Line #38 Main/PunyParachute


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8	[[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/amuck5.jpg]]]]
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10	In RealLife, parachutes are ''big''; rarely less than twelve to fifteen feet across once unfurled. But in animation (and comics especially), parachutes are usually much smaller -- a four to six foot diameter for example -- yet somehow, they still manage to work just as well (if not ''better'') than their real life counterparts. This also applies to airship envelopes, and for the same reasons.
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12	This is based on the RuleOfPerception, as a realistically proportioned parachute would reduce the user to little more than a dot or a line hanging from it.
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14	A type of {{Balloonacy}}, with ParasolParachute as a distinct subtrope usually PlayedForLaughs. See also ImprovisedParachute, which often fits this trope.
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17	!!Examples:
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19	[[foldercontrol]]
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21	[[folder:Comic Books]]
22	* ComicBook/SpiderMan often creates parachutes with his webs that will fall under this category. Occasionally he such as when fighting the Human Torch in Spider-Man #1, he creates two foot wide parachutes, one in each hand, which somehow are just as effective as a real parachute.
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25	[[folder:Film -- Animation]]
26	* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}}'', the main character jumps from a building and uses an approximately 2x2 foot scarf to soften his fall. Try that and good luck in not reducing your leg bones to shards.
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29	[[folder:Film -- Live Action]]
30	* ''Film/TheGreatDictator''. One of the wacky inventions demonstrated by Grand Marshall Herring is a hat parachute. It doesn't work.
31	* ''Film/TheGreatRace'' - Professor Fate has a small pedal-powered airship - but the envelope component looks too small to lift the metal gondola framework, let alone a person - and it carries ''two'' people. Still, it looks cool.
32	* ''Film/PeeWeesBigAdventure'' - when Pee-Wee drives Mickey's Edsel convertible off a cliff, after several seconds of screaming, he raises the top, which balloons out a small amount and floats the two-ton car to a soft landing.
33	* ''Film/UndercoverBrother''. When Undercover Brother falls over the edge of the cliff near the end of the movie, he floats to the ground using his bell-bottom pants as a parachute. They are much smaller than a normal parachute.
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36	[[folder:Literature]]
37	* In the first ''Literature/SkylarkSeries'' book by Creator/EEDocSmith, the antagonist Marc "Blackie" [=DuQuesne=] [[spoiler:bails out from the titular spacecraft while high in Earth's atmosphere, using a parachute ''designed for compactness'' [[JustifiedTrope on a world with both considerably lower gravity and higher atmospheric density than Earth]]. While the landing isn't described, there's no indication of him requiring a lengthy stay in hospital when he reappears in the next book.]]
38	* In ''Literature/AngelsAndDemons'', it's mentioned a few times that a person can survive falling from a great height with only a few square metres of fabric to slow them down. Probably best not to try this yourself.
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41	[[folder:Live Action TV]]
42	* ''Series/KamenRiderFourze'' has a specific switch that gives him [[RuleOfThree three of these.]] Somehow they can help him ''survive re-entry'' into the Earth's atmosphere.
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45	[[folder:Video Games]]
46	* The ''Aladdin'' example under Film also applies to [[VideoGame/AladdinCapcom the SNES platformer]], though the player needs to pick up the rug first.
47	* In ''VideoGame/BalloonFight'', the parachute used by enemies after you pop their balloons is no wider than they are. The parachute can be attacked like any balloon, and destroying it sends the enemy to a watery death.
48	* ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'':
49	** The Deku Leaf in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker'' is used to slow falls and ride updrafts; it's only about two or three feet to a side, though it at least relies on [[AWizardDidIt magic]] for its power to stay aloft.
50	** The sailcloth used by Link in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword'' is used for similar purposes and is of similar size.
51	** The Paraglider in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'' is at least a bit bigger than the previous two, and unlike them it seems specifically designed for this function. It's nonetheless way too small to realistically serve this function. In what might be a sneaky LampshadeHanging, a scientist studying the [[BirdPeople Rito]] thinks their wings are too small to function, and asks you to provide scientific data by using the paraglider to fly as far as possible -- he doesn't outright say it, but since they both have the same problem, it makes sense that it would make a good scientific analogue.
52	** The Paraglider returns in ''VideoGame/HyruleWarriorsAgeOfCalamity'', where every playable character uses it, or has some equivalent to it. This includes the gorons [[TheBigGuy Daruk and Yunobo]], who are much bigger and heavier than Link; they have bigger Paragliders, but the SquareCubeLaw means they're even more absurd.
53	* ''VideoGame/ShantaeAndThePiratesCurse'': Risky's Hat, which acts as Shantae's glide mechanic, slowing her falls as well, and it's only about as tall as her.
54	* The B.A.S.E. Jumper parachute in ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' isn't much bigger than an umbrella. Notably, it can only be used by the two classes who can RocketJump. Of the two, one is a deranged lunatic with a very weak grasp on reality and the other is a career drunkard whose metabolism manages to create alcohol of its own accord, [[AchievementsInIgnorance so presumably what they don't know won't hurt them]].
55	* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' has raggedy, patched parachutes that are about six feet squares but work perfectly until their time runs out or you land. The engineering tinker goblin glider has a pair of wings that unfold from one's cloak that are about the same surface area.
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58	[[folder:Web Animation]]
59	* Jaune receives Dust upgrades to his shield in ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'' that allow him to create HardLight extensions to his shield. The extensions make his shield more useful for deflecting attacks but aren't very large in terms of parachuting. However, his landing strategy now involves him extending the hard light wings and using his shield as a glider to control his descent. Also, while he does use a blast of Gravity Dust to cancel out his remaining momentum before he hits the ground, there's no sign that it reduces his or his shield's weight in any way during the initial fall.
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62	[[folder:Webcomics]]
63	* Almost every dirigible in ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'' is ridiculously small for its lifting power.
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66	[[folder:Western Animation]]
67	* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/HeManAndTheMastersOfTheUniverse1983'' shows the short-but-massive Ram-Man descending on a parachute only slightly wider than his shoulders.
68	* ''WesternAnimation/TheHerculoids''. Whenever Gloop or Gleep turn themselves into an ImprovisedParachute, they're significantly smaller than a regular parachute -- too small to provide the braking power they do.
69	* ''WesternAnimation/ThePerilsOfPenelopePitstop''. Penelope once used her ''scarf'' as a parachute after jumping from a plane.
70	* Many cartoons show umbrellas being used as parachutes -- the real-life consequences are shown on ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'' when Hank jumps off the roof of the compound with an umbrella (in a Batman Halloween costume), with fatal results.
71	* Any and every Creator/WarnerBros cartoon parachute.
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Context Main / PunyParachute