Tropescilloscope: Damsel in Distress

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

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