Needs Help: Murphys Bed

We're getting example drift between Murphy's Bed and Bear Trap Bed. In addition someone resorted the Murphy's Bed examples. Instead of being by subcategory (real Murphy beds, reclining chairs, folding lawnchairs, hammocks, etc.), they split into "comedic" and "lethal".

I feel that these two pages should be merged back into one (under the Murphy's Bed name) and split into folders according to beds, chairs, hammocks, etc., keeping the media headings as softsplits.

Once consensus is reached, this should be relatively easy to do, so this repair shop slot can be freed up.

I feel that a merge may make sense. Also, reordering the description.

In theory Bear Trap Bed was supposed to be a subtrope of Murphy's Bed, but I'm getting the feeling that people don't know that and are adding examples of whichever to the first one they see.

The Bear Trap Bed is clear at least, but I can't even figure out what the Murphey's Bed is supposed to be. The examples don't help(just seems to be "bad things happening to people in beds"). The description could use help at least.

I think merging would be a good approach here.

Murphy's Bed variations (probably should be added to main page, names are Just for Fun):

• Classic Murphy's Bed: A bed that you pull out from the wall to sleep in. It folds back up, trapping you within the wall.
• Bunk Bed Sandwich: The top bunk falls down, crushing the person in the lower bunk.
• Bear Trap Bed: A folding travel bed collapses, with the two mattress halves folding up like a taco shell.
• Hammock Knot: A hammock twists and tangles, trapping the person within like a spider-web.
• Lawnchair Jackknife: A folding lawnchair or cot folds back in on itself, crushing the person within.
• Hidden in the Hideabed: A bed that folds out of a couch, which a person can be folded into.

edited 6th Jun '13 6:00:00 PM by NateTheGreat

Maybe a rename to something like When Beds Attack?

The split into comedic vs. lethal was decided in a previous TRS thread as sorting by type of bed doesn't say anything about the trope's narrative purpose. Type is not important. Role in the story is.

That previous TRS was before the thread purge in 2011, yes? And the descriptions as they currently are talk both about comedic and dramatic.

I find Bear Trap Bed to be rather clear what it is. Murphy's Bed, less so, and the dividing into comedic and serious doesn't help at all. Bad things happen with bed and bed-like furniture?

Two-year-old threads notwithstanding, I don't see a substantial difference between this trope Played for Laughs and this trope Played Seriously.

Come to think of it, Murphy's Law is about happenstance or coincidence, right? And weaponized furniture doesn't relate to that, does it? So perhaps keep Murphy's Bed sacred to comedic examples (and split by furniture type) and move the deadly examples to Weaponized Furniture or something similar.

edited 7th Jun '13 5:57:50 AM by NateTheGreat

I think the comedic vs lethal split is good. You can picture, say, "a bed eating someone" being played for either comedy or horror, depending on what they are like afterward. Despite being the same bed both times. When Beds Attack might be a good re-name. I would recommend it as an alias if if we keep the old name actually. Weaponized Furniature wouldn't work because people would confuse it with using furniture as an Improvised Weapon(which is quite common in comics or bar fights)

I would also re-write the description to emphasize more the fact that one does not expect these things to happen in a bed, which seems to be a part of it. Adding Nate's examples (without the good, but probably confusing in examples, just for fun names) would help I think. You could even make them all sub tropes and leave the main page for examples that don't fit in a sub category.

Correct; Murphy's Law is about accidents, not weapons.

What's wrong with the category names? They're not trope names, and just putting "chair", "bed", "lawnchair", and so forth would accomplish exactly the same thing.

I wasn't really suggesting "Weaponized Furniture" as the final name, just a placeholder. Suggest a better one by all means.

Not sure the splitting by furniture types makes sense. (not sure there would be more than a few examples per category).

As for names:

Murphys Furniture - I think the "Murpheys" in the name isn't bad, and I get that it's a reference to an actual Murphys bed, but I do think it gives an overly narrow impression

Un Safe In Bed - I don't live the seeming restriction to beds, but I think it conveys the meaning at least in a memorable way.

Splitting within the page, folderizing by type of furniture instead of "lethal" vs. "comedic" (possibly excising the nonaccidental usages into a sister trope). Keep the media categories as bold headers just like now.

I think the the comedic/lethal distinction is an interesting part of it, and should be kept. Organizing by them is one way to do that. You do get a few weird cases organizing by furniture type, like is a pullout a sofa or a bed?

Remove the "Murphy's" because a Murphy bed is something else and it sounds like a concept that Murphy named, like Schrödinger's Butterfly.

The split by how it's played reminds me of Groin Attack.

I support a split between Played for Comedy and Played for Drama examples and a new name for each.

edited 7th Jul '13 3:18:21 AM by MikuruFan

I'm fine with the separation between serious and humorous examples.

That said... I don't get the need for Bear Trap Bed. It seems like an unnecessary subtrope of Murphy's Bed, just one specific variant that isn't sufficiently distinct in any practical sense.

I can REALLY understand confusion about Murphy's Bed. The name makes no sense without knowledge of Murphy's Law, which isn't linked anywhere on the page, and the quote has nothing to do with Murphy's Bed, but everything to do with a Murphy Bed. Personally, I think it should be changed to Deadly Bed or some much name. Being too close to an existing phrase (but unrelated to it) is just confusing.

edited 31st Jul '13 6:47:36 AM by Larkmarn

I support renaming it to When Beds Attack, or something along those lines. When I read Murphy's Bed, I think it's about a character owning and/or sleeping in a Murphy's Bed (and possibly a case of People Sit On Chairs), not a bed folding shut and trapping or killing someone.

edited 31st Jul '13 10:27:49 AM by maxwellsilver

Some examples of Murphy's Beds concern actual Murphy Beds, but not all of them.

So are we edging toward a complete split (weaponized vs. comedic), and not using "Murphy's Bed" for either of them?

I think they should be merged under a new title with a soft split between comedic and dramatic.

Clock is set. sounds reasonable.