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