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