In a conversation with a co-worker, I mentioned that the friendly men in white jackets and giant butterfly nets will be coming for her soon. Has there ever been a time in the past where mental patients were caught with nets such as those? If not, whence did this image stem? It just seems so pantomime-ish …
… Giant Butterflies?
As an off-the-top-of-my-head WAG, I’ve got a hunch that the image of “orderlies” going after a crazy with a huge net goes back to vaudeville. It just seems to be that kind of thing. I’ve got this memory of seeing that meme back in some old Three Stooges & Marx Brothers bits.
I’d would venture to guess that the people running around chasing butterflies with nets looked crazy to most people and that it somehow got juxtaposed into chasing crazy people with nets. :dubious: That my theory and I’m sticking with it.
There are restraints that I’m sure influnced the vaudvile acts. Rope in a noose on al long pole, the leather neck collars connected to poles for moving the violent.
The nets were clearly used to look absurd. You can’t catch a human in a butterfly net – he’ll just break out. But it’s a funnier object than a hook or restraint.
It probably started in comic strips before vaudeville. I seem to recall a Dreams of a Rarebit Fiend comic that showed the net.
Oh, I love McCay’s stuff. Have you an online cite for that image?