I was watching The Wizard of Oz and during one scene, when they enter the creepy forest on the way to the witch’s castle, I noticed that one of the characters is holding a big butterfly net. I couldn’t help but think “They’re looking for a witch, not an escaped mental patient”.
I figure, that among all the other things they’re carrying(The tin man has a revovler), it’s for comic effect, but it made me wonder: How exactly did butterfly nets get associated with catching mental patients in popular culture?
Because the image of police officers taking down a non-offender, cuffing them, and removing them to a building with locks on the doors and bars in the windows with no due process might be more disturbing?
Agreed, but that’s not really addressing the OP’s question.
I’d be interested in knowing that too from a media perspective. (I’m guessing it was in print like some kind of cartoon before it was popularized on film.) I’d be curious to know when and where it started as an icon/cliche.