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Neutral Female: Difference between revisions
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(Import from TV Tropes TVT:Main.NeutralFemale 2012-07-01, editor history TVTH:Main.NeutralFemale, CC-BY-SA 3.0 Unported license) |
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No, she stands there on the sidelines, mouth open, and waits for the dominant male to emerge and [[Standard Female Grab Area|grab her by the arm]]. Or if she does try to hit the villain over the head with something, she's entirely ineffectual. And if she has access to a gun, she will either miss or [[Stop Helping Me|hit the good guy]].
Justified whenever [[This Is Something He's Got to Do Himself]] -- ''none'' of the hero's allies can jump in and help him then. Same goes for if she's incapacitated and couldn't help even if she wanted to. Note however that, at least from the writer's perspective, this is perfectly justified by the fact that the hero, almost by definition, ''should'' be able to defeat the villain on his own. If the hero were to [[Let's Fight Like Gentlemen|use some underhanded trick while the villain fights honorably]], it would skew the entire narrative. In general, the [[Incorruptible Pure Pureness|purer]] the hero, the more likely the Neutral Female. Someone closer to the [[Anti
The situation doesn't necessarily have to be Hero vs Villain. It can also apply between good guys, especially in terms of [[Cock Fight|romantic competition]]. The point is that the girl is ''still'' not helping either of them nor doing anything to stop the fight, not even by saying something that ''could'' settle everything between the combatants.
Compare [[Faux Action Girl]]; both tropes are often caused by the writers' unwillingness to have a woman fighting [[Wouldn't Hit a Girl|(and thus being hit by)]] a man. Also compare to [[Designated Girl Fight]], when the woman ''is'' willing to mix it up, but will only ever do so against other females.
{{examples
== Anime & Manga ==
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* ''[[Tokyo Mew Mew]]'' had some Neutral ''Males'' -- although the constant switching around of the boy in question was used to set up a few red herrings as to the identity of Ao no Kishi.
* ''[[Mai-HiME]]'' has Yuuichi as an understandably neutral ''male'' when his superpowered [[Clingy Jealous Girl|best friend]] starts trying to kill his ''also'' superpowered love interest. He's not the only one, though: Mai's little brother Takumi also does that at least thrice {{spoiler|And the third one happens just before he dies, when his tomboyish girlfriend Akira's CHILD is destroyed.}}
* In ''[[Bleach]]'', all Orihime or Rukia or even most of the non-shinigami cast ever seem to do is sit on the sidelines and gasp as asskicking commences before them. Many of them are anything but weak and have powers that could come pretty handy in aiding their allies in a fight (Ishida's arrows, for example). But that would mean that the [[
** Doubly subverted in the second fight {{spoiler|between Ichigo and Ulquoirra}}. Till Ichigo tells her to stand back and she gets nabbed by some lackeys and becomes helpless, until rescued again.
** Another example with {{spoiler|Ulquoirra and Ichigo starting to fight when Yammy pops up and Ishida <s>kills</s> injures him in about four seconds for interfering. In the context of this fight that's about all he can without irritating Ulq and having himself get chopped to bits. Yeah, Ishida basically becomes ''a neutral male''.}}
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** The thing is, the two guys in question are 1) werewolves, and therefore have super strength, and 2) moving so fast that every time she attempts to stab Liam, she has to pull up fast so she won't stab ''Derek'' instead. However, this trope goes from justified to subverted when Liam has Derek pinned -- the second they stop moving, Chloe darts forward and stabs Liam in the back of his leg, thus allowing Derek to free himself and giving them both the chance to run like hell.
** [[Justified Trope]] and subverted in ''The Reckoning'' as well. This time, though, Derek and his opponent are both in wolf form, so it would be understandable if Chloe did nothing but watch. Even then, though, she manages to avert this trope entirely: She climbs a tree so that Derek won't have to worry about her getting hurt, and then notices that the other werewolf is badly scarred on one flank, meaning that his skin is unprotected there. She yells this down to Derek, and that strategy is what allows Derek (who has never been in wolf form before, and even now has only been in it for about an hour) to win the fight against an experienced werewolf.
* [[Gender Flip|Gender Flipped]], subverted, justified, and otherwise Zigzagged in the ''[[Stationery Voyagers]]'' episode "Choice After All." The [[Depraved Homosexual|Crooked Rainbow]] captures Oceanoe; and has him poisoned so he can't do anything (except [[Cure Your Gays|try to fight off the poison]] that's [[Mind Rape|making him see things]].) The girls come to rescue him; but are ineffectual themselves because they're grossly outnumbered ([[Technical Pacifist|and were trained as diplomats, not warriors]]!) [[Christina Aguilera|Katrina Anguara]], the pop star who was shooting a music video while Oceanoe was tortured in the background, stands idly by and does nothing [[
* [[Twilight (Literature)|Bella Swan]] spends most of her time standing around while Edward or one of the other Cullens fights off whatever vampire is trying to kill her. Justified the first time, since the fight starts out with Bella being tossed around, having limbs broken and leaving her in crippling pain. Still, that doesn't change the fact that she has the ability to do ''something'' during the fight with Victoria (cut her arm and use her blood as a distraction) and just stands there with her mouth hanging open instead of just doing it. The movies subvert this, as Bella tries to hold off James with mace and she quickly cuts herself without hesitation.
* This trope is explicitly defied in [[Mercedes Lackey]]'s ''[[Tales of the Five Hundred Kingdoms|The Sleeping Beauty]]''. When the [[Big Bad]] is fighting [[The Hero]] coming to save the princess, the former's job is somewhat harder when said princess is throwing everything she can reach at his head.
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* In ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'', Xander usually got the role of Neutral Female, despite being male. [[Justified]] as Xander has no special powers, and attempting to go up against the demons Buffy tends to be fighting would simply put him and his friends in harm's way, if not getting killed outright.
** The season 3 finale episode of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" does this, except the Neutral Female is Wesley. It's the final battle, and everybody gathers to rush at the Big Bad; a few seconds later, we see Wesley get knocked down, and he is pathetically unable to get up for the rest of the fight.
** The opening episode of season 3 ("Anne") specifically subverted this with Lily. She spends most of the episode completely useless, and during her and Buffy's daring escape from the demon world, she gets captured by the villain and threatened in order to stop Buffy from fighting. Then, in the middle of his villainous monologue, she [[Shut UP, Hannibal|pushes him off the balcony]] they're standing on. [[Characterization Marches On|Later episodes]] (on Buffy's sister show ''[[Angel (TV)|Angel]]'') show her as being far more independent, to the point of taking care of at-risk children.
* Done in ''[[Robin Hood (TV)|Robin Hood]]'' with Kate. The problem was that Kate, as the [[Designated Victim]] of the gang, would always be the one to get [[Damsel in Distress|captured]], with the rest of the boys running in to save her. Kate ''would'' often try to free herself from whatever situation she was in (and was very vocal about [[Unwanted Rescue|Unwanted Rescues]]), but one of the other outlaws would ''always'' burst in right as she was on the verge of rescuing herself. As such, her continual insistence that she was "not some stupid girl" and that she "could take care of herself" came across as an [[Informed Attribute]], and her role was that of a [[Neutral Female]].
* Inverted, subverted, and generally played around with in the ''A Spy in the House of Love'' episode of ''[[Dollhouse]]''. Female Echo fights {{spoiler|Dominic}} who has been discovered as the titular spy. Meanwhile, male Topher dives behind a couch to get out of the way of the fight. {{spoiler|Ivy}} joins him there, but immediately suggests they try and help Echo. Topher then insists that he has already helped Echo by imprinting her with the ability to fight very effectively.
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** In ''4'', Ashley Graham is a justified example. She's a small teenager with no combat training. She will, however, duck when you fire and hide in out of the way places until you call her. Hysterically averted with {{spoiler|the Knight Armor alternate costume. She's indestructible and too heavy to carry off.}}
* The first fight with Ramsus in ''[[Xenogears (Video Game)|Xenogears]]'' has a neutral (or at least non-combat) female for both sides. Ramsus has Miang on his side, whereas Bart and Fei have Margie. Both will occasionally heal their comrades but neither take part in the fighting directly (Miang [[Wouldn't Hit a Girl|isn't even a selectable target]]).
** Miang later averts this when she appears alongside [[Evil Overlord|Grahf]] as the Executioner: in this fight she CAN be targeted, and for good reason, too -- her [[One
* Princess Peach plays this straight in most games she's in with a few exceptions:
** In ''[[Mario and Luigi Partners In Time (Video Game)|Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time]]'', Peach doesn't fight the [[Final Boss]], but she does help the Bros. out by tossing them Stars to attack with. Of course, when things get ''really'' tough, she faints, leaving them on their own.
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