There are a lot of tropes like the Token Gal and really hilarious cliches like Clumsy unless in Combat.And I want to discuss them here with you. Now there is nothing wrong with cliches and tropes, mostly because they're unavoidable. It's when you us...
So we've all seen this cliche and trope one time or another. And it's quite shocking that people don't recognize the signs/symptoms of it. I mean the basic definition( and it is provided) means the person develop some sort of feeling for the person holding them hostage.
The subtropes of this includes:
-Abduction Is Love
-Happiness in Slavery
-Locked in a Freezer
-Locked in a Room
-Love Martyr
-A Match Made in Stockholm
-More Than Mind Control
-Not Brainwashed
Now in many stories on this app/site, there are Stockholm characters. And here's the thing, even if they weren't kidnapped, it can show up in abusive relationships.
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The biggest argument about this is Belle from Beauty and The Beast. But here's the thing...we don't really know how long she was held in the castle by the Beast. You see, if you haven't seen the Disney animated version in the late 90s,Belle agrees to stay with Beast to save her father, but she doesn't obey his orders, later decides her promise isn't worth how dangerous he is and tries to leave, and even after Beast saves her she isn't putting up with his behavior. It's only after he starts being nice and considerate, but like a person instead of her captor, that she warms up to him. Yet even then, she still misses her father, and leaves when Beast finally lets her. So is it stockholm ? People argue this with the Hunchback of Notre Dame and Tangled, but the thing is , Quasimodo and Rapunzel didn't know they were being held hostage, seeing how they were cared for since they were babies, but that's another chapter all on it's own. She marries the dude for god sake. So that begs the question...What the hell weren't we shown?
Harley Quinn from the DC universe is a walking case of it. I mean the Joker manipulates her to the point she became a criminal. She endures years of abuse and the moment she gets out, she finds herself back at the Joker's side. In the Injustice storyline, we learn she was gone for a year, because she was pregnant, and the Joker acted as if she was gone on a day trip at the spa.Granted she fell for him long before she even started at Arkham( though this only applies to a few Harleys due to the multiverse).
The entire Fifty Shades series....I personally don't like the books. For one, it portrays BDSM relationships as abuse, when in reality BDSM relationships are a two way street. Going back to what I said about people with Stockholm Syndrome aren't always kidnapped. Sometimes they enter relationships and become dependent on their abusers. In the Fifty Shades, Anastasia become dependent on Christian after he basically sold her car , got her a new phone and laptop, controlling her finances;afterwards he controls what she eats and when, what she can wear,and even went as far as controlling her reproduction rights by making her get birth control. And what's worse is the fact it introduces the trope "Romanticize Abuse", which again, is a chapter all on its own.
I'm just saying....This is common in media, just got to look for it.
