Damsel in distress
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.
When I was younger I had a mild appreciation with this trope and found it to be romantic. 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 that it is 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 that I like which use this trope. However, in most cases, I think the media could be made superior if they left out this trope.
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 | Princess Jasmine needs to be rescued by Aladdin multiple times in the film. |
Final Fantasy VI | 1994-04-02 | Video Game | Through the course of the story, every playable female character is kidnapped and needs rescuing, some multiple times. |
Harry Potter series | 1997-06-26 | Fiction | Despite clearly being the best equipped, Hermione find herself needing to be rescued in several of the books. As do many of the other female characters. |
King's Quest series | 1985-??-?? | Video Game | Most of the titles in the series include a damsel in distress. |
The Legend of Zelda series | 1987-08-22 | Video Game | Most of Zelda games require Link to rescue the kidnapped Princess Zelda. |
Mario series | 1981-07-09 | Video Game | Most of Mario games require the player to rescue a princess of some sort. |
The Princess Bride | 1973-??-?? | Fiction | Princess Buttercup is the damsel in distress archetype with no useful attributes but her beauty. |