Damsel in distress

Buttercup is a damsel in distress for the entirety of The Princess Bride.

The damsel in distress is an extremely common trope in fiction where a female character is in danger and needs to be saved, almost always by a male character. This trope exists in some of humanity's oldest stories and continues to be a very frequent plot device in modern fiction. Often times, when the damsel is rescued, she becomes a reward for the hero who rescued her.

Personal

When I was younger I had an appreciation with this trope and found it to be both romantic and erotic. However, after seeing it played out thousands of times, I'm completely sick of it. I don't have a problem with the damsel in distress trope in principle, but I find it troubling how it has become so ubiquitous in fiction. When it comes to media, I much prefer strong female characters who can solve their own problems, however, I have to admit there are plenty of books, films, and video games I love which use this trope. However, in most cases, I think the art could be made better by finding a more creative trope to use.

Examples

These are works which feature a damsel in distress that are important to me. For the complete list, see the damsel in distress category.

Title	Released	Media	Notes
Aladdin	1992-11-25	Film, Video Games	Princess Jasmine needs to be rescued by Aladdin multiple times in the film.
The Baroque Cycle	1999-05-??	Books	Eliza, on more than one occasion in the series, finds herself needing to be saved.
Final Fantasy VI	1994-04-02	Video Game	Through the course of the story, every playable female character is kidnapped and in need of rescuing, some multiple times.
The Goonies series	1985-06-07	Film, Video Games	Nearly every form of media produced in the series requires Andy (Andrea) to be rescued, and sometimes Stef.
Harry Potter series	1997-06-26	Books, Films, Video Games	Despite proving to be the most capable of the bunch by-far, Hermione Granger finds herself needing to be rescued in nearly all of the books. Ginny does as well in Chamber of Secrets.
King's Quest series	1985-??-??	Video Games	Since the series borrows heavily from mythology and fairy tales, most of the titles include at least one damsel in distress, while some have several.
The Legend of Zelda series	1987-08-22	Video Games	Most of games in the series require Link to rescue a woman, usually a helpless Princess Zelda who's been kidnapped.
Mario series	1981-07-09	Video Games	Most games which feature Mario also feature a woman for him to save. Usually it's Princess Peach, but Princess Daisy, Pauline, and Rosalina are also used.
The Princess Bride	1973-??-??	Book, Film	Princess Buttercup is the damsel in distress archetype in its purest form with no useful attributes other than her beauty and ability to be kidnapped.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series	1984-05-??	Comics, Films, Video Games	Nearly every form of media from this franchise has April O'Neil needing rescue at some point.

Media

Videos

Tropes vs Women in Video Games - Damsel In Distress (1/3).

Tropes vs Women in Video Games - Damsel In Distress (2/3).

Tropes vs Women in Video Games - Damsel In Distress (3/3).

Links