Thoughts on the damsel in distress trope?
#1
Posted 17 August 2015 - 03:57 PM
For the people who don't know, the damsel in distress trope is when a female character is kidnapped and needs to be rescued. I personally really don't like this trope. My main problem with it is that it's boring, overdone, and more than a little sexist in my eyes. It pretty much renders a potentially interesting female character into nothing more than a trophy or a prize for the hero to win. I feel it implies that a female can't do anything on her own without a male character.
The worst examples of this are when a character who has been previously shown to kick large amounts of ass, is suddenly kidnapped for no other reason than the fact that the writers needed something for the climax. Again, I feel it's lazy writing and makes the character inconsistent.
Then again, these are just my opinions. Let me know what you guys think.
#2
Posted 17 August 2015 - 04:04 PM
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#3
Posted 17 August 2015 - 04:09 PM
KAGOME!!!!!
At least she could make him sit on command, she wasn't completely helpless. >.>
#4
Posted 17 August 2015 - 04:10 PM
Plus I bet she got to canoodle his ear nibs when she rode him like a horse.
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#5
Posted 17 August 2015 - 04:22 PM
I wish I had watched more Bleach...Then I'd know what you guys were talkin' about XD
#6
Posted 17 August 2015 - 04:27 PM
That's not from Bleach. >.>
#7
Posted 17 August 2015 - 04:28 PM
Oh...Right, that's Inuyasha.
How the hell do I keep getting those two mixed up?
#8
Posted 17 August 2015 - 04:29 PM
The main female lead spends a good third of the entire series getting kidnapped by everyone ever.
This is supplemented by tons of her screaming the main male lead's name while he screams hers.
"INUYASHA!!! "
" KAGOME!!! "
" INUYASHAAAAAAAAA!!! "
" KAAAAAAGOOOOOMEEEEE!!! "
etc etc.
But she can shoot arrows and always wears a super short school girl skirt, so there's that.
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#9
Posted 17 August 2015 - 04:40 PM
It's Inuyasha.
The main female lead spends a good third of the entire series getting kidnapped by everyone ever.
This is supplemented by tons of her screaming the main male lead's name while he screams hers.
"INUYASHA!!! "
" KAGOME!!! "
" INUYASHAAAAAAAAA!!! "
" KAAAAAAGOOOOOMEEEEE!!! "
etc etc.
But she can shoot arrows and always wears a super short school girl skirt, so there's that.
Ah, I gotcha. That sounds pretty obnoxious.
#10
Posted 17 August 2015 - 04:45 PM
But most everyone goes through their Inuyasha stage in life.
Our beloved leader rocked his Seshomaru icon for years and I still have my stuffed Inuyasha somewhere.
Personally tho, as far as the damsel in distress goes, I prefer character like LiLu in Fifth Element.
She's absolutely capable on her own and strong, but she does have a softness to her that she shows when she trusts someone enough.
I don't like when the female character is absolutely useless and needs to be saved all the time.
It's tiring and boring to me.
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#11
Posted 17 August 2015 - 05:06 PM
Personally tho, as far as the damsel in distress goes, I prefer character like LiLu in Fifth Element.
She's absolutely capable on her own and strong, but she does have a softness to her that she shows when she trusts someone enough.
I don't like when the female character is absolutely useless and needs to be saved all the time.
It's tiring and boring to me.
I like that kind of character too! I don't mind a character showing emotions, so long as that character is capable on her own and strong. And yeah, it really does suck when a female character has to constantly be saved, it's like the writers were thinking "Hey, we can't think of a different conflict for this story, so let's just make the female character a damsel again!"
#12
Posted 17 August 2015 - 05:12 PM
Buffy is probably my all time favorite female character.
But, I'm a huge Joss Whedon fan and he makes some awesome female characters.
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#13
Posted 17 August 2015 - 05:18 PM
Dude, I see where you're coming from, but there's only a finite amount of scenarios that a person can write themselves into.
It really all depends on how well you write it and how well it conforms to the story-line as to whether or not it'll be appealing to an audience.
The damsel trope is a classic and if to exploit the male protagonist weakness is to capture and possibly even torture their female counterpart, it makes sense to do it and there are plenty of situations a write can create to make it so the female, while very capable, is at the villains' mercy.
Because I can...
#14
Posted 17 August 2015 - 05:42 PM
Dude, I see where you're coming from, but there's only a finite amount of scenarios that a person can write themselves into.
It really all depends on how well you write it and how well it conforms to the story-line as to whether or not it'll be appealing to an audience.
The damsel trope is a classic and if to exploit the male protagonist weakness is to capture and possibly even torture their female counterpart, it makes sense to do it and there are plenty of situations a write can create to make it so the female, while very capable, is at the villains' mercy.
This. Also, with tropes that are as old as wheat, the scenario can be played with to subvert the trope. For example, what if the damsel in distress was the weak dandy prince and the knight that saves her is a powerful lady? Or the princess' mother is the heroic one saving her baby girl from the dragon's lair? And this subversion only works because this is such a well loved and known trope. Without the billions of stories already written, you wouldn't be able to appreciate the differences.
The damsel in distress is an archetype,not just a common trope. Jung wrote on it in his ramblings. It's the foundation for a thousand myths and the drive behind many heroes' journeys.
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#15
Posted 18 August 2015 - 11:53 AM
And some of the best stories have weak females in them that turn out to be the evil genius.