History Main / UnraveledEntanglement

The classical version is for {{Comedy}} and uses celluloid meant for a film projector, where it was a {{Stock Joke|s}}, but other long, narrow, flexible and possibly sticky objects are also possible to use, such as cassette tape, bandages, duct tape, or just a long string.

* Poor old Charlie Brown of ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'' fame not only never manages to keep his kite in the air, but often ends up incapacitated by the kite string, ranging from a few strands wrapped around him to a huge snarl of twine that hides him completely from view.

[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheThreeCaballeros'', Donald is watching a film about birds; when it ends, he finds the film has unspooled off the projector and is now wrapped around his feet.

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]

* The fairy tale ''Literature/TheGoldenGoose'' has a goose made of gold found by it IdiotHero protagonist. He goes to an inn where a servant tries to pull a golden feather out but finds herself stuck to the goose. Her mother tries to pull her away and is stuck as well, the father tries to pull them apart and is stuck, the valet joins in, the village parson tries to help, etc. The massive conga line happens to pass near the castle, where lived a princess who'd never laughed in her life. She starts laughing at the sight so hard that she starts crying, and the king marries her to the hero.

[[folder:Puppet Shows]]

* In ''Film/TheMuppetMovie'', the Swedish Chef has the role of operating the film projector, which goes about as well as you would expect. When the film suddenly stops playing and Kermit inquires what happened, the Chef shows up tangled in film and says, "[[ForeignSoundingGibberish Derversh de flim go flipflipflipflip!]]"
* In ''Franchise/TheMuppets Celebrate Creator/JimHenson'', this happens to Bean Bunny when he tries to run a film of Henson's early years, possibly as an InternalHomage to ''The Muppet Movie''.

* At the end of the lost episode of ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'', Patchy the pirate tries to replay the VHS tape of the lost episode, but the film becomes unraveled while the tape is still in the VCR, and Patchy gets tangled up in the film.
* Done without a film reel in the ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'' animated special ''WesternAnimation/ShesAGoodSkateCharlieBrown''. When Snoopy is trying to get the music ready for Peppermint Patty's skating session, the cassette tape breaks with the celluloid getting everywhere and all over Snoopy.
* Happens in the first act of the ''WesternAnimation/MrBogus'' episode "[[Recap/MrBogusS1E2ClassClownBogus Class Clown Bogus]]", where Tommy's teacher is the poor victim of this trope when the tape gets unraveled while in the VCR.

* At the end of the WesternAnimation/RogerRabbitShort "Roller Coaster Rabbit", Roger crashes into the camera and is tangled up in film.
* ''WesternAnimation/SuperFriends'' 1973/74 episode "Dr. Pelagian's War". While Miss Caraway is checking stock market reports on a ticker tape machine, Dr. Pelagian takes control of it and makes it spew out yards of ticker tape that entangles her.
* ''Series/DieSendungMitDerMaus'': The fold-out beach chair (pat. pend.) is a surefire way to run into this trope. Even the otherwise very apt Mouse gets into trouble.

* ''WesternAnimation/MiloMurphysLaw'' shows this happening to a young Milo (then later the present day version of himself and his friends) with shoelaces--the reason why he wears loafers.
* In ''WesternAnimation/HouseOfMouse'' short "The Phone Company", Donald is trying to reconnect some cords at the phone company and ends up tangled up in the middle of them.

* ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'': While Kim is trying to fix up the [[TheAllegedCar hand-me-down car]] her dad gave her, Ron finds himself entangled in wires for no particular reason.

A character needs to do something with an object, and instead manages to entangle themselves in said object. [[EpicFail Not just make a hopeless mess, but making themselves part of the hopeless mess.]]

The classical version is for {{Comedy}} and uses celluloid meant for a film projector, where it was a {{Stock Joke|s}}, but other long, narrow, and possibly sticky objects are also possible to use, eg cassette tape, bandages, duct tape, or just a long string.

This is a {{Comedy}} trope where the above will happen to the unfortunate victim, be it a ButtMonkey or TheChewToy.

* One ''very'' early ''ComicStrip/FoxTrot'' arc had Roger, in the beginning of his life as a HopelessWithTechnology WalkingTechBane, end up wrapped in printer paper while trying to use a computer. [[NoodleIncident We don't see what happened]].

'''R2-D2:''' [Electronic snickering]

* In ''Franchise/TheMuppets Celebrate Creator/JimHenson'', this happens to Bean Bunny when trying to run a film of Henson's early years, possibly as an InternalHomage to ''The Muppet Movie''.

* ''Webcomic/CtrlAltDel: Ethan somehow manages to do this to himself with duct tape. Even Lucas, who is pretty thoroughly desensitised to his roommate's misadventures, is a bit perturbed by this.

* At the end of the lost episode of ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'', Patchy the pirate tries to replay the VHS tape of the lost episode, only for the film to become unraveled while the tape is still in the VCR, and for Patchy to get tangled up in the film.
* Done without a film reel in the ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}} animated special ''WesternAnimation/ShesAGoodSkateCharlieBrown''. When Snoopy is trying to get the music ready for Peppermint Patty's skating session, the cassette tape breaks with the celluloid getting everywhere and all over Snoopy.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'': In the first Slappy Squirrel cartoon, Slappy "accidentally" gets a dog wrapped up in a videotape's tape. When she re-winds the tape to get it back in the cassette the dog ends up TrappedInTVLand.

* In an {{invoked|Trope}} example, Victor from ''Discworld/MovingPictures'' uses octo-cellulose film to entangle and restrain the giant Dungeon-Dimensional duplicate of himself that emerged from the theater's screen.

* In ''Disney/TheThreeCaballeros'', Donald is watching a film about birds; when it ends, he finds the film has unspooled off the projector and is now wrapped around his feet.

* ''Webcomic/CtrlAltDel: Ethan somehow manages to do this to himself with duct tape. Even Lucas, who is pretty thoroughly desensitised to his roommate's misadventures, is a bit peturbed by this.

* Done without a film reel in the ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}} animated special ''She's A Good Skate, Charlie Brown''. When Snoopy is trying to get the music ready for Peppermint Patty's skating session, the cassette tape breaks with the celluloid getting everywhere and all over Snoopy.

!Examples

[[folder: Film ]]

* In ''Film/TheMuppetMovie'', the Swedish Chef has the role of operating the film projector, which goes about as well as you would expect. When the film suddenly stops playing and Kermit inquires what happened, the Chef shows up tangled in film and says, "[[ForeignSoundingGibberish Derversh de flim go flipflipflipflip!]]"
* In ''Recap/MysteryScienceTheater3000TheMovie'', Mike and the 'bots get an unscheduled break from the movie when the film comes unspooled and then melts. The scene cuts to Dr. Forrester, whose tie is caught in the projector reel, and his arm is somehow on fire. He uses the film to put out the fire, and just gets his hands tangled in it.

-->'''C-3PO''': Help! I think I'm melting! This is all your fault.
-->'''R2-D2''': [Electronic snickering]

[[folder: Literature ]]

* In an {{invoked|Trope}} example, Victor from ''Discworld/MovingPictures'' used octo-cellulose film to entangle and restrain the giant Dungeon-Dimensional duplicate of himself that emerged from the theater's screen.

[[folder: Newspaper Comics ]]

* Poor old Charlie Brown of ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'' fame not only never manages to keep his kite in the air, but often ends up incapacitated by the kite string, ranging from a few strands wrapped around him to a huge snarl of twine that hides him completely from view.
* One ''very'' early ''ComicStrip/FoxTrot'' arc had Roger, in the beginning of his life as a HopelessWithTechnology WalkingTechBane, end up wrapped in printer paper while trying to use a computer. [[NoodleIncident We don't see what happened]].
-->'''Peter:''' It's the Mummy!\\
'''Paige:''' No, it's the daddy!\\
'''Roger:''' You laugh- that thing tried to kill me!

[[folder: Puppet Shows ]]

* In an episode of ''Series/{{Thunderbirds}}'', International Rescue erases a television videotape with a remote magnetic pulse device in order to protect their secrets. When the cameraman unloads the (now smoking) tape from the truck-mounted camera, the tape starts to unravel all over the announcer standing below.
* In ''Franchise/TheMuppets Celebrate Creator/JimHenson'', this happens to Bean Bunny when trying to run a film of Henson's early years, possibly as an InternalHomage to ''The Muppet Movie''.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

* At the end of the lost episode of ''WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants'', Patchy the pirate tries to replay the VHS tape of the lost episode, only for the film to become unraveled while the tape is still in the VCR, and for Patchy to get tangled up in the film.

* ''{{WesternAnimation/Animaniacs}}'': In the first Slappy Squirrel cartoon, Slappy "accidentally" gets a dog wrapped up in a videotape's tape. When she re-winds the tape to get it back in the cassette the dog ends up TrappedInTVLand.

* The fold-out beach chair (pat. pend.) is a surefire way to run into this trope. Even the otherwise very apt [[DieSendungMitDerMaus Mouse]] gets into trouble.

[[AC:{{Film}}]]
* In ''Film/TheMuppetMovie'', the Swedish Chef has the role of operating the film projector, which goes about as well as you would expect. When the film suddenly stops playing and Kermit inquires what happened, the Chef shows up tangled in film and says, "[[ForeignSoundingGibberish Derversh de flim go flipflipflipflip!]]"
* In ''Recap/MysteryScienceTheater3000TheMovie'', Mike and the 'bots get an unscheduled break from the movie when the film comes unspooled and then melts. The scene cuts to Dr. Forrester, whose tie is caught in the projector reel, and his arm is somehow on fire. He uses the film to put out the fire, and just gets his hands tangled in it.
* In ''Disney/TheThreeCaballeros'', Donald is watching a film about birds; when it ends, he finds the film has unspooled off the projector and is now wrapped around his feet.
* ''Franchise/StarWars: Film/ANewHope''. After the TIE fighter attack on the Millenium Falcon as it escaped from the Death Star, we see C-3PO tangled up in wires as a result of the ship being hit.
-->'''C-3PO''': Help! I think I'm melting! This is all your fault.
-->'''R2-D2''': [Electronic snickering]

[[AC:{{Literature}}]]
* In an {{invoked|Trope}} example, Victor from ''Discworld/MovingPictures'' used octo-cellulose film to entangle and restrain the giant Dungeon-Dimensional duplicate of himself that emerged from the theater's screen.
* In ''Literature/TheNightOfWishes'', Maurizio and Jacob wants to toss a piece of pergament with a spell on it into the fire. The pergament becomes animate and starts to strangle the two like a python.

[[AC:{{Newspaper Comics}}]]
* Poor old Charlie Brown of ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'' fame not only never manages to keep his kite in the air, but often ends up incapacitated by the kite string, ranging from a few strands wrapped around him to a huge snarl of twine that hides him completely from view.

[[AC:PuppetShows]]
* In an episode of ''Series/{{Thunderbirds}}'', International Rescue erases a television videotape with a remote magnetic pulse device in order to protect their secrets. When the cameraman unloads the (now smoking) tape from the truck-mounted camera, the tape starts to unravel all over the announcer standing below.

[[AC:WesternAnimation]]
* At the end of the lost episode of ''WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants'', Patchy the pirate tries to replay the VHS tape of the lost episode, only for the film to become unraveled while the tape is still in the VCR, and for Patchy to get tangled up in the film.
* Done without a film reel in the ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}} animated special ''She's A Good Skate, Charlie Brown''. When Snoopy is trying to get the music ready for Peppermint Patty's skating session, the cassette tape breaks with the celluloid getting everywhere and all over Snoopy.
* Happens in the first act of the ''WesternAnimation/MrBogus'' episode "[[Recap/MrBogusS1E2ClassClownBogus Class Clown Bogus]]", where Tommy's teacher is the poor victim of this trope when the tape gets unraveled while in the VCR.
* ''{{WesternAnimation/Animaniacs}}'': In the first Slappy Squirrel cartoon, Slappy "accidentally" gets a dog wrapped up in a videotape's tape. When she re-winds the tape to get it back in the cassette the dog ends up TrappedInTVLand.
* At the end of the WesternAnimation/RogerRabbitShort "Roller Coaster Rabbit", Roger crashes into the camera and is tangled up in film.
* ''WesternAnimation/SuperFriends'' 1973/74 episode "Dr. Pelagian's War". While Miss Caraway is checking stock market reports on a ticker tape machine, Dr. Pelagian takes control of it and makes it spew out yards of ticker tape that entangles her.

* At the end of the RogerRabbitShort "Roller Coaster Rabbit", Roger crashes into the camera and is tangled up in film.

* ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'': While trying to fix up the [[TheAllegedCar hand-me-down car]] Kim's dad gave her, Ron finds himself entangled in wires for no particular reason.