Tropescilloscope: Damsel in Distress

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

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