But also think about how many times people are, in fact, pointlessly antagonistic.
True, but truth is stranger than fiction because fiction has to make sense.
A narrative has to actually lay out the conflict, and if they are planning to "resolve" it suddenly, the conflict is often set up as a strawman to make it easier to sort out.
The Elves love living on the surface and hate living underground.
The Dwarves love living underground and hate living on the surface.
They were at war for a bajillion years until a white man came up to them and pointed out that they should stop.
Furthermore, if both sides are supposed to be likable, then there is another layer of difficulty in the setup.
If they are presented as being in conflict because they are stupid, bigoted, assholes, then I don't really like reading about them much.
Then when they
do team up, they tend to trivialize any problems and conflicts they already had.
I remember one book series where the finale of the first trilogy was rescuing a girl who had been captured and tortured for several days.
The main character of the next trilogy was that girl.
The love interest was
the person who had tortured her.
They had an explanation for his sudden change of heart, but did anybody think "maybe she doesn't want to hang around someone who looks, sounds, and smells like the person who tortured her?"
No.
So as a cliche in stories, I see it screwed up more often than I see it done correctly.
