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How to parody the Damsel in Distress without writing the real thing?

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nrjxll Since: Nov, 2010 Relationship Status: Not war
#1: Jun 14th 2012 at 7:04:25 PM

So, in my current comic project, among other goals I'm seeking to pay homage to science fiction (specifically Space Opera) from pretty much the entirety of its existence - from today's works to the "Golden Age" pulps and serials of the 1930s. Along the way, I'm also trying to poke fun at some of the flaws in my inspirations.

For said Golden Age works, among other things, those flaws are the problems with female characters. They weren't all helpless Distressed Damsels, but it was common enough that it's definitely something I intend to take shots at in a humorous manner.

The problem that's occurred to me, however, is how to do it without inadvertently handing a Distress Ball to any of my characters. In fact, I really have no ideas at all - I just know that it's something I do want to cover at some point, since the 30s stuff is a particularly major influence, especially visually.

Oh, and the fourth wall is and will remain intact, so that's not an option in any way.

Kotep Since: Jan, 2001
#2: Jun 15th 2012 at 1:30:48 AM

Aw yeah, it's my favorite time. List time.

-Put a character in distress, have a mysterious hero come and save her. That hero is also a woman and the rescuee is still grateful but a little miffed. Or, since it's pulp future sci fi, she doesn't care and goes ahead and smooches the girl hero so hard. (This would require having a damsel character in the first place though.)

-Have a character act like she's been captured and made helpless, then surprise her captors by bursting free and attacking them. Since this is an old enough subversion, you might say that they were pretty much expecting her to break free, but they figured they'd surprise her by fighting back and capture her again but she manages to fight them all off.

-Similar to the above, a character has to act like they've been captured, damsel-style, for some sort of sneaky ruse and is clearly not into the idea of acting helpless throughout the whole thing.

-Might be a little close to fourth wall breaking but I'd think of it as more genre savvy—maybe one character gets the protags' attention by acting the part of a damsel in distress, then once they've headed off to help her, she says something about how bleeding hearts always go for that sort of thing and now that she has their attention she tells them what she's really after.

Don't know if any of those help at all but there you go.

edited 15th Jun '12 1:32:38 AM by Kotep

CleverPun Bully in the Alley from California Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: Above such petty unnecessities
Bully in the Alley
#3: Jun 15th 2012 at 4:57:43 AM

If you want to poke fun at the trope without using it, then you can either;

A) have the potential capturee outright Defy the trope, verbally or otherwise (perhaps as she's about to be captured she pulls out pepper spray or something, or deliberately brings guards to defend her)

B) Gender-reverse it; This is covered by the James Bondage trope, and treating a James Bondage exactly like a distressed damsel (gender stereotypes and all) is a frequent source of comedy

if neither of these basic ideas seem appealing, peruse this page; DistressedDamsel

"The only way to truly waste an idea is to shove it where it doesn't belong."
peccantis Since: Oct, 2010
#4: Jun 15th 2012 at 5:49:21 AM

The easiest way to do it is this.

The basic structure is: "A A X saves a distressed B Y from th clutches of a C Z."

Now, replace A, B and C with heroic, lovely and evil (in some order) and X, Y and Z with dragon, knight and maiden (in some order).

This is the spine of your plot. Tweak as you wish (replace the dragon with a sorcerer or the knight with a prophesied farmboy for instance). Then apply tropes.

edited 15th Jun '12 12:26:05 PM by peccantis

MrAHR Ahr river from ಠ_ಠ Since: Oct, 2010 Relationship Status: A cockroach, nothing can kill it.
Ahr river
#5: Jun 15th 2012 at 7:39:23 AM

Do it agent style. Someone wants to be captured as to do under cover stuff. They end up being rescued before they can finish the job.

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nrjxll Since: Nov, 2010 Relationship Status: Not war
#6: Jun 15th 2012 at 3:05:48 PM

Gender-reverse it; This is covered by the James Bondage trope, and treating a James Bondage exactly like a distressed damsel (gender stereotypes and all) is a frequent source of comedy

Not an option - I'm not trying to do a preachy work here, but the reason this is "funny" is the sort of thing I'm against here in the first place.

[up][up]I'm not quite sure I understand what you're saying here...?

[up]This, however, has some possibilities, given that a significant number of my characters are some kind of spy.

ArsThaumaturgis Since: Nov, 2011 Relationship Status: I've been dreaming of True Love's Kiss
#7: Jun 16th 2012 at 10:14:14 AM

In that case, perhaps a pile of distresses and seeming-distresses might work: (A simple example) A fakes capture to gain access to data stored in the villain's lair/workplace/detention centre, B fakes capture in order to rescue A, rescuing A just before A got to the data. Both of their covers blown, they attempt escape, only for B to actually be captured and have A go back to rescue B.

Going over the top, have so many captures and fake captures that half the cast spends a good deal of energy trying to figure out which of their own have actually been captured and are in distress as opposed to faking capture and which of their prisoners are real prisoners and not agents merely biding their time...

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