See the full list of examples at Mirroring Factions.
- Something of a recurring theme in Battle: Los Angeles: Some Marines spot an alien commander spotting for two alien snipers on top of a roof. Lenihan surmises they may be just like them — grunts with families and a home, with no idea what's really happening and just get told to go fight.
- Displayed as well — several scenes show downed enemy aliens being dragged away back into cover by their squadmates, with the others providing covering fire. Just like what human soldiers do. The directors made it a big deal that the aliens used human tactics.
- A subtle case of this pops up when the scientist discusses how the aliens are using "colonization" tactics on humanity. Though not outright stated, there's an implication that we know the aliens are using colonization tactics because mankind used them too.
- Bridge of Spies: Despite being archenemies, both the Communists and Americans are willing to compromise their idealistic beliefs to persecute those they view as spies and traitors.
- The villain in Captain America: The Winter Soldier claims that HYDRA is this to S.H.I.E.L.D., even insisting that he was initially convinced to join due to Nick Fury's actions in resolving a hostage crisis. The argument has a little bit more weight than normal, since HYDRA infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D. at its very beginning and a large percentage of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s staff are actually HYDRA moles; the infiltration is heavy enough that many people in-universe believe that there literally is no difference the two. Their evil plan in the movie was even Fury's idea.
- Dawn of the Planet of the Apes has this dynamic between the apes and the humans. Practically every human character has an ape counterpart: Caesar and Malcolm, Ellie and Bright Eyes, Alexander and Blue Eyes, Foster and Maurice, and Carver and Koba. Lampshaded by Caesar, after he sees Koba's actions:
- I chose to trust him, because he is ape. I always think ape better than human, I see now how much like them we are.
- Godzilla
- The first appearance of the three-headed alien dragon King Ghidorah was in a 1964 flick called Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster. In one scene in the movie, Mothra starts pleading with Godzilla and Rodan (who seem more occupied with fighting each other to be concerned about Ghidorah) to help her fight the larger threat, while Mothra's tiny handmaidens translate the conversation to the humans viewing. And it would almost seem funny if not for the crisis. Both Godzilla and Rodan blame each other for starting the fight and neither is willing to consider an alliance until the other apologizes. Eventually, one onlooker comments that "These monsters are as bad as humans."
- For much of Godzilla (2014) humans are shown caring about their offspring, Joe and Sandra for Ford, Ford and Al for Sam, Akio's parents for him and Ford being his guardian. Then the MUTO show complete alarm and terror when there is an explosion where their nest is. The sounds of anguish made by the mother border on a Tear Jerker.
- Gold Through the Fire: The film portrays the Soviet Union and US this way regarding Christianity. However, this relies on a lot of legal inaccuracy.
- The Grey Zone:
- The Jews who are being forced to escort people into the gas chambers and then burn them in the ovens struggle with how similar they are to the Nazis.
- A disturbing example is when Hoffman brutally beats an old man to death over a watch and a Nazi guard smugly hands it over to him afterwards.
- There are several moments in Joyeux Noël highlighting where each side realizes they are not much different than the other.
- The Christmas truce started as German opera singer Nikolaus sang Silent Night and a Scottish bagpiper played back to him. And later on, the bagpiper began playing O Come All Ye and waited for Nikolaus to sing back. Which he did immediately, with everyone listening intently, united by their love of music.
- All sides meet in person for the first time in No Man's Land. One French soldier and a German soldier share their fondness for the same stray cat and even lightly bicker who the cat belongs to, while a Scottish and German soldier exchange photos of their wives.
- The next morning the lieutenants are in agreement to return the bodies of the deceased to the other side and the following scene shows the quiet unison of all the soldiers retrieving their comrades and burying them.
- The German lieutenant shares to the French lieutenant that his wife's favorite place to visit is Monteparnasse and that they had their honeymoon in Paris. It's later revealed that his wife is French, underscoring the absurdity of the "they are different" propaganda.
- Judgment at Nuremberg:
- There is a point about the "My country, right or wrong" doctrine which is proclaimed by nationalists, both German and American.
- When Lawson testifies about hangings of children in concentration camps, the camera cuts to a close up of a stone-faced African-American MP, drawing an implicit parallel with lynchings.
- Rolfe defends his clients against charges for ordering eugenic sterilizations by noting that the US Supreme Court itself sanctioned them, even explicitly citing Justice Holmes' notorious conclusion "three generations of imbeciles are enough" (while in fact the Nazis took inspiration from American eugenicists).
- This is what ultimately leads Cypher to betray La Résistance in The Matrix. As he explains at length, while Zion and the rebels have freed him from the tyranny of the Machines' simulated world, the Zion military themselves are not above using lies of omission and forced conscription in order to draft more soldiers, and all he is able to do as a member of the military is what he is ordered to do; he is ultimately no more free under the rebellion than he was under the machines.
- And ultimately, the machines are more human than they pretend they aren't; they exploit the humans just as thoroughly as the humans exploited the machines, and for all their beliefs that they treat their fellow machines equally, they marginalize and oppress a synthetic race they created, The Programsnote , for being closer to what humanity wanted them to become, out of the same fear the humans had of being 'replaced'.
- Blithely dismissed in Red Dawn (1984):Matt: What's the difference, Jed? Tell me, what's the difference between us and them?
Jed: Because...WE LIVE HERE! [shoots soldier] - West Side Story (2021): The Jets and the Sharks were already this in the original stage musical and 1961 film adaptation, but it's even more apparent in this film as additional focus is given to the supporting Sharks members, who have almost identical personalities to the supporting Jets. Braulio is The Lancer to Bernardo, like Ice is to Riff. Quique is The Big Guy with a Big Brother Instinct to the other members, like Diesel. Chago is Hot-Blooded and eager to fight, much like Action. To a lesser extent shark members Chucho and Flaco , Chucho is described in Tony Kushner, script, as being “nervous about trouble “ like baby John, and Flaco is happy go lucky and wears a nice hat like mouthpiece . Tony and María even acknowledge it when they talk on the subway, noting how both Riff and Bernardo have a similar "us against the entire world" mindset.
- Wonder Woman (2017): Diana goes to the World War 1 believing the Germans are the enemy and that Ares is behind their aggression. The more she learns about the world, the more she realizes that all societies have their demons. Chiefnote mentions how his people were killed and when Diana asks who killed them, he points to a sleeping Stevenote and says it was his people.
