Dr. Smith, as usual, cowers while Will Robinson takes care of business.
It's only natural to cower in the face of danger
* this is actually a survival mechanism, which works for small animals because many of the larger animals that eat them can see motion really well, but have trouble spotting stationary things. Some animals, like humans and eagles, have good enough eyesight that they may be able to spot the "frozen" animal anyway, though it's still easier to spot something that's moving. Others don't even rely on eyesight, utilizing other senses such as smell or heat-sensing instead. Still, you'd be surprised how well this trick can work... for smaller animals, anyways. For larger creatures like humans, it's mostly an evolutionary holdover, though it might still work on occasion
. As such, many a classic
Distressed Damsel and fearful child will cower behind the nearest
Love Interest, parent, or
Big Damn Heroes when presented with peril. Of course, most conscientious heroes and even
Innocent Bystanders will naturally interpose themselves anyway to protect other innocents (and
perhaps pointlessly, but they do get props for chivalry). This kind of cowering stems from the classic pose of hero and heroine facing a monster on
Film Posters for
Touch of the Monster: the hero has a gun in his right hand pointed at the beast, his left hand holding the
Love Interest back (what, he can't be left-handed?), while
she clutches his shoulder with one hand and covers her mouth from shock with the other.
There's another kind of character who cowers this way too, the
Dirty Coward. He'll grab a nearby
Innocent Bystander and use him as a
Human Shield, hide behind the
Littlest Cancer Patient when the
Serial Killer with a soft spot for kids shows up, and might even shove his
Love Interest towards
the Martian Woman Stealer. Villains also tend to do this when faced with an
implacable hero,
inverting the cower by using the
Love Interest to
hide from him!
Sometimes this is used for comedic effect, with a hero who is
Afraid of Needles reacting with complete terror to mundane things, sometimes even jumping into his
Sidekick's arms or ducking behind his
Love Interest like a
Distressed Damsel. The
Fish out of Water might hide from otherwise harmless things too (and notice who/what they're hiding behind looks far more threatening).
Examples:
Comic Books
Fan Fiction
- Kyon: Big Damn Hero: After Haruhi's reaction to Tsuruya's report on what she and Kyon did to disband a illegal photographic ring (which included sleeping with him and bathing together — It Makes Sense in Context), Mikuru automatically hides behind Tsuruya. Kanae, noting that hiding behind Tsuruya isn't the best idea in this circumstances, decided not to follow this trope and only hide behind the table.
Film
- Crane does this in Sleepy Hollow when he approaches a particularly creepy hovel, using Young Masbeth as a shield and aiming his pistol over the boy's shoulder.
Literature
- The book and movie of The Dead Zone use this to let the world know its villain is a bad man. Or at least this is what ruins him. We, the readers/audience, know from early on that the bad guy is really bad. But this is what destroys his image to the [in-story] public. I mean, NO ONE would vote for someone for president of the USA who used a baby to shield himself from an assassin.
- In Robert E. Howard's Conan the Barbarian story "The Pool Of The Black One" Sancha grovels after being thrown to the ground.
- In the second book of the Gone series, Hunter cowers behind Astrid, who is protecting him from Zil's lynch mob.
Live-Action TV
Professional Wrestling
- A favorite tactic of the heels, who are not above grabbing a female at ringside (either the face's girlfriend or their own) to stop from getting attacked, and then shoving said female into the opponent! Edge used to do this all the time. Eddie Guerrero made it particularly reprehensible when he grabbed Rey Mysterio's young son Dominick; this made Mysterio very angry.
Video Games
- Final Fantasy IV has Edward who has an ability that lets him do this. He also does it when he's low on Hit Points.
- Mother 3: When traveling with Salsa, Fassad will occasionally do this in battle, despite the fact that (as an NPC) monsters don't target him anyway, and he's easily several times stronger than Salsa.
- Amnesia The Dark Descent has this trope as the player's only means of defense. You are given no weapons of any kind and any time you're attacked, the only thing you can do is run and hide in the dark, usually behind crates, until the monster gets bored and leaves.
- From one standpoint, any Stealth-based game or game with a Stealth-Based Mission could be seen as utilizing this. You need to hide from enemies, often by crouching in dark corners, because you can't take them on. Certain Horror-genre games will have the character give indications that they're afraid, like Amnesia listed above, or Call Of Cthulu Dark Corners Of The Earth.
Webcomics
Western Animation
- Played for Laughs and played straight in Teen Titans; both examples feature teams of males hiding behind their female leader. In the humorous version, The Titans East hides behind Bumblebee when Control Freak drops in unexpectedly; the serious one features the H.I.V.E. five hiding behind Jinx in nervous anticipation for Madam Rouge's verbal abuse.
Stand-Up Comedy
- Rich Hall's Otis Lee Crenshaw character has a song called "Do Anything You Want To The Girl (Just Don't Hurt Me)".
