movie trope question

[boxofdelights]

I just watched Adjustment Bureau and had some thoughts about the trope in which Protagonist tells Love Interest, "You are making a terrible mistake! I must rescue you from the life you have made for yourself and particularly the life partner you have chosen for yourself, so that you can live happily ever after with me!"

See, a couple weeks ago I watched Young Adult, which might not leap to mind as an example of that trope because its Protagonist is, maybe not bunny-boiling levels of crazy, but completely wrong about Love Interest needing to be rescued. And female.

So I wondered, are there many examples in which Protagonist is right and female? Are there any in which Protagonist is wrong and male? (He has to be the protagonist. Comedy sidekicks do not count.)

Also, in the normal case in which Protagonist is right and male, is the scene where he grabs her by the wrist and runs away obligatory?

Comments

[mishalak]

Right and female, I think Giselle from Enchanted would be an example of that. Rescues Robert from the wrong girlfriend with many wacky misadventures. Oh and I just thought of another. The Sound of Music.

[oursin]

Grant and Hepburn, in Bringing Up Baby and Holiday. Feel this may occur in other screwball comedy, but haven't finished my coffee yet.

[boxofdelights]

Thank you! On the LJ side, people also mentioned Irene Dunne, with and without Cary.

[snippy]

Oh man, I love Holiday. And too few people know it.

[amaebi]

I thought of Holiday after I saw the LJ-side answers, but I don't recall the Hepburn character being up to trying to save the Grant character from her own sister. I remember the Hepburn character as pretty abject. And also, the witchy hats.

[boxofdelights]

I must rewatch it.

[boxofdelights]

You are definitely right about Enchanted. The Sound of Music, though... As I remember it, Maria is shockingly headstrong, but she only tells the Captain "you are making a terrible mistake" about his treatment of the children. That is justified by her natural concern for the well-being of the children. Headstrong as she is, she could not justify speaking out for the sake of her own happiness.

[snippy]

What about when Black Widow rescues Hawkeye from Loki, in Avengers? There's an example in secondary characters in Twilight (can't remember the character names).

There are many more cases on TV, are you limiting it to movies?

[boxofdelights]

Oh, good one! Yeah, I was only looking at movies. Big budgets seem to lead to conservative choices, which make for less diversity over all.