Line #38 Main/HeartIsWhereTheHomeIs


1	When it comes to love, is better the comfort of familiarity or the exciting unknown? In this trope's case, the answer is the former. As a result, in a LoveTriangle, the foreign LoveInterest will inevitably lose against someone from the same locality or country as the protagonist.
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3	Maybe the foreigner [[DerailingLoveInterests turns out an ass]], maybe it's just a matter of incompatibility. Whatever the cause, the protagonist will eventually realize that her childhood friend or high school sweetheart is the better option.
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5	Problems arise when the work is exported to the foreigner's home country, particularly if the local love interest is American. Eyes are rolled and people mutter about prejudice and how they hate their nationality being stereotyped as evil or jerky.
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7	If the foreigner is just a decoy and not meant to be, then it's a sub-trope of RomanticFalseLead. If, on top of that, they are a nasty piece of work, then it overlaps with WrongGuyFirst.
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9	A form of CreatorProvincialism wrapped in a LoveTriangle paper. Compare and contrast TheNativeRival, when a rivalry (not necessarily romantic) forms between an outsider and a local. Related to BettyAndVeronica, in which the homely Betty is the local lover and the exotic Veronica is the foreigner. The domestic love interest is sometimes a ChildhoodFriendRomance.
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11	!!Examples:
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15	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
16	* ''Literature/TheGoodWitchOfTheWest'': Rune represents Sera Field, the nice homely place, while Eusis represents the fancy Noble Life. Guess who Firiel chooses.
17	* ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'': Shinji (Japanese) is caught in a love triangle with Rei (Japanese) and Asuka (American, German, and [[ButNotTooForeign technically Japanese]], but raised in the former two). While the series has ShipTease moments with both couples and doesn't resolve anything by the end of the series, different nationalities interpret the triangle based on different cultural expectations. In native Japan, the Rei/Shinji ship is definitely the winner, to the point that the reboot ''Anime/RebuildOfEvangelion'' makes it canon and has Asuka drop her feelings for Shinji the minute she realizes Rei likes him. In the West, however, Asuka is far more popular, and most Western fanfiction has her come out as the clear winner for Shinji's heart.
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20	[[folder:Comic Books]]
21	* ''ComicBook/TheEaglesOfRome'': Ermanamer, a Cherusci tribesman and the chief's son, is in love with Thusnelda, a Cherusci noblewoman. He pines for her even after spending so long in Rome under the name of Arminius. On her part, she disdains Romans so much that she'll never find one of them attractive.
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24	[[folder:Fan Works]]
25	* ''Fanfic/{{Paradoxus}}'': The [[Recap/ParadoxusCapitulo09 ninth chapter]] establishes Trisha and Stacy's betrothal situations as opposites.
26	** Stacy is encouraged to play this trope straight seeing that her crush, Oropher Whisperwind, is the crown prince of Alpheim, while she's heiress to Solaria. Either of them would have to renounce their realms for it to work, something both are unwilling to do. Trisha advises her to kinda follow in her mother's steps; to meet some Solari plebeian who is not as arrogant as Oropher and truly loves her.
27	** On the other hand, Trisha is engaged to the son of Lady Taylor Eirsdottir Oðrsson, Duchess of Viniitar because he's earned the favor of the corrupt Domino's Council. In her own words, it's just a way to climb the nobility social ladder because she's the Domini crown princess, so Boomer is implied to be a jerkass. Whom Trisha loves is Leonard, an Earthling wizard. She still plays the trope sort of straight because Leonard is her ChildhoodFriend and she's spent much more time on Earth (and Eraklyon) than in Domino even before the tragedy because Altalune was supposed to be Domino's heiress.
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30	[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
31	* ''WesternAnimation/AzurAndAsmarThePrincesQuest'': The European Lady of the Fae comes to help her cousin, the Lady of the Djinns, choose between the titular heroes who both seek her. The Lady of the Djinns initially dances with Frenchman Azur while the Lady of the Fae goes with Maghrebine Asmar. Eventually, the four characters find that they're happier exchanging partners.
32	* ''Anime/PorcoRosso'': Gina (Italian) is being pursued by Curtis (American), who wants to take her away to be a movie star with him, which only seems to just amuse her. [[spoiler:She's had a thing for the title character, who is Italian too, for years.]]
33	* ''WesternAnimation/TheRescuersDownUnder'': While all three participants are from different nationalities, the trope is set up in a way that is meant to appeal to Americans. American mouse Bernard, who has finally had enough CharacterDevelopment to be Hungarian Bianca's equal, faces the adventurous, AwesomeAussie Jake for her affections. Bianca, who has returned Bernard's feelings since the previous movie, is not swayed by Jake's charm and picks Bernard.
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36	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
37	* ''Film/AmericanPie'': Jim has a shot at getting with the hot foreign student Nadia, but he blows it and has to settle for the dorky band nerd Michelle instead. In [[Film/AmericanPie2 the sequel]], he gets another chance to reignite things with Nadia, but this time he deliberately chooses a more permanent relationship with Michelle.
38	* ''Film/CrocodileDundee'': {{Inverted}} as the love triangle is resolved with American Sue Charlton choosing the Australian main character over her stateside boyfriend.
39	* ''Film/FrenchKiss'': The narrative initially has the audience rooting for American Meg Ryan to win back her Canadian fiancé from a French seductress. In an inversion, however, as the film goes on the audience instead begins to root for her and French thief Kevin Kline to get together.
40	* ''Film/{{Lagaan}}'': When Englishwoman Elizabeth confesses her love to Indian-born Bhuvan, she does so in English. He doesn't reject her; in reality, he neither understands what she said nor sees her as a romantic partner anyways. In the very next scene, he tells Gauri (his childhood friend from their village) that he's the man she's going to marry from Guran's fortune. He and Gauri sing about their mutual love in the subsequent song "O Rey Chhori", and the film's ending reveals that they eventually have a splendid wedding.
41	* ''Film/LeapYear2010'': TheHeroine Anna goes to Ireland to propose to her New York City boyfriend Jeremy. By the end, this has become [[spoiler:an inversion, when she moves to Ireland and marries the Irish man she meets there]].
42	* ''Film/LiarLiar'': The LoveTriangle is done at a state level, as the movie is set in California and the non-local love interest is from Boston. The reason behind Fletcher's despair is that his ex has custody of his son and he'll lose almost any chance of seeing him if he moves across the country.
43	* ''Film/MadeOfHonor'': Helen is Tom's best friend from college. He realizes he is in love with her only when she's on sabbatical in Scotland. Predictably, she returns to New York with Colin, a Scottish duke who wants to marry her. Colin isn't portrayed as a jerk (except when it comes to sharing cake) but he just turns out to be wrong for Helen.
44	* ''Film/RunFatBoyRun'': Both the underdog and the girl he loves are British while the opponent is a jerky American. The movie was going to be set in Chicago so presumably it would have had this plot follow the more American underdog mold, but then Creator/SimonPegg bought the script.
45	* ''Film/SweetHomeAlabama'': We have an Alabama vs. New York love triangle (which, granted, are about as different as different countries to some people).
46	* ''Film/ThreeMenAndALittleLady'': {{Inverted}}. The love triangle has Peter and Englishman Edward fighting over Sylvia, who is an Englishwoman. Edward is a horrible jerk who wants to send the titular little lady (Mary) OffToBoardingSchool, so Sylvia chooses Peter, the American NiceGuy.
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49	[[folder:Literature]]
50	* ''Literature/BhowaniJunction'': Anglo-Indian Victoria must choose between the British Army Colonel Rodney Savage, Ranjit (a Sikh man), and Patrick (a fellow Anglo-Indian and her childhood friend). In the original book, she chooses Patrick after overcoming her issues with social inferiority. Unfortunately, they suffer an Adaptation Relationship Overhaul in the movie; with Victoria ending up with the dashing white Colonel Savage.
51	* ''Literature/LesColombesDuRoiSoleil'': European Adélaïde and African Aniaba respectively marry European Gabriel and African Bama-Li.
52	* ''Literature/{{Dracula}}'': Quincy Morris (a Texan), Dr. Jack Seward (an Englishman), and Lord Arthur Holmwood (another Englishman) fight over Lucy Westenra (an Englishwoman). Holmwood wins, but then Lucy turns into a vampire. And then, of course, on the more analytical level, it's the whole team competing with Dracula (a grade-A Scary Foreigner) over their love interests.
53	* ''Literature/EmilysQuest'': Emily receives marriage a proposal from a samurai in Victorian-era Canada but eventually finds love with her childhood, Canadian sweetheart.
54	* ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire'': The Ron-Hermione-Viktor LoveTriangle is Britain vs. Bulgaria. Viktor appeals to Hermione because he's more mature and more decisive (and romantic) in his courting of her. Meanwhile, Ron has just realized he's attracted to Hermione but is too immature to see her as anything else than a consolation prize after being rejected by Fleur, a Frenchwoman. Viktor is not a bad person, though, and remains in contact with Hermione after the end of the story[[note]]WordOfGod says Viktor attended their wedding, to Ron's chagrin.[[/note]], but later books make it clear that she's more attracted to Ron. It's not until ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows'' that Ron grows up enough to be the kind of man that Hermione can get into a serious relationship with.
55	* ''Literature/{{Heroides}}'': Penelope worries there's a love triangle between her (from Ithaca/Greece), her husband (also Ithacan/Greek), and a "foreign" woman (who the audience knows is the witch Circe from Aiaia, though Penelope doesn't actually know she exists). Not only is her husband with Circe until he finally leaves to come back home to Penelope, but she specifically worries that he won't come home because he'll find a more exotic, interesting woman (while she's too "provincial" and plain), making this trope OlderThanFeudalism.
56	* Following the historical record, Yorkist Anne Nevill is betrothed first to UsefulNotes/RichardIII from York until her father switches sides in the UsefulNotes/WarsOfTheRoses, which prompts him to marry her off to Edward IV, the French-born Lancastrian prince. When the latter dies, Anne marries Richard. Factually speaking, Anne's feelings over these events are lost to time, but fiction insists on portraying them in this trope's light, with some specific examples including:
57	** ''Literature/TheSunneInSplendour'': Richard and Anne are childhood sweethearts. After her traumatic marriage to Édouard, Anne and Richard get married and return to the North to make their home in Middleham Castle, where they spent much of their childhood together. When they arrive, Anne even says, "We're home." If you stop reading at the end of Book II, this could serve as a HappilyEverBefore.
58	** ''Literature/TheVirginWidow'': It's a LighterAndSofter take, with Anne and Richard having a time of happiness before things go dark. They have their HappilyEverAfter in the castle where they were children together.
59	** ''Literature/TheKingmakersDaughter'': Anne follows her family to exile in France where she marries Edouard of Lancaster, who is technically an English Prince, but raised in France. After the Yorkist faction win their cause, Edouard of Lancaster is killed and Anne marries Richard, Duke of Gloucester. They later settle their home at Middleham Castle, Anne's childhood home.
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62	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
63	* ''Series/{{Cheers}}'': Woody vs. Henri.
64	* ''Series/DesperateHousewives'': The Ian/Susan/Mike triangle.
65	* ''Series/{{Friends}}'':
66	** Ross vs. Paolo over Rachel. Paolo eventually tries it on with Phoebe and the whole gang turns against him, after several episodes of Ross looking mopey and bemoaning the situation to everyone else. He's understandably chirpier when Rachel dumps Paolo, but it kinda backfires when she tells him she's sworn off men for the foreseeable future.
67	** Rachel vs. Emily over Ross. Emily is a [[BritishStuffiness Stuffy Brit]] who, sure enough, expects him to move to the United Kingdom with her. [[OfficialCouple Official Partner]] Rachel is a laid-back, albeit rather ditzy, American gal.
68	* ''Series/GameOfThrones'': {{Inverted}} and PlayedForDrama. Robb breaks his betrothal to one of Walder Frey's Westerosi daughters to marry Volantene-born Talisa Maegyr. This doesn't end well; Walder is furious at Robb for breaking their pact, some of Robb's bannermen disparage Talisa as a "foreign whore" and it all culminates in both Robb and Talisa being murdered by the Freys at the Red Wedding.
69	* ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'': {{Subverted}}. Robin and strait-laced Ted break up and she almost immediately leaves for an extended trip to Argentina. On coming home, she brings back [[RomanticFalseLead Andre]]. She soon learns that, after the novelty wears off, all the personality traits she first found attractive about him (trying to sensually feed her by hand, sweeping everything off the table to have sex, inviting strangers into her home) annoy her. This prompts her to realize that he's just a rebound, so she dumps him but not to go back to Ted.
70	* ''Series/SexAndTheCity'': Carrie's main love interest has always been Mr. Big, who is American like her but with whom she struggles to get emotionally close. In the last season, we are introduced to Aleksandr Petrovsky, a Russian artist who sweeps her off with grand romantic gestures. Once he secures a romantic relationship with Carrie by convincing her to move to Paris with him, he neglects her in favor of his work and becomes so toxic that he slaps her. Because Big has traveled to Paris chasing after her, he's conveniently present to comfort her. Their mutual feelings reignite and Big makes up for previous slights earlier in their not-so-platonic relationship, so they end up happily together.
71	* ''Series/TheWestWing'': Zoe is torn between Charlie and Jean-Paul. She and the former are an OfficialCouple in the early seasons but because of MalignedMixedMarriage persecution and other issues, they break up. Sometime after, she hooks up with the latter, who unfortunately ends up being a FrenchJerk involved in her kidnapping. Zoe and Charlie become romantic partners again in the last season.
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74	[[folder:Theatre]]
75	* ''Theatre/{{Brigadoon}}'': {{Inverted}}. The American guy chooses the UsefulNotes/{{Scot\|land}}tish lassie over his [[BigApplesauce New York]] fiancee.
76	* ''Theatre/IAmFromAustria'': [[spoiler:Emma]] breaks off the deal of announcing her engagement to [[spoiler:the Argentinian soccer star Pablo García]]--who doesn't have a single line of dialogue with her-- because she's found the love of her life in [[spoiler:Austrian hotelier Josi Edler.]] Funnily enough, Josi shouts "Home is where the heart is!" during the helicopter ride.
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79	[[folder:Video Games]]
80	* ''VideoGame/SakuraWars4FallInLoveMaidens'': Near the end of the game, players can have Ogami fulfill this trope by opting to stay behind with his Tokyo love interest rather than move back to France alongside his Parisian girlfriend.
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83	[[folder:Webcomics]]
84	* ''Webcomic/WhatDoesTheFoxSay'': Dawoon breaks up with her French girlfriend when she returns to Korea in favor of pinning for Sungji. Dawoon and Sungji temporarily date sometime after.
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