a chef at a restaurant Gibbs eats at.]] Then it gets double subverted [[spoiler: when he reveals that he actually fought on Guadalcanal where the American also served during the war.]]
* In ''{{Series/Bones}}'', Sweets and Daisy are in a FriendsWithBenefits situation but Sweets doesn't want CasualSex; he insists that if they're going to be together they should be '''together'''. But they can't find anything to bond over: She likes Indian food, he only went there because she likes it. She loves dogs, he's allergic. They finally find a commonality: they both have issues with the final season of ''SavedByTheBell''.

* In {{Rent}}, Roger and Mimi's romance is cemented when they realize they both are HIV-Positive.

* In ''FinalFantasyTactics'', Balbanes Beoulve was fond of teaching his children how to turn a piece of grass into a reed flute, and those children taught it to their friends in order to kill time when they were bored. After the Lion War is in full swing and nobody can trust anybody, you'd be surprised who you find [[ButterflyOfDoom playing a piece of grass like a flute...]]

* In ''{{Sinfest}}'',

* In ''BobAndGeorge'', characters regularly bond over their love of ice cream. [[http://www.bobandgeorge.com/archives/001205c Such as George's introduction.]]
* In ''NipAndTuck'', [[http://www.rhjunior.com/NT/00484.html two feuding boys deny that they stopped feuding and settled down because of this]]; mutual {{Blackmail}}, instead, over girlie hobbies.
* In the ''OrderOfTheStick'' "Stick Tale" retelling of "JackAndTheBeanstalk", the giant is willing to discuss commonalities with the human he smells. The housekeeper squelches Jack's reaction to that.

* Another attempt: on ''TheSimpsons'' when Ralph Wiggum develops a crush on Lisa, he tries to get a conversation about mutual intrests going. "So, do you like...stuff?"

* CSLewis recounts in ''Surprised By Joy'' when he went to visit a sick neighbor when he was a boy. He didn't even remember why, but when he was there, the other boy had a book of NorseMythology. When Lewis exclaimed What, you like that too, they spent the rest of the visit pouring over the book and forming a steadfast friendship.