Baby Carriage: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

This trope describes the phenomenon wherein, if there is a car chase, there will be a woman pushing a baby carriage (aka pram or bassinet). In [[Real Life]], you will never see as many women pushing baby carriages down the street as you will during a car chase in a movie or TV show. Obviously this device works because the idea that a baby was harmed as the result of a chase adds instant Drama. Of course, don't expect the drama to last long. It's usually just a temporary distraction, and both drivers will be able to swerve around said Baby Carriage.

In older comedies, nothing much was thought of [[Dead Baby Comedy|having the baby actually get hit]], even by the protagonists.

 

 

See also [[Fruit Cart]] and [[Cardboard Boxes]] for other stock obstacles that will get in the way of a [[Chase Scene]], no matter how improbable their location may be.

 

{{examples}}

* In the anime ''[[Ergo Proxy]]'', Vincent Law is attacked by a proxy in a crowded plaza. Raul Creed's wife is killed in the melee and the carriage carrying their adopted son is bumped and begins to roll down a flight of stairs. When we next see the carriage in the aftermath it is lying on its side at the bottom of the stairs with blood pooling out of it.

* The runaway baby carriage example also shows up in the very first episode of the [[Little Lulu]] anime. Fortunately, Lulu and Tubby were there to catch it before it could continue rolling away down the sidewalk. The baby's mother then [[And Your Reward Is Edible|rewards them with a bunch of bananas for their good deed]].

 

== [[Film]] ==

*** Brilliantly sent up in one of ''[[The Naked Gun]]'' movies during a dream sequence ("MMMMYYYY LLLLLAAAAAWWWWNNNNMOOOOOWWWWWWWEEEEERRRRR"). It gets bonus points for [[OJ Simpson|Nordberg]] trying to ''spike'' the baby after saving it.

** Also referenced in the latest ''[[An American Tail]]'' film.

** The whole Odessa Steps sequence is nicely snuck into ''[[Brazil (film)|Brazil]]'', except with an industrial vacuum cleaner instead of a baby carriage.

** And most recently, [[Eli Roth]] used it in ''Nation's Pride'', the film-within-a-film in ''[[Inglourious Basterds]]''.

* Next to ''Potemkin'', the best known example is in ''[[The French Connection]]'', during the subway chase.

* Subverted in the opening scene of ''The Soldier'' (1982). A woman with a baby carriage steps out in front of a limousine and is promptly run over. She turns out to be a terrorist (the baby carriage is full of weapons) trying to get the vehicle to stop so it can be ambushed.

 

== [[Literature]] ==

* Averted in Anne Fine's ''All Bones and Lies''. The protagonist, Colin, is introduced to a single mother and her baby daughter when a car crashed into her baby carriage throwing the baby through the air. Colin's sister reached up and plucked the baby from the air randomly saving her life. Both the mother and Colin take a long time to get over how nearly the baby died.

 

* An episode of ''[[Power Rangers in Space]]'' had a variation: In the episode "Silence is Golden," [[The Psycho Rangers]] have [[Applied Phlebotinum]] set up to hone in on the sound of the Rangers' voices within Angel Grove. So Cassie is hurrying back to base as silently as possible when she sees a baby carriage about to fall down a flight of concrete stairs. She struggles between protecting herself and warning the mother, but what other choice does she have...? (Besides morphing in public and rushing up to save the kid herself as the Pink Ranger, anyway.)

** Chasing down an out of control baby carriage to keep the baby from being hurt is also how Kimberly, Tommy, and Billy met [[Suspiciously Similar Substitute|Aisha, Rocky, and Adam]].

** In an episode of ''[[Power Rangers RPM]]'', the carriage is used as a weapon. Baby included. Yeah.

* In the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' episode "Human Nature," when the Tenth Doctor is in human form to hide from the [[Monster of the Week]] and has no idea of his real identity, one of the hints of his [[Hidden Depths]] comes when he realizes [[Piano Drop|a piano is about to fall]] on a baby carriage (two cliches for the price of one!) and sets off a Rube Goldberg-like sequence of events in time to stop it.

* The ''[[Torchwood]]'' episode "Sleeper" shows a young mother who's really an alien sleeper agent who, upon being activated, walks away to carry out her mission and leaves her baby's pram to roll into the road. We hear the baby crying, followed by squealing brakes and a crash.

 

== [[Western Animation]] ==

* Spoofed in an episode of ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'', where a ghost-like Homer sees a carriage going down and picks up the baby just because he's annoyed with its wails. The baby's mother believes it to be a miracle.

** Another episode features a boat chase in which Wiggum has to avoid a woman jet-skiing with a baby carriage.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Babies Babies Everywhere]]

[[Category:Chase Scene]]