History Main / LikeParentLikeSpouse

* Series/{{Castle|2009}}'s mom and first wife are both [[HeroesWantRedheads redheads]], and his first wife is a lot like his mom (though they're both too busy hating each other to notice it). Beckett also warns him that because of how much she adores him, his daughter is likely to end up dating someone like him. Castle is [[SelfDeprecation less than thrilled with the idea]].

* In ''Franchise/BackToTheFuture'', Marty [=McFly=] marries Jennifer Parker who is quiet, soft-spoken, and easygoing just like his father George [=McFly=]. WordOfGod used this trope to explain why Marty's mother Lorraine and his ''paternal'' great-great-grandmother Maggie [=McFly=] are both played by Creator/LeaThompson, saying that all [=McFly=] men are genetically predisposed to be attracted to women who look like Lea Thompson. This is elaborated further in the Telltale game series, where grandmother Trixie Trotter (real name Sylvia Miskin) uses the same model as that of Jennifer Parker.

* In ''Franchise/BackToTheFuture'', Marty [=McFly=] marries Jennifer Parker who is quiet, soft-spoken, and easygoing just like his father George [=McFly=]. WordOfGod used this trope to explain why Marty's mother Lorraine and his ''paternal'' great-great-grandmother Maggie [=McFly=] are both played by Creator/LeaThompson, saying that all [=McFly=] men are genetically predisposed to be attracted to women who look like Lea Thompson.

** Misato [[InVinoVeritas drunkenly lets out]] that she broke up with Kaji when she noticed how he reminded her of her father, while he’s carrying her home; they reconcile and hook up again, and she becomes his confidant.

* In ''Manga/YourLieInApril'', Kousei begins to realize that his crush Kaori and his mother are quite similar; they're both obsessed with music, they're constantly pushing him into becoming a better pianist and are prone to drastic mood swings. They are both also sick with unnamed diseases [[spoiler:that are fatal; Kousei's mother ended up dying from her illness and, despite the glimmer of hope, Kaori doesn't survive hers either.]] This is lampshaded in episode 16 when Kousei, Watari, and Tsubaki visit Kaori [[spoiler:in the hospital]] and Kaori yells at him for not practicing for the upcoming competition in such a way that in Kousei's eyes, the room begins to glitch and Kaori turns into his mother.

* ''WesternAnimation/HarleyQuinn2019'': Harley's father is a misogynistic {{Jerkass}} who has always been dismissive of her dreams and has no problems trying to kill her just to get money out of it. Harley blames her unhealthy obsession with abusive and manipulative men like the Joker on her asshole of a father.

** The same occurred when Prince Harry started dating Meghan Markle, though in her case, it was more due to her activism since she looks nothing like Diana.
* This was almost certainly the case for Alexander the Great if the ancient chroniclers are to be believed. His mother was an ambitious, driven, fierce, and proud woman. His first wife would also fit that description. The only difference was that Roxanna wasn't paranoid and obsessive.

* Series/{{Castle}}'s mom and first wife are both [[HeroesWantRedheads redheads]], and his first wife is a lot like his mom (though they're both too busy hating each other to notice it). Beckett also warns him that because of how much she adores him, his daughter is likely to end up dating someone like him. Castle is [[SelfDeprecation less than thrilled with the idea]].

* Implied in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'' with Dorian and his ArrangedMarriage. He mentions that his parents hated each other but went along with their own betrothal for the sake of appearances and preserving their positions. The one time Dorian mentions his betrothed, he heavily implies that the two of them were TooMuchAlike, which, combined with their IncompatibleOrientation, would have made them as miserable together as Dorian's parents were if Dorian hadn't left Tevinter.

** Caitlyn has some pretty important things in common with Vander: Both want to help Zaun and establish peace between the two cities, though Caitlyn is much more proactive in her approach, and her comment about Vi having "a good heart" clearly brought Vander to Vi's mind, as he told her the exact same thing at least once. They even both have noticeable British accents.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Arcane}}'': While wounded, Vi briefly hallucinates Caitlyn as her mother, another blue haired woman. Makes all her [[AmbiguouslyGay flirting]] [[WordOfGay with]] Caitlyn before and after this scene take on some interesting implications.

* In the novelization of ''Series/RedDwarf'', the crew end up locked into the virtual reality game ''Better Than Life'', which fulfills all your deepest desires and fantasies - at the price of eventually killing you as your body wastes and dies in the real world. Arnold Rimmer finds himself with his dream girl, the embodiment of all his wishes and desires. She is older than he is, dumpy, frumpy, embittered, sexually frigid, and dresses in sensible clothing. It takes him a while to work out what his subconscious is doing to him here, but when he does, he has a moment of complete soul-squeezing squick.

* In ''The Class'', Holly Ellenbogen's husband and father are both extremely CampStraight.

** And in [[Series/ThePhantomOfTheOpera the miniseries]], part of the reason he loves ''her'' is because she resembles his mother.

* In the case of ''Franchise/SpiderMan'' it's more subtly done:

* Francis in ''Series/MalcolmInTheMiddle'' absolutely hates his mother Lois for being a ControlFreak with a HairtriggerTemper, and ironically enough, ends up marrying a woman who has a very similar demeanor to her.

* In ''Film/BackToTheFuture'', Marty [=McFly=] marries Jennifer Parker who is quiet, soft-spoken, and easygoing just like his father George [=McFly=]. WordOfGod used this trope to explain why Marty's mother Lorraine and his ''paternal'' great-great-grandmother Maggie [=McFly=] are both played by Creator/LeaThompson, saying that all [=McFly=] men are genetically predisposed to be attracted to women who look like Lea Thompson.

* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'', Hayley dates her father's CIA body double. The same episode implies that her insane anger issues stem from feeling like Stan never accepts her.
** Another episode focused on Hayley has her worried about [[TurnOutLikeHisFather being like Francine]], before thinking on it and being mortified that Jeff is more like a SpearCounterpart to her mom. Francine picks up on this and trolls Hayley by molding Jeff to be more obviously like herself.

* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', Principal Skinner muses, "I always thought I'd fall for a woman just like Mother...[[MyBelovedSmother even though I didn't want to]]."

** Incidentally, Peter's mother Mary Parker shares a first name with MJ and when the comics finally dealt with their backstory, his parents were painted as SHIELD agents and BattleCouple who tussled with threats on their own (much like Peter and MJ a few times in their marriage), and while a brunette, Mary Parker tended to look a little like MJ (though that might be because [[OnlySixFaces of the limited nature]] of Marvel's art style than anything). This is {{Lampshaded}} in Ultimate Marvel, where Ultimate May (who's not as much of a shipper for Peter and MJ, though Ultimate Uncle Ben was), after learning that Peter and MJ started dating stated that his own parents were [[HistoryRepeats high-school sweethearts]] too.

* ''Series/{{Veep}}'': Catherine starts dating her mother's Secret Service body double, eventually raising a child with her. [[spoiler: Though due to said mother's political dealing in the last season they can't legally be married.]]

It happens that the first example of the male gender that a baby girl encounters is her father, and that forms her impression of maleness in general, up to and including the mate she connects with and, if she's anywhere near the Christian religion, her impression of God as "our Father in Heaven." If she has a negative father, she'll often grab up negative boyfriends as well, so it takes a certain amount of awareness to be able to break out of that tendency.

If [[DisappearedDad her father is absent]] and an older brother (or another male father figure) is present and actively involved in her life, she bonds with him the same way and looks for men much like him.

Straight women look to their fathers as a template about what to expect and desire in a man. Sometimes if they have a really bad relationship with their father, they can go the exact other way and choose a husband opposite to their father. Either way, their father remains a very important influence in the choice of a spouse.

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.

* ''Series/TheBoldAndTheBeautiful'''s Taylor Hayes finally realized that the reason her on-again/off-again mother-in-law Stephanie had always supported her in the eternal LoveTriangle between her, Brooke, and Stephanie's beloved son Ridge is because Taylor reminded her so much of herself. Therefore, if Stephanie herself couldn't be with Ridge (she has long been DiagnosedByTheAudience with a Jocasta Complex, a reverse of the UsefulNotes/OedipusComplex), she could at least settle for him being with someone just like her.

* In ''LightNovel/MyYouthRomanticComedyIsWrongAsIExpected'', [[LittleSisterHeroine Komachi Hikigaya]] describes her image of her ideal man, and she ends up describing her own big brother.