Are animation companies cutting down on bondage because they're aware?

[Daikinbakuju]

Do you feel that animation companies these days tone down or reduce scenes of characters being tied up because they're aware how it turns some of its viewers on or may get them into bondage?

[SeanRulez54]

Nah. I've seen plenty of modern shows where they have people tied up. It just happens at random some times. I do think they are aware, and they just go with it. Kinda like Totally Spies did.

[Zorro]

In fairness, TOTALLY SPIES ended in 2013 (after a hiatus of 6 years), so it's certainly recent, but whether it's "new" or not is variable.

That's a tough question. I certainly do think from an American standpoint, gender roles in media and more concerns about representation and gender equality have made the whole "damsel in distress" thing seem retrograde at best or "offensive" at worst, even if it's still a narrative trope which comes up in fiction. Frankly, one of the reasons I think that, say, "BATMAN: BRAVE AND THE BOLD" didn't have as much "DID action" despite being inspired by the 1966 TV show was due to concerns about "damsels in distress."

IMO, isn't it kind of a shame to consider women characters as being "inferior" if they get into some trouble whereas male heroes can get captured a billion times and no one thinks lessor of them? Batman and Robin can get captured every week and no one thinks less of them. But I digress.

DID scenes do still totally happen in new cartoons. And I think they may actually happen more often in European cartoons these days. But I do think there's more of a concern with portraying heroines in "helpless" ways and that may have led to a diminishment versus, say, the 80's and 90's where virtually every heroine with a speaking role on a show got "the treatment" at least once or twice.

[Suicide]

I would say people are definitely more aware of fetishes now than they ever have been before. It might stop some people from doing it but I doubt it has effected DiD content that much. I'd be more incline to idea of the "Damsel in Distress" trope being seen as lame or old-hat for creators to include.

Still I think DiD makes it's way in to things regardless because it fits into timeless ideas like "The Heroes Journey" so it'll never go away even if writers and companies become aware. If anything it will likely embolden creators with our inclinations to be more bold with scenes. I'll always suspect Paul Dini and Kelly Thompson...

[Zorro]

Yes, some creators are definitely "into it" or at least are not concerned about what modern sensibilities may claim about "damsels in distress."

I agree with Suicide that while there may be more open awareness that this fetish exists now than in previous years, some of the potential diminishment of its use may be more about trying to do more "modern" stories and avoid reusing story tropes as bluntly. However, characters get captured in fiction all the time so it will always pop up. Especially in children's shows which often limit violence.

In my opinion, I think a key thing to consider these days is "agency." There may be less patience for heroines who need to eternally be rescued because it implies they're weaker or "fairer" and that notion can seem outdated. Whereas if a heroine is able to "save herself" more often than not, it usually isn't considered a problem. Male heroes routinely get captured, but they didn't historically rely on being rescued by outside figures (aside for kid sidekicks, which is also a story trope which has seen some diminishment beyond for "grandfather clause" characters). Whereas trying to count the sheer number of times Lois Lane had to be rescued by Superman may be akin to counting sand on the beach.

A clear example for me is Penny Gadget compared to April O'Neil. Both are "veterans damsels in distress" but their circumstances usually differed. While Penny was rescued by Brain or other characters many times, more often than not she saved herself. April, in comparison, usually (though not all the time) had to be saved by someone else.

I guess what I am saying is that there may be less sheer volume of DID in newer stuff than the old days, it still happens because the story trope is as old as time (plus some creators are secret kinks). We just may get pluckier heroines out of it and less "ladies tied to train tracks or chained to rocks awaiting rescue," unless it is done ironically or as satire.

[Daikinbakuju]

To specify, I wasn't focusing on damsels in distress but simply "tie-ups" in general, regardless whether it happens to a male, female, human, animal, robot, etc.

[mailbagfan]

There are about as many bondage scenes in animation as there have ever been. Awareness of fetishes isn't going to deter a creator from doing what they feel is necessary for their story, and having a character tied up is a time tested way of building suspense/excitement. I lose more sleep over the quality of content being made these days than over the possible extinction of bondage in fiction.

[Zorro]

To specify, I wasn't focusing on damsels in distress but simply "tie-ups" in general, regardless whether it happens to a male, female, human, animal, robot, etc.

I don't see a slowdown in bondage scenes in animation in general. The only slowdown I may have noticed is a downturn of scenes featuring women or girls. If anything, scenes featuring boys or men may have remained the same or even ticked upward slightly since the 90's, in part due to what I call "Wedding Crashers Principle." Named after the 2005 film, it suggests that in recent times, bondage scenes involving men can easily be played for either comedy or drama, whereas with women they tilt more towards drama/danger and therefore some creators or producers may be wary of being seen as exploitative may cut back on them.

For me as someone who actually writes DID fiction, I think a key factor is agency; damsels who are more feisty and at least take some role in their own rescue avoid some of those pratfalls. Plus, the tone of the work helps.

That doesn't mean there aren't new DID scenes happening in animation and some of them aren't good, because a few are! We see new updates every week or month! And of course some of these trends are American, whereas other countries or regions like Europe and Japan haven't really changed too much IMO.

[alternateaccount107]

To specify, I wasn't focusing on damsels in distress but simply "tie-ups" in general, regardless whether it happens to a male, female, human, animal, robot, etc.

I don't see a slowdown in bondage scenes in animation in general. The only slowdown I may have noticed is a downturn of scenes featuring women or girls. If anything, scenes featuring boys or men may have remained the same or even ticked upward slightly since the 90's, in part due to what I call "Wedding Crashers Principle." Named after the 2005 film, it suggests that in recent times, bondage scenes involving men can easily be played for either comedy or drama, whereas with women they tilt more towards drama/danger and therefore some creators or producers may be wary of being seen as exploitative may cut back on them.

For me as someone who actually writes DID fiction, I think a key factor is agency; damsels who are more feisty and at least take some role in their own rescue avoid some of those pratfalls. Plus, the tone of the work helps.

That doesn't mean there aren't new DID scenes happening in animation and some of them aren't good, because a few are! We see new updates every week or month! And of course some of these trends are American, whereas other countries or regions like Europe and Japan haven't really changed too much IMO.

As someone who actually really enjoys damsels escaping on their own and escape artists, this should be a good thing for me. However, I do feel like I've been seeing a lot less bondage in animation lately. However, I think a lot of that has to do with copyright. Back in the day, copyright was much less acted on and so there were countless channels focused on bondage clips, both animated and live-action. Throughout the years I've noticed almost all of them have been deleted for one reason or another. Tri3vid is one of the few still standing and the channel has gotten some stuff taken down like Hoodwinked Red. I feel like he's kind of safe with his current vids for now which is why I'm concerned when he uploads new videos because of the new chance of a copyright strike. I feel like if he uploads new content it should be on a new channel to not jeopardize the decade old videos.
Speaking of Hoodwinked though, that's one of my favorite scenes of all time for how she almost escapes one of the most dangerous perils on her own: bound and gagged, locked inside a cable car filled with bombs that had its windows wired shut, door locked with a padlock, and sent down the wire with the brakes broken, and she manages to untie herself and escape from the cable car by herself. I would love to see another scene like this.

Just found out Little Busters Kud sacrifice but she only had one hand chained.

[patrickxtrem]

Taken for example that it's a big no-no for kid peril in movies and TV anymore like it was in the good old days of classic shows and movies.

Given we don't see much mother and daughter/family full treatments on TV/movies these days. Also, you don't see much mature/grandmothers getting bound and gagged, since that would count as damsel in distress. There are few times in cartoons in Little Red Riding Hood the Grandmother gets the full treatment like in Huckleberry Hound.

[Suicide]

Tie-ups in general I don't think will ever go away simply because it's a good story element to restrict a protagonist without causing harm. So in things that will be targeted towards younger audiences or families it will be much easier for the story to involve a tie-up situation than a death penalty or injury as there's no immediate threat but puts the main characters in danger and ups the tension without being directly harmful.

And even in more adult targeted scenarios the danger someone will face while tied up also ads tension so I think it's just too useful of a tool to go away. Regardless if who's writing is aware people can fetishize it.

[Zorro]

As someone who actually really enjoys damsels escaping on their own and escape artists, this should be a good thing for me. However, I do feel like I've been seeing a lot less bondage in animation lately. However, I think a lot of that has to do with copyright. Back in the day, copyright was much less acted on and so there were countless channels focused on bondage clips, both animated and live-action. Throughout the years I've noticed almost all of them have been deleted for one reason or another. Tri3vid is one of the few still standing and the channel has gotten some stuff taken down like Hoodwinked Red. I feel like he's kind of safe with his current vids for now which is why I'm concerned when he uploads new videos because of the new chance of a copyright strike. I feel like if he uploads new content it should be on a new channel to not jeopardize the decade old videos.
Speaking of Hoodwinked though, that's one of my favorite scenes of all time for how she almost escapes one of the most dangerous perils on her own: bound and gagged, locked inside a cable car filled with bombs that had its windows wired shut, door locked with a padlock, and sent down the wire with the brakes broken, and she manages to untie herself and escape from the cable car by herself. I would love to see another scene like this.

So if I am understanding your argument properly, you're suggesting that harsher enforcements of copyright laws are making it harder for animated DID scenes to be reposted online or even stockpiled into various website or YT accounts for viewing? And therefore with only older scenes being avidly circulated, it seems as if there is a slowdown?

That is an interesting point and I concede that may be a factor. Many times when new scenes are shared on this very forum, download links to video files are more complicated than they were before. And I agree, some YT channels have been zapped for copyright issues (as well as some on DailyMotion). And even some old school sites are barely there for historical purposes, like Grimbor's old DID screenshot site originally on Geocities.

As Suicide points out, DID scenes will always be produced to a degree because "character gets captured" is a basic story trope and since various characters are female, it's inevitable one gets grabbed somewhere. And since shows aimed at kids often heavily restrict violence, restraints are often seen as more acceptable. The frequency when compared to 80's and 90's material may be less, but then again, that era seems more "full" because those scenes are readily available. It's easier to scan the past for old scenes than it sometimes is to scan the present for new ones, since the past is locked.

Again, even with the original 1987 TMNT series, if you watch it at random and expect to see April tied up in any given episode, your odds are about 7 out of 8 that she won't be (out of 193 episodes). We just can remember and list all the times she was (like Penny Gadget on Inspector Gadget).

[alternateaccount107]

So if I am understanding your argument properly, you're suggesting that harsher enforcements of copyright laws are making it harder for animated DID scenes to be reposted online or even stockpiled into various website or YT accounts for viewing? And therefore with only older scenes being avidly circulated, it seems as if there is a slowdown?

That is an interesting point and I concede that may be a factor. Many times when new scenes are shared on this very forum, download links to video files are more complicated than they were before. And I agree, some YT channels have been zapped for copyright issues (as well as some on DailyMotion). And even some old school sites are barely there for historical purposes, like Grimbor's old DID screenshot site originally on Geocities.

As Suicide points out, DID scenes will always be produced to a degree because "character gets captured" is a basic story trope and since various characters are female, it's inevitable one gets grabbed somewhere. And since shows aimed at kids often heavily restrict violence, restraints are often seen as more acceptable. The frequency when compared to 80's and 90's material may be less, but then again, that era seems more "full" because those scenes are readily available. It's easier to scan the past for old scenes than it sometimes is to scan the present for new ones, since the past is locked.

Again, even with the original 1987 TMNT series, if you watch it at random and expect to see April tied up in any given episode, your odds are about 7 out of 8 that she won't be (out of 193 episodes). We just can remember and list all the times she was (like Penny Gadget on Inspector Gadget).

Yes, exactly. And even some older scenes are getting forgotten through time as I see some stuff in my personal saved favorites on my hard drives like Hana no Ko Lunlun episode 22 that I saw in 2012 and was never reuploaded again. And Oh Family! episode 18 was on this random bagged damsel channel. I remember being rather close with an underwater anime scene youtuber who had 300+ videos back when there was a private message function. Of course, his channel is now all gone.
This is why sites like this is so important. I actually have so many things that I haven't seen archived anywhere else that one of my goals in life is to upload everything from my hard drives to somewhere safe.
Since we're here I'll post one of them right now.
https://streamable.com/lxwy7q
Comedy train track peril with a chained girl getting hit by the train.
I actually have no idea where this is from so I'd love to know if anyone does lol. Looks like a Steve McFarlane show but it's apparently not Family Guy.

And yeah, this harsher enforcement of copyright not only erases old videos it also makes sharing of new scenes harder too. Back in the early 2010s there was a goldmine of DiD channels, so many that I couldn't keep count, and I just knew I'd find new scenes on any recommended video. Sadly, since I was young and naive back then I didn't save the majority of videos since I didn't think it would end up like this. Now the active DiD channels can be counted on one hand at any given moment and they're usually deleted within a year if not a few months. Of course, they're never permanently erased.
That said, yes, tie up scenes are a fundamental trope that will never be gone. It's pretty much part of everyday life when you take into account police. And honestly, BDSM as a fetish seems to be more common than ever.
As someone who's actually not that into horror, horror media is still rich in bondage scenes as ever. Almost every horror series will have a bondage scene somewhere. Of course, you'll have to get past all the horror, squeamishness, and potential gruesomeness that those series have.

[boundy22]

IMO Companies are aware for sure for most if not all known fetishes , but if they payed attention to them and try to avoid them , they wont produce a single second clip

I think the context of people against Damsels in Distress situations isn't about Women being captured in itself , but the nature surrounding the capturing , for example there is a difference between a woman/heroine being captured most of times as a lure to another person and she is waiting for someone to save her most of times and using her capture as a shining moment for another character mainly a man/hero , and a woman/heroine being captured cause she was in the wrong place/is a threat to Villains and she tries to help herself most of times and she isn't being used as a shining moment for another character most of times

In fact IMO , Women in Peril and capturing Situations are good chance to show how strong they are trying to get out of it