Tropescilloscope: Damsel in Distress

A female character is kidnapped or otherwise in danger and in need of rescue. (read more at tvtropes.org)

Film Frequency (%) Film Frequency (#)

More Tropes Wrong Genre Savvy Sequel Escalation Epic Movie "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue Deliberately Monochrome Translation Convention Screw the Money, I Have Rules! Comically Missing the Point Heterosexual Life-Partners From Nobody to Nightmare Parental Neglect Same Language Dub The Film of the Book Be Careful What You Wish For Naked People Are Funny Death by Adaptation Married to the Job My Beloved Smother What You Are in the Dark Names to Run Away from Really Fast Together in Death Dropped a Bridge on Him Neck Snap Dramatic Irony Celebrity Paradox Fingore Call-Back Why Don't You Just Shoot Him? Insistent Terminology Stuff Blowing Up Once More, with Clarity! Slashed Throat Roaring Rampage of Revenge Gratuitous English Ripped from the Headlines Spiteful Spit Disney Death Femme Fatale Time Skip Say My Name The Chick Russian Films Cluster F-Bomb Death Seeker Pretty in Mink Card-Carrying Villain Bloodless Carnage Rated M for Manly No Celebrities Were Harmed Spell My Name with an "S" Bar Brawl Adaptational Heroism Adaptational Badass Hong Kong Films Does This Remind You of Anything? Mystery and Detective Films Motor Mouth Red Right Hand Despair Event Horizon Immune to Bullets Domestic Abuse Roger Ebert: Great Movies List Call-Forward Greater-Scope Villain Cloudcuckoolander Really Gets Around Historical Villain Upgrade Early-Bird Cameo Twist Ending Hollywood Darkness Blood Knight Fantastic Racism Bullying a Dragon Ambiguous Disorder Jitter Cam Coming-of-Age Story Stalker with a Crush '80s Hair Crapsack World Credits Gag Scenery Porn No OSHA Compliance Bloody Hilarious Villain Song Historical In-Joke Happily Married Television Movie Index The Bully Lampshade Hanging A Minor Kidroduction Humiliation Conga Science Fiction Films As the Good Book Says... Punctuated! For! Emphasis! What Happened to the Mouse? Jerk with a Heart of Gold Martial Arts Movie Stock Footage The Bad Guy Wins Parental Abandonment Ms. Fanservice Daddy's Girl Obviously Evil Dutch Angle Tempting Fate Dark Reprise Eagleland Anti-Hero Self-Deprecation Mugging the Monster Offscreen Moment of Awesome Dramedy Sealed Evil in a Can Disney Villain Death World of Ham Hero Antagonist Villain Opening Scene Ass Shove Your Cheating Heart Grey and Gray Morality Intrepid Reporter Documentary Broken Bird Paper-Thin Disguise Adaptational Attractiveness Captain Ersatz Creepy Child The Un-Reveal Pet the Dog Cool Car Conspicuous CG Stealth Hi/Bye Stepford Smiler One-Word Title Faking the Dead In the Back Fatal Flaw The Power of Love Dirty Cop Fourth Date Marriage One Steve Limit Red Shirt Dwindling Party Slasher Smile Empathic Environment Those Two Bad Guys Captain Obvious The Cameo The Alcoholic Last-Name Basis Accidental Misnaming It's All About Me Make It Look Like an Accident The Atoner Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass Thriller Kill It with Fire The '90s Non-Indicative Name Oh, Crap! Big Applesauce Bare Your Midriff The Place Extreme Doormat Nice Guy Worthy Opponent Sports Stories Air-Vent Passageway Extremely Short Timespan Deal with the Devil Rule of Funny Smoking Is Cool Improbable Weapon User Very Loosely Based on a True Story Creator Cameo Bunny-Ears Lawyer "Shaggy Dog" Story Foregone Conclusion Match Cut Famous Last Words Redshirt Army Hope Spot Action Prologue Authority Equals Asskicking Only One Name Reality Ensues Broken Pedestal Poor Communication Kills Defrosting Ice Queen Shut Up, Hannibal! Colour-Coded for Your Convenience aka: Color Coded For Your Convenience NO INDOOR VOICE Due to the Dead Distracted by the Sexy Canon Foreigner Cool Guns Leave the Camera Running Enemy Mine Off-into-the-Distance Ending Curb-Stomp Battle Casting Gag Skewed Priorities Back from the Dead Sinister Minister Meaningful Echo Serial Killer Drowning My Sorrows Cold-Blooded Torture Drugs Are Bad Groin Attack Mr. Fanservice Taking the Bullet Character Development Armor-Piercing Question Catch-Phrase Romantic False Lead Car Fu Blood from the Mouth Only in It for the Money Storming the Castle More Dakka Unreliable Narrator Hooker with a Heart of Gold Establishing Character Moment The Great Depression Random Events Plot Animated Credits Opening Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique Line-of-Sight Name Wicked Cultured Karmic Death Military and Warfare Films Psychopathic Manchild Did Not Get the Girl As Himself Action Genre Gainax Ending BFG Papa Wolf Off with His Head! Suspiciously Similar Substitute Cassandra Truth Brainless Beauty Plot Hole Slap-Slap-Kiss Toilet Humour aka: Toilet Humor Shirtless Scene Ax-Crazy Zombie Stories Friend to All Children A Father to His Men Rasputinian Death Animal Title Index Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold Chiaroscuro Bolivian Army Ending No Ending Genre Savvy Children Are Innocent Heel–Face Turn Agony of the Feet Alpha Bitch Bound and Gagged Advertised Extra Outrun the Fireball Ascended Extra Improbable Infant Survival aka: Infant Immortality La Résistance Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking Combat Pragmatist An Aesop Demoted to Extra The '70s Why Did It Have to Be Snakes? Training Montage Mighty Whitey Evil Is Hammy Historical-Domain Character Fun with Acronyms Death Glare No Good Deed Goes Unpunished Imagine Spot Vampire Fiction Apocalypse How My Greatest Failure The Oner Exact Words Arc Words British Films Trailers Always Spoil Nice Job Fixing It, Villain! The Mafia Take a Third Option Visual Pun The Stoic Adorkable Manly Tears Bi the Way And the Adventure Continues Revenge Face Death with Dignity What the Hell, Hero? Pyrrhic Victory Curse Cut Short Mooks Madness Mantra Even Evil Has Standards No-Holds-Barred Beatdown Babies Ever After Bond One-Liner Bowdlerise Heroes Want Redheads All There in the Script Intergenerational Friendship Re-Cut Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane The Mole Show Within a Show Totally Radical Eldritch Abomination Easily Forgiven Running Gag Mistaken for Gay Beauty Is Never Tarnished Pimped-Out Dress Bitch in Sheep's Clothing Redemption Equals Death Older Than They Look Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds No Name Given It Will Never Catch On Race Lift Nothing Is Scarier Tagline The '60s Ironic Echo Shout-Out Creative Closing Credits Too Dumb to Live Gone Horribly Right Black and Gray Morality Awesome, but Impractical Throwing Your Sword Always Works Retirony Italian Films Bring My Brown Pants You Have Outlived Your Usefulness Artistic License – Military Pre-Asskicking One-Liner Men Are the Expendable Gender The Lancer Depraved Bisexual Artistic License – Law Never Found the Body Never Trust a Trailer aka: Trailers Always Lie Villain with Good Publicity Evil Sounds Deep Batman Gambit Double Entendre Stealth Pun Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil Here We Go Again! It's Personal Spanner in the Works Nice Hat Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy Artistic License – Physics Bait-and-Switch Novelization Girl-on-Girl Is Hot Love Triangle Hell Is That Noise Disguised in Drag Slasher Movie Fiery Redhead The Starscream Ungrateful Bastard The Chessmaster Only a Flesh Wound Rule of Cool Boom, Headshot! Fake Shemp Guile Hero Artistic License – Gun Safety For the Evulz Good Is Not Nice Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping Bland-Name Product Bavarian Fire Drill Leitmotif Reality Has No Subtitles The Ace Recap / RiffTrax aka: Riff Trax Movies Wounded Gazelle Gambit Diabolus ex Machina Rich Bitch The Alleged Car Decoy Protagonist MacGuffin Cool Old Lady Moment Killer Badass Boast Tap on the Head All There in the Manual Anachronism Stew I'm a Humanitarian You Have Got to Be Kidding Me! Knife Nut Beware the Nice Ones Country Matters Superhero Maybe Ever After Better to Die than Be Killed Crucified Hero Shot Cat Fight Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep" An Axe to Grind Big Eater Man on Fire No-Sell Made of Explodium Silent Movie I Need a Freaking Drink Fainting Death of a Child Dramatic Gun Cock Meet Cute The Hero Dies Lighter and Softer Flipping the Bird Our Zombies Are Different Aluminum Christmas Trees Silence Is Golden Darker and Edgier Insult Backfire Face–Heel Turn Fanservice Extra Kick the Son of a Bitch In Medias Res Gilligan Cut German Films Narrator Department of Redundancy Department Dirty Old Man Knight Templar Everyone Has Standards Adults Are Useless Berserk Button Aww, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other The X of Y Kids Are Cruel Heroic BSoD Works Set in World War II "Well Done, Son!" Guy The Load Camp Gay Straight Gay The Brute An Arm and a Leg Actually Pretty Funny There Is No Kill Like Overkill Drives Like Crazy Aside Glance Laser-Guided Karma Not Using the "Z" Word Expository Hairstyle Change Bad Boss Vomit Discretion Shot Punny Name Never Trust a Trailer Corpsing Closed Circle As You Know Red Oni, Blue Oni Chekhov's Gunman Scare Chord Cool Old Guy B-Movie Flashback My God, What Have I Done? The Lost Lenore Pragmatic Villainy Morality Pet Crazy-Prepared Broken Aesop The '50s Missing Mom Failed a Spot Check Driven to Suicide Chekhov's Gun Needs Wiki Magic Love From Bad to Worse Jerk Jock Adult Fear Ship Tease Sassy Black Woman Posthumous Character Shell-Shocked Veteran Dying Moment of Awesome Big Bad Duumvirate You Have Failed Me Bottomless Magazines Annoying Younger Sibling Overly Long Gag Woman Scorned Dressing as the Enemy Ambiguous Ending Alliterative Name Bad "Bad Acting" Adaptational Villainy Epic Fail Your Head A-Splode Facial Horror Not What It Looks Like Downer Ending Took a Level in Badass She Cleans Up Nicely Handicapped Badass Auto Erotica May–December Romance Logo Joke Meaningful Background Event Camera Abuse Sadistic Choice Parental Substitute Obfuscating Stupidity Bury Your Gays Hair-Trigger Temper Film Noir Index Gender Flip Anti-Villain Heroic Sacrifice Even Evil Has Loved Ones Freeze-Frame Bonus Fish out of Water Badass in a Nice Suit Dual Wielding Would Hurt a Child Foil Christmas Movies Index Adaptation Expansion Cool Shades Naïve Newcomer Blatant Lies Left the Background Music On Informed Ability The Hero Toplessness from the Back Sacrificial Lion Yandere Homage Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Trailer Beta Couple Token Minority Properly Paranoid As Long as It Sounds Foreign Asshole Victim Super Strength Screw This, I'm Outta Here! Male Gaze Hollywood Law Fatal Family Photo All Men Are Perverts French Films Recycled IN SPACE! Ragtag Bunch of Misfits The Sociopath Suddenly SHOUTING! Mythology Gag Every Car Is a Pinto Freudian Excuse Retcon Improvised Weapon Continuity Nod Calling the Old Man Out Rule of Three Frame-Up Fanservice I Have Your Wife The Remake Biopic Defiant to the End Sexy Discretion Shot Brick Joke Mercy Kill Sci-Fi Horror The Reveal In Name Only Faux Affably Evil Smug Snake Green-Eyed Monster Crazy Jealous Guy Plucky Comic Relief Action Girl Refuge in Audacity The Dog Bites Back Brother–Sister Incest I Did What I Had to Do Kill 'em All Not So Above It All Kick the Dog Alas, Poor Villain Take That! Unusual Euphemism Undying Loyalty Bilingual Bonus True Companions Hero of Another Story Artistic License – History Leaning on the Fourth Wall Eiffel Tower Effect Dark and Troubled Past Badass Bookworm Cowboy Cop Australian Movies Politically Incorrect Villain Star-Crossed Lovers Betty and Veronica All for Nothing The Casanova Setting Update Chewing the Scenery Foreshadowing Insane Troll Logic And Starring No Antagonist The '80s Honor Before Reason Wham Line Adaptation Distillation Dumb Blonde Woman in White Blackmail Not Even Bothering with the Accent Psychological Thriller Soft Glass Damsel in Distress The Cavalry Gory Discretion Shot Let's Get Dangerous! The Voiceless Amusing Injuries Costume Porn Drill Sergeant Nasty Obstructive Bureaucrat Five-Man Band Mind Screw A.I. Is a Crapshoot Soundtrack Dissonance All Just a Dream Anguished Declaration of Love Reality Is Unrealistic Arranged Marriage I Want My Beloved to Be Happy Grievous Bottley Harm Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome Ambiguously Gay Real Life Writes the Plot Killed Mid-Sentence Horror Films Victoria's Secret Compartment Reasonable Authority Figure Kubrick Stare Manic Pixie Dream Girl Evil Brit Index of Film Westerns Amoral Attorney You Killed My Father Dirty Coward Book-Ends Only Sane Man Well-Intentioned Extremist All Girls Want Bad Boys Deadpan Snarker Riddle for the Ages Impaled with Extreme Prejudice Fantasy Films Unspoken Plan Guarantee One-Man Army I Just Shot Marvin in the Face Serious Business Didn't Think This Through Sir Swears-a-Lot The Smurfette Principle Author Avatar The Dragon Shower Scene Never My Fault Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism Market-Based Title And I Must Scream Deliberate Values Dissonance Dark Action Girl Humans Are Bastards Romantic Comedy O.O.C. Is Serious Business Rewatch Bonus Mexican Standoff Mama Bear The Smart Guy Evil vs. Evil Eureka Moment Truth in Television Overprotective Dad Breaking the Fourth Wall Ugly Guy, Hot Wife Guns Akimbo Dogged Nice Guy Badass Longcoat Red Herring Daylight Horror Race Against the Clock Police Brutality Implacable Man Bond Villain Stupidity Peek-a-Boo Corpse Important Haircut Police are Useless Title Drop Would Hit a Girl Black Comedy Rape Big Bad How We Got Here Central Theme Mr. Exposition Catapult Nightmare Four-Temperament Ensemble Malevolent Masked Men Eyepatch of Power Cruel and Unusual Death Real Life Big-Bad Ensemble Shoot the Shaggy Dog Vitriolic Best Buds Screw the Rules, I Have Money! This Is Gonna Suck Butt-Monkey Darkest Hour Put on a Bus Does Not Like Shoes Composite Character Evil Laugh Funny Background Event Artistic License – Geography The End... Or Is It? Light Is Not Good Nice Job Breaking It, Hero! Author Appeal Punch-Clock Villain Vacation Films Based on a True Story Developing Doomed Characters Abhorrent Admirer Pay Evil unto Evil Neck Lift Gold Digger Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas Vomit Indiscretion Shot Get Out! Reckless Gun Usage Big Fancy House Black Best Friend Dies Wide Open Body Horror Break the Cutie Affably Evil Our Vampires Are Different Interrupted Suicide Villainous Breakdown The Quiet One Cain and Abel Protagonist Title Film Noir Mundane Made Awesome The Stoner Tranquil Fury Pre-Mortem One-Liner A God Am I Sole Survivor Bittersweet Ending Instant Death Bullet Determinator The Ghost Brutal Honesty Half the Man He Used to Be It Can Think Sequel Hook Horror Doesn't Settle for Simple Tuesday The Faceless Adaptation Name Change For Want of a Nail Sanity Slippage Determinator aka: The Determinator The Vamp Destination Defenestration Break the Haughty Wretched Hive Not Quite Dead Laughing Mad Video Credits Historical Hero Upgrade The Un-Favourite aka: The Un Favorite Pretty Little Headshots Unusually Uninteresting Sight Henpecked Husband "The Reason You Suck" Speech Early Installment Weirdness Deus ex Machina Love at First Sight Badass Grandpa Action Survivor Psycho for Hire Anyone Can Die Red Eyes, Take Warning Loads and Loads of Characters The Stinger Suspiciously Specific Denial After the End Contrived Coincidence Age Lift Eye Scream Big Damn Heroes Rape as Drama Not So Different Taking You with Me Wham Shot Product Placement Rousing Speech The Musical Japanese Films Improbable Aiming Skills Cat Scare He Who Fights Monsters Dark Is Not Evil Affectionate Parody Unresolved Sexual Tension Final Girl Award-Bait Song 20 Minutes into the Future Lock and Load Montage Arch-Enemy Playing Gertrude Manchild Unwitting Instigator of Doom Adapted Out Gorn Action Film, Quiet Drama Scene Black Comedy "Awesome McCool" Name Evil Plan Hypocrite Corrupt Corporate Executive Chekhov's Skill Evil Counterpart Precision F-Strike Fat Bastard Double-Meaning Title Those Two Guys Scenery Gorn Only Known by Their Nickname Big Brother Instinct Covers Always Lie Framing Device Offscreen Teleportation Film Series Took a Level in Jerkass She's Got Legs Badass Normal Up to Eleven Anachronic Order Mood Whiplash Word of God Evil Is Petty Canadian Movies Karma Houdini Abusive Parents Deconstruction Death by Sex Those Wacky Nazis War Is Hell Large Ham Public Domain Feature Films Dull Surprise Fire-Forged Friends Villain Ball Evil Cannot Comprehend Good Whole Plot Reference Male Frontal Nudity A Date with Rosie Palms Chase Scene N-Word Privileges Getting Crap Past the Radar Have a Gay Old Time Mad Scientist Hypocritical Humor Parental Incest Attempted Rape Loophole Abuse Small Name, Big Ego Room Full of Crazy Spiritual Successor Villain Protagonist Noodle Incident Black Dude Dies First Shown Their Work Jerkass Spared by the Adaptation Danny Peary Cult Movies List Heel Realization Hoist by His Own Petard Demonic Possession Meaningful Name Fate Worse than Death Chuck Cunningham Syndrome The Big Guy Monumental Damage Stylistic Suck The Dreaded Actor Allusion Disproportionate Retribution Manipulative Bastard Earn Your Happy Ending Becoming the Mask Exactly What It Says on the Tin Made of Iron Evil-Detecting Dog Almost Kiss Death by Irony Jump Scare Pun aka: Incredibly Lame Pun Idiot Ball Scary Black Man Fan Disservice Adaptation Dye-Job Pragmatic Adaptation He Knows Too Much Horror Comedy Bald of Evil Animal Motifs Bloodier and Gorier Antagonist Title Genre Throwback Blonde, Brunette, Redhead Rule of Symbolism Hidden Depths Beard of Evil folderlabel Artistic License – Biology Disappeared Dad Dissonant Serenity Belligerent Sexual Tension Accidental Murder Not So Stoic Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right! Major Injury Underreaction Big "NO!" Funny Foreigner Shipper on Deck Jerkass Has a Point Music Stories Expy The Ditz Retired Badass timeperiod Irony Ghost Fiction Ominous Latin Chanting Genre Shift Hate Sink