Damsel in Distress: Difference between revisions

This works if the damsel in distress is a beloved character, but can be very annoying if the audience [[Damsel Scrappy|wouldn't mind her dead]], or sees the helplessness as [[Character Derailment]]. An [[Action Girl]] who [[Chickification|becomes a damsel in distress]] is likely a [[Faux Action Girl]], though not always; if they can reclaim their [[Action Girl]] credentials after being freed, they were just experiencing [[Badass in Distress]] after being thrown a [[Distress Ball]].

 

 

Sometimes the character gets kidnapped for the sake of her [[World's Most Beautiful Woman|good looks]] or [[Everything's Better with Princesses|royal blood]], but in recent works she's more likely doing something that is a threat to the party that kidnaps her ([[Intrepid Reporter|reporters are common]]), which allows her to look smart and independent [[Unfortunate Implications|before she needs to be saved]]. Alternatively, she can end up prisoner as a [[Heroic Sacrifice]]; realizing that there is only enough room to get all the children on the transport, or attempting to free other prisoners (which may or may not succeed before her capture) are popular.

Not to be confused with the 2012 comedy film ''[[Damsels in Distress (film)|Damsels in Distress]]''.

 

 

{{examples}}

* In ''[http://www.mythfolklore.net/andrewlang/075.htm The Grateful Prince]'', the king [[promise]]s his baby to an ogre, and so takes a peasant girl and leaves his son with peasants. The ogre takes the girl and leaves, but the boy, on growing up, decides he can't possibly live on such a sacrifice and goes to rescue her.

 

* [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] and averted in ''[[Shrek]]'', especially in a scene where Robin Hood and his Merry Men try to "rescue" Fiona from the ogre they believe has kidnapped her, only to have her rebuff him and beat up all his men in a combination of styles from ''[[Xena: Warrior Princess]]'' and ''[[The Matrix]]''.

** And in ''Shrek Forever After'', where in an alternate universe where Shrek was never born and never came for her, Fiona eventually decided to rescue ''herself''.

* Subverted in ''[[Titan A.E.]]'', when Akima is jettisoned into space, captured, and held to be sold into slavery. The rest of the crew undergoes a makeshift rescue operation, only to find out that she successfully knocked out all of her captors and is patiently waiting to be picked up.

* Played with in ''[[Happily N'Ever After]]'', in which The Prince (whose name is revealed to be Humperdink) is searching for one of these (or a lady in waiting or whatever else is a typical princess) and sounds excited that [[Cinderella (novel)|Ella]] could be one of those things. When he asks if she's a damsel in distress, her response is "I will be. Kind of. At midnight". To say the least, Ella does more ass-kicking than servant boy Rick or Humperdink.

* The [[Ur Example]] of this in film would probably be the protagonist of the 1914 silent melodrama serial ''The Perils of Pauline''. A "talkie" version of the series was made in the '30s; the title was later used for a 1947 biopic of original ''Pauline'' actress Pearl White, and a 1967 film that was basically a camp spoof of the genre.

** Pearl White also starred in a nearly-identical series, ''The Exploits of Elaine'', around the same time.

* Subverted with {{spoiler|Kelly}} in ''[[Mystery Team]]''. Yes, she DOES get kidnapped... {{spoiler|but it's not like the Mystery Team were much help in saving her}}.

* [[Reconstructed Trope|Reconstructed]] in the [[Scooby Doo]] movie. They point out that while, yes, Daphne did get kidnapped a lot, she never let that discourage her from joining the gang in their latest mystery.

 

== Literature ==

* How about Elayne, Egwene and Nynaeve from the earlier books of ''[[The Wheel of Time]]''? They have a strange ability to get shielded, tied up and locked away only to be rescued by someone, though they did manage to get themselves away from the Seanchan in Book 2. Not to mention the time they actually berated Mat for saving them. They do get called on that later on by Birgitte however, who tore each of them a verbal new one and forced them to apologize. They'd also just about broken themselves out of there when Mat showed up.

* In [[James Thurber]]'s ''[[The 13 Clocks]]'', the Princess Saralinda is kept in her [[Evil Uncle]]'s castle. {{spoiler|In fact, she is [[Changeling Fantasy|not his niece]], and he intends to force her to marry him once he is free of a curse.}}

* ''[[The Silmarillion]]'': Played straight with Finduilas, killed by the orcs, Nienor Niniel (when Glaurung wipes her memories off). But very much subverted with Lúthien: when imprisoned by her father, she frees herself. Although she is then captured a second time and needs some help to escape, she then proceeds to almost single-handedly free her lover Beren (and a number of other prisoners) from Sauron—yes, that [[The Lord of the Rings|Sauron]]. Another example from Tolkien is Celebrian, the wife of Elrond, killed and possibly raped by the orcs.

* [[Edgar Rice Burroughs]]. To be just, he has a lot of [[Dude in Distress]] as well, but:

* In [[Patricia A. McKillip]]'s ''The Book of Atrix Wolfe'', Saro is trapped in a spell, rendered [[The Speechless]], and [[Fallen Princess|ends up]] a [[Scullery Maid]] in [[Cinderella Circumstances]].

* In Andy Hoare's [[White Scars]] novel ''Hunt for Voldorius'', the Bloodtide tells the White Scars and Raven Guard that Malya is being subjected to being made a new Bloodtide, and begs them to rescue her.

* [[Conan the Barbarian]]. Very often

** The queen in "[[A Witch Shall Be Born]]"

* Lampshaded in [[Soon I Will Be Invincible]], where it is noted the Corefire has the requisite "reporter girlfriend who always needed rescuing."

* Subverted most of the time by Jenna Heap in ''[[Septimus Heap]]'', as she usually manages to get safe by herself.

* In Teresa Frohock's ''[[Miserere: An Autumn Tale|Miserere an Autumn Tale]]'', Lindsey is in [[Hell]]. Lucian realizes he must open a Gate, which has been forbidden to him, to rescue her.

* Amy Goodenough in the [[Young Bond]] novel ''Blood Fever''.

* Agnes and Antonia both get their chance to fill this roll in ''[[The Monk]]''. One will live to be rescued, one will not.

 

* In the ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' TV series, everybody is the Distressed Damsel sooner or later. There's even episodes where Buffy takes this role. In the first few seasons, Willow is the main Distressed Damsel. In second two, she and Xander share the role. As Willow grows in power in seasons three and four, Xander, Giles, and even Spike end up in this position more often than the others. In seasons five and six, it's Dawn. In season seven, it's the potentials.

** Buffy was quite literally this in the Season Two episode Halloween, when an enchanted costume causes her to become a very helpless 18th century noblewoman.

* Often done in ''[[Scrubs]]'' about a patient's dying or miraculously recovering ending bickering about less important matters.

** One episode turns the plot of that episode into a medieval fantasy. In it, the patient becomes a damsel in distress that everyone works together to save.

* ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'' tends to apply this trope so much it gets annoying after a while. The Victim Of The Week (usually female) is either being threatened and can't help herself out or Sam is pinned to something and helpless against the MOTW or Dean is doing something stupid/going off on his own, getting nabbed and needing Sam to save his arse.

** They've subverted it twice with Sam, though. In ''Bloodlust'', the vampires capture him but let him go after they've given him a good talking to and in ''The Benders'', he manages to get out of his cage without Dean's help and Dean ends up being the tied up one in need of saving.

** Then again, the first time a vampire tried to kidnap her, she didn't just take it and wait for Stefan to save her, she fought back and tried to ''kill the vampire with a pencil''.

* Though Veronica, Sarah, and Sofia all get this at one point or another in ''[[Prison Break]]'', LJ is the epitome of this trope. Any time he's on screen he's either being used as a bargaining chip against his dad and uncle or being rescued by his dad and uncle; the kid spends most of the series tied to a chair. All of them though are justified, since they're basically average citizens stuck in a mass conspiracy against people trained to make them this.

 

== Machinima ==

* Subverted in the video of ''Mean'' by [[Taylor Swift]]. Taylor is shown [[Chained to a Railway|tied up on railroad tracks]] by a [[Dastardly Whiplash|villain]], who is all [[Evil Gloating|gloating]] over her predicament. Not long after, a friend of the villain's comes along, the two villains get [[Drinking on Duty|drunk]], fall asleep, after which Taylor simply gets out of her ropes and heads off.

 

* This is [[Older Than Feudalism]], dating back at least to the Greek myth of Perseus and Andromeda.

** The story of Hesione and Heracles is very similar to that of Perseus and Andromeda. However, Deianeira, another woman in Heracles' [[Chick Magnet|adventurous]] life, subverts it by [[Green-Eyed Monster|taking matters in her hands]] shortly after the rescue.

* In ''[[Ramayana]]'', Sita is a crown example.

* In Celtic mythology (''[[Mabinogion]]''), Branwen finds herself in this position. Subverted with Deirdre, who voluntarily put herself in the situation which was considered as distress by her fiance.

 

== Radio ==

* ''The Shadow'''s companion Margot Lane served the function of designated hostage more often than not...especially if a [[Mad Scientist]] needed a "test subject."

** Margot Lane is also an example of [[Flanderization]]. In the early episodes with Orson Welles, she was fairly competent and saved The Shadow almost as much as he saved her.

 

== Theatre ==

* Alice Faulkner in ''[[Sherlock Holmes (theatre)|Sherlock Holmes]]''.

 

== Video Games ==

** Princess Peach Toadstool has been kidnapped too many times to count. And yet she's [[Power Creep, Power Seep|perfectly capable of kicking butt]] in such games as ''[[Super Mario Bros. 2]]'', ''[[Super Mario RPG]]'', ''[[Super Princess Peach]]'', ''[[Super Paper Mario]]'', and the ''[[Super Smash Bros.]]'' series. [[Super Mario Bros./WMG|Go figure]]. Adaptations sometimes try to turn her into an [[Action Girl]], but her tendency to get kidnapped is such a major part of the ''Mario'' tradition that it becomes very hard to omit or work around. ''[[Super Mario Bros Z]]'' takes this to the logical extreme: when Peach is kidnapped by Bowser ''again'', it's pointed out that nobody in the Mushroom Kingdom is panicking, because they're all so used to it. In recent games such as ''[[Super Mario Galaxy]]'' and its [[Super Mario Galaxy 2|sequel]], the tables have been turned and Bowser's kidnapping of Peach does more damage to him and his self-deluded plot of creating an galactic empire than her, as Peach, despite her peacefulness, has become a huge monkey wrench and being in Bowser's clutches is an obvious mistake on his part that inevitably leads him to be defeated again by Mario.

** [[Exposition Fairy|Tippi]] also plays Distressed Damsel for all of one chapter in ''[[Super Paper Mario]]'', though her capturer only wants to post pictures of her on the Internet. (No, really.)

* Much of the plot of [[Asura's Wrath]] is this; about Asura's hellish struggle to save his daughter Mithra. In the end, no one could stop him from saving her, {{spoiler|not even the creator of life itself.}}

* ''[[Dark Souls]]'' has several. Rhea is trapped in the Tomb of the Giants after her companions either all abandoned her or died. Dusk of Oolacile and Sieglinde are trapped in golden crystal golems. Anastacia of Astora is murdered and you have to retrieve her soul to revive her. Then again, most of the dudes you meet need rescuing you as well.

 

== Web Comics ==

* Gleefully mocked (if not outright subverted) in ''[http://www.adventurers-comic.com Adventurers]'', where (lead character) Karn's mother (a White Mage) scolds neophyte White Mage, Lumi, for (among other things) "not being taught how to be kidnapped properly."

** And in another strip, where Karashi is kidnapped, and has already freed herself and made it back to camp by the time Drecker finds the note left by the kidnapper and announces that they have to rescue her.

* ''[[Exiern]]'' has Peonie as the recipient of the frequent kidnapping card. Although it wasn't the first or the last time, it seems that [[Evil Sorcerer]] Faden was the nastiest as she complained "I was really scared ''this'' time". She hasn't managed to stop other people targeting her for an abduction yet though, and Tiff can generally tell what time it is by whether Peonie has been kidnapped yet or not.

* In ''[[Erstwhile]]'', [https://web.archive.org/web/20130828165506/http://www.erstwhiletales.com/a-tale-with-a-riddle-0-3/#.T29v9Nm6SuI the heroine is turned into a flower, and needs her husband to save her.]

 

== Web Original ==

{{quote|'''Zelda:''' Ganondorf has an ''entire army'' of loyal minions, and they do whatever I say! Link just has that stupid fairy...}}

* In [[The Nostalgia Chick]]'s Dark Nella Saga, the titular [[Big Bad]] tied the Makeover Fairy up the bathtub and tortured her by scraping her make-up off. It should be noted that she looked exactly the same afterwards.

 

== Western Animation ==

{{quote|'''Enzo''': "I don't want to be a damsel in this dress!"}}

* When is [[The Smurfs|Smurfette]] never in need of being rescued by somebody? Only in the [[The Smurfs (film)|live-action movie]], where she is finally promoted to [[Action Girl]] status.

 

{{reflist}}