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