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{{trope}}
[[File:
{{quote|''[[Give a Man a Fish|Make a man a fire, you keep him warm for a day.]] Set a man on fire, [[Half Truth|you keep him warm]] [[Black Humor|for the rest of his life.]]''
|'''[[Terry Pratchett]]'''}}
The human body is unexpectedly flammable, resulting in characters, particularly [[Spear Carrier
▲{{quote|''Make a man a fire, you keep him warm for a day. Set a man on fire, [[Half Truth|you keep him warm]] [[Black Humor|for the rest of his life.]]''|'''[[Terry Pratchett]]'''}}
Not to be confused with the [[Man
▲The human body is unexpectedly flammable, resulting in characters, particularly [[Spear Carrier|Spear Carriers]], [[Red Shirt|Red Shirts]], [[Evil Minions]], and [[The Dragon|Dragons]] being engulfed in flames and walking or running around the scene. Thus ensuring steady work (and a lot of money) for stuntmen. These days it's as likely to be used for comedy as to be used straight.
▲Not to be confused with the [[Man On Fire (Film)|Denzel Washington film of the same name]], which ''doesn't'' feature a literal man on fire. Or with the [[Fantastic Four (Comic Book)|Human Torch]]. Or with ''Burning Man''. Or... you get the idea.
For the self-destructive version, see [[Self-Immolation]]. For the version that seemingly happens without any kind of external ignition source, see [[Spontaneous Human Combustion]].
Compare with [[Playing
▲See also [[Kill It With Fire]] and [[Incendiary Exponent]].
{{examples}}
== Anime and Manga ==
* In ''[[Rurouni Kenshin]]'', {{spoiler|Makoto Shishio}} is only defeated when {{spoiler|his body temperature rises so much during his fight with Kenshin that Shishio bursts into flame.}}
** But that's only after his blood boils and evaporates away. Sheesh.
* In ''[[Baccano
** In 2001, {{spoiler|Czeslaw}} throws himself into a fireplace to burn away some ropes that have been binding him, then walks [[Out of the Inferno]] and pushes past his terrified captors, [[Healing Factor|regenerating]] as he goes.
* [[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann
* In EP544 of [[Pokémon (
* This is how
== Comic Books ==
* The [[Punisher]] one-shot "The Tyger" begins and ends with a man on fire. Also, the arc "The Slavers" ends with one.
== Film ==
* Parodied (sort of) in ''[[Team America: World Police]]'', in which all the characters were wooden marionettes, and thus obviously ''quite'' capable of burning.
* Anakin Skywalker, just before his final transformation into Darth Vader in ''[[Star Wars]]: Episode III: [[Revenge of the Sith]]''. Subverted in that, realistically, only his hair and clothes burn. We later see (in ''Return of the Jedi'') that his eyelashes are still there, but the make-up department's only human! (Though it did (subtly) get fixed in the DVD.)
* In the film ''[[Ong Bak]]'', Tony Jaa's character kicks a man in the face while his legs are on fire. He then puts them out in a barrel of water. (Note: Tony Jaa did his own stunts. ''[[Badass|Damn]]''.)
* In the film ''[[Hobgoblins]]'', one character is set on fire after diving onto a
* In one of the ''[[Scary Movie]]'' sequels (either three or four),{{verify}} a flaming man appears in the background walking a flaming dog.
* In ''[[Anchorman]]'', the rival news crews get involved in a violent street brawl and right in the middle a man on fire staggers through the scene. [[Rule of Funny|It's funny]].
{{quote|
*
** ''[[Licence to Kill]]'': Sanchez is doused in petrol and set alight by [[James Bond (film)|James Bond]].
** ''[[
*** It was also a not-so-subtle attempt to poke fun of that particular villain's sexuality
* In ''[[Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels]]'', a man on fire comes bursting out of a pub, with no explanation. It becomes something of a [[Brick Joke]], as we later learn that Rory Breaker had set the man on fire for turning the channel on his football match.
* ''[[Smoking Aces]]''
* During the climax of ''[[A Nightmare
* In ''[[
* The [[
* In one memorable scene in the original 1951 ''[[The Thing
* Near the end of the D-Day scene of ''[[Saving Private Ryan]]'', the Allies use a flamethrower on the Nazis. One of the Allied soldiers shouts [[War Is Hell|"Don't shoot! Let 'em burn!"]]
** Another scene depicts US soldiers piling out of a burning landing craft while on fire.
** Later, a German self propelled gun is hit by a Molotov cocktail, resulting in several men on fire wandering around.
* In ''[[Brazil (
* In ''[[Manhunter (
* In ''[[Kingdom of Heaven]]'', Balian kills his priest half-brother after he takes his dead wife's necklace and cuts her head off due to her being a suicide. Balian then stabs the guy with a sword he's working on, pushing the guy into a fire. The man then gets off the forge and runs around screaming before finally dying after having set the smithy on fire.
* In ''[[Waking Life]]'', a man ends his disgruntled rant on the human condition by dousing himself with gasoline and tossing a match onto himself, as stoically as a Buddhist monk. Two bystanders watch with mild curiosity on flames rendered by hand-painting the frames of the film.
{{quote|
* ''[[The Wicker Man]]''. The clue is in the title.
* ''The Blue and the Grey,'' a movie about the [[American Civil War]] usually shown in schools, has a Confederate soldier burning alive after his legs have been shot, begging his brother to shoot him. And is responsible for making a class of fifth graders throw up and have nightmares for the rest of <s>our</s> their lives.
* In ''[[Freddy
* In ''[[Crank
* In ''[[The Assassination Bureau]]'', Dragomilov disposes of {{spoiler|Popescu, the Romanian assassin}} by setting him on fire with {{spoiler|a mouthful of cognac and the match he was using to light his cigar}}.
* In ''[[Manhattan Melodrama]]'', a crew member of the ''General Slocum'' is on fire as he runs out of the cabin before falling into the water.
* In ''[[Watchmen (
* In ''[[
* The climax to ''[[Maniac Cop 2]]'' centres around a deliciously dangerous-looking set of stunts where the villain is set on fire and just keeps on killing everyone anyway, eventually crashing through a wall and falling through the roof of a van, which promply explodes. The best part is just how long it goes on for - they must have set that poor stuntman on fire about ten times to get that many shots.
** ''[[Maniac Cop 3 Badge of Silence]]'' then [[Serial Escalation|takes it to insane levels]] when the titular bad guy ends the film on fire ''again'' - during an extended car chase!
* In ''[[The Towering Inferno]]'', a man staggers out of one of the elevators in flames after it stops on the floor the fire is on.
* Alec Holland is shown to be caught on fire before diving into the swamp in ''[[Swamp Thing (
* In ''[[Billy Madison]]'' during pie baking part of the trialathlon competition between Billy and Eric, Eric set the pie and himself on fire with laughing results.
* The fate of the [[
* Any war film with flamethrowers, napalm, Molotov cocktails, or some other form of [[Kill It
** ''[[
** Along with the examples above, the Omaha Beach scene of ''[[Saving Private Ryan]]'' features a soldier - and two of his buddies - who burned to death when his flamethrower was hit.
** A nonmilitary example occurs in the opening scene of ''[[Lethal Weapon 4]]''.
* The Scarecrow in the movie of [[The Wizard of Oz (
== Literature ==
* ''[[The Zombie Survival Guide]]'' advised you against using fire to fight the undead, as the only thing worse than a zombie trying to eat you is [[Infernal Retaliation|a ''burning''
* ''[[
▲== Live Action Television ==
▲* ''[[American Horror Story (TV)|American Horror Story]]'''s Larry Harvey was set on fire by his lover's son.
* ''[[CSI: Miami]]'' has at least two Corpses of the Week go up in flames in this manner:
** One man was siphoning high-quality gasoline out of motorboats and selling it for a profit, only to meet his end when a static spark from his phone sets off the gas vapors that have accumulated in his esophagus.
** Another has two boys attempting to siphon gasoline out of a parking lot, only to be caught by the very irate driver, who douses one boy with gasoline and sets him on fire. The burning man crashes the party next to the parking lot and causes a panic before he dies.
* This is parodied in the opening credits of ''[[Police Squad!]]'', with a random, flaming man running by during the shoot-out in the office.
* Happens frequently on ''[[
* Parodied in one sketch on the comedy-improv show ''[[Whose Line Is It Anyway?]]'', where Wayne Brady played a "superhero" named Thinks Everybody's On Fire Man. At the end, his fellow hero [[Captain Obvious]] helpfully noted that he wasn't ''really'' on fire.
* Edgar Hansen on [[Deadliest Catch]] set himself and a crab table on fire after doing his "flaming hook" ritual.
* The monologue of a ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' episode hosted by Linda Hamilton had her saying she's not [[Terminator (
* On one episode of ''The Late Show with [[David Letterman]]'', a man on fire briefly ran behind Letterman and into the backstage area during his monologue. Normally I'd assume this was part of the act, but Letterman seemed genuinely surprised, and both he and the camera made a point of totally ignoring the flaming man, and never even mentioned him (there was no laugh track or anything either). To this day I don't know what all that was about.
** "Man on Fire" was a recurring bit for a while. At one point they "ran out of money to cover the insurance" and the man just ran out ''as if'' he was on fire. They even shilled for people to [[Product Placement|sponsor]] the Man on Fire. (MoF would yell "Subway! Eat Fresh!" or whatever while on fire).
* On ''[[The Daily Show]]''/''[[The Colbert Report
* An attempt to render harmless a nuclear-warhead-tipped ICBM during an episode of [[MacGyver]] results in a fuel explosion and a man on fire. It somehow seems out of place.
* ''[[
* When ''[[Series/Top Gear|Top Gear]]'' [[Hilarity Ensues|redesigned Sir Steve Redgrave's garden]], during the Ground Force-style fast-forwarding bit a blazing man runs into shot and is put out with a fire blanket. It is [[Rule of Funny|never really explained]].
* In one episode of ''[[
* In [[CSI: NY]], "Sleight Out of Hand", there was a magician who set himself on fire as a magic trick. While the magician was performing his trick, a guy several blocks away burned to death from being set on fire.
** Later, Mac demonstrated the cooling gel used by stunt performers for 'burns' aka setting themselves on fire, slathering it on a sleeve that covered his arm and inviting Danny to set the arm on fire.
{{quote|
'''Danny''': Okay, but if you go up in flames, I get your office. }}
* Averted in an episode of ''[[Psych]]'', where Shawn and Gus pretend to be stuntmen in order to investigate a famous daredevil's entourage. They wonder what the special suits they have to wear for the new stunt they're testing are for, until someone pulls out a torch and ignites it. The boys panic and immediately call it quits.
* In the ''[[
* ''[[
== Music ==
* [[
** This song is considered the band's [[Incredibly Lame Pun|''Light My Fire'']] by many fans.
* Sid Wilson of the band [[
* The [[Hipgnosis (Creator)|Hipgnosis]] cover of [[Pink Floyd (Music)|Pink Floyd]]'s ''Wish You Were Here'' album includes a photo of two businessmen, one of whom happens to be on fire, casually shaking hands. This is intended as a visual metaphor for getting burned in the music business.▼
*
** The man on fire could also be the Devil ([[Fire and Brimstone Hell|since Hell is full of that stuff]]), and the two shaking hands could equate going into the music business as making a [[Deal With the Devil]].▼
* The original album cover to [[Lynyrd Skynyrd (Music)|Lynyrd Skynyrd]]'s ''Street Survivors'' had the band standing in the middle of an inferno, which gave the illusion of half the band being on fire. [[Tempting Fate|Three days after the album's release]], the band's flight [[Tear Jerker|crashed]], killing four bandmates and the two pilots.▼
▲* Sid Wilson of the band [[Slipknot (Music)|Slipknot]] has been known to ''set himself on fire'' during live shows. He's stopped doing this in recent years for fears of being arrested for attempted suicide. Yes, being arrested is his main fear for his human inferno act.
▲* Not a video, but the lyrics to [[The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets (Music)|The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets]]' "Kill the Chupacabra":
▲{{quote| I'm on fire.<br />
▲I'm on fire.<br />
▲I am, quite literally...<br />
<big>ON FIRE!</big> }}
* Till Lindemann of [[
* Electric Six's album ''Fire'' has a Man on Fire...at the disco. Could be the hit single "Danger! High Voltage" and its constant refrain of "Fire in the disco!" Or it could be their [[Running Gag|inexplicable obsession with the word "fire."]]▼
▲* Till Lindemann of [[Rammstein (Music)|Rammstein]]. Aside from his constant fiery antics on stage, the "Du Hast" video has the drummer Christoph Schneider do this as well. And let's not forget that the first song on their first album is called "Wollt ihr das Bett in Flammen sehen?" (for the non-German-speakers, that's "Do you want to see the bed in flames?").
* The [[Autopsy (band)|Autopsy]] song "Charred Remains"
▲* [[Music/Logan Whitehurst|Logan Whitehurst]]'s aptly named ''Ohmygodimonfire.''
*
* The cover of [[Rage Against the Machine (Music)|Rage Against the Machine]]'s first album is a well-known photo of Thich Quang Duc (see Real Life folder).▼
=== Album Covers ===
▲* The [[
▲** The man on fire could also be the Devil ([[Fire and Brimstone Hell|since Hell is full of that stuff]]), and the two shaking hands could equate going into the music business as making a [[Deal
▲* The original album cover to [[
▲* [[Electric Six]]'s album ''Fire'' has a Man on Fire...at the disco. Could be the hit single "Danger! High Voltage" and its constant refrain of "Fire in the disco!" Or it could be their [[Running Gag|inexplicable obsession with the word "fire."]]
▲* The cover of [[
=== Music Videos ===
* The clip for [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPT7q825gwI "California" by Wax], directed by Spike Jonze, consists almost ''entirely'' of a
* The [["Weird Al" Yankovic]] music video for "Smells Like Nirvana" has a burning man in the background of one of the shots.
* Christoph Schneider's character in the [[
* ''[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hgVeNjYiGo The Everlasting]'' by the [[
== Tabletop Games ==
Line 154 ⟶ 150:
* Something similar happens in one of the early levels of ''[[Syphon Filter]]'': an accident in a subway results in several flaming Mooks running screaming at you. Apparently the main character is soaked with gasoline, as the slightest touch from them will also set you alight and kill you.
** And later averted with the defeat of a flamethrower-touting boss: he simply catches fire and falls over screaming.
* The Pyro can do this in ''[[
** However, other Pyros cannot be set on fire. They take that same (large) amount of direct damage from the flames (subject to the flamer's wonky hit detection), they just don't catch and burn.
** This is the go-to method of checking for cloaked or disguised spies. Friendlies don't burn; enemy spies will.
* ''[[
* Running around on fire is required to solve some puzzles in the ''[[
* In ''[[
** This also shows up in [[
* The ''[[
* The ''Zelda'' games did a ton of this, what with Lanterns, Fire Rods, [[Arrows
* ''[[
* In the ''[[Metal Slug]]'' series, using fire-based attacks on [[Mook|enemy soldiers]] causes them to dance in place before they turn to ash.
* In the first ''[[Command
** If the tank was destroyed just after shooting, the driver could manage to get out in time, but would ''still'' be killed by ''his own flame jet he fired seconds ago''. And if the tank was moving, he could also be ran over by ''the tank's exploding remains''. Sick.
* In the first episode of ''[[Blood (
** There's also the spraycan-plus-lighter Caleb uses as a makeshift flamethrower.
* In the video game ''[[Total Carnage]]'', setting fire to certain objects (e.g. vehicles) will turn nearby [[Mooks]] into burning men, who charge at you with flaming fists. You're not so
* The video game ''[[Judge Dredd]]'': Dredd Versus Death has Incendinary ammunition for the very purpose of setting things on fire by shooting them. Unlike some of the other types of ammo (Bouncing Bullets?!), it is quite effective, though using it on most civilians is highly frowned upon.
** Hell, using incendiary rounds on ANYONE not a zombie is considered pure evil. I shot a couple of armed criminals trying to kill me with incendiary rounds, and was quickly determined to be a rogue judge and hunted down by the SJS.
* The flamethrower in ''[[
* In ''[[Silent Hill 4]]: The Room'', one of Walter's victims is killed by being set on fire and dies while Henry (the player character) watches. Later, when his ghost returns to attack Henry, he's ''still on fire''.
* ''[[Resident Evil 4]]'' gives us [[Fan Nickname|Oven Man]], a fan favorite, seen [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TPV027Az54&feature=related here].
* ''[[Halo 3]]'' gives us the canister-like Firebomb Grenades, which if hitting a character, will engulf them in flames, usually(without it being an indirect hit or them having an Overshield) resulting in their quick death.
* Villagers in ''[[
* In the ''Enhanced Configuration Project'' [[Game Mod]] for soldier sim ''[[Operation Flashpoint]]'', occupants of exploded vehicles will sometimes leap out and run around, on fire and screaming in agony, until they expire or are put out of their misery.
* Oh, the running, screaming, burning pedestrians in ''Syndicate'' and ''Syndicate Wars''. [[Video Game Cruelty Potential|Why else would you pack a flamethrower]]?
* Upon receiving a flamethrower in ''[[
* In the cutscene right after a fight with one of the minibosses in ''[[Dead Rising]]'', said miniboss, a teenage [[Pyromaniac]], is shown backing away from Frank shaking like a leaf and holding out a Molotov cocktail and ends up slipping and landing flat on his back, accidentally hurling the projectile into the air. It lands, already burning, [[Played for Laughs|on his crotch]], and the player has the option to put him out with a nearby fire extinguisher, resulting in a [[Heel Face Turn]].
* ''[[Call of Duty]] 2'', when the player lands at Pointe du Hoc he is immediately stunned by an artillery shell. In his hazy immobilized state, the player sees an LCVP engulfed in flames with partially burning soldiers fleeing from it. Then, and it's something that made this Troper go "holy shit", a burning soldier walks calmly out of the ship and down the ramp, collapses to his knees, and falls down.
* The dwarves in ''[[
** A famous instance in [[Boatmurdered]] in which 'god emperor' Sankis the Beardless snapped and went postal. "OH MY GOD. Sankis is on a bloody rampage! He mauled a baby and a cow, and now, at this very instant, he's beating the Elite Marksdwarf Kadol Lokumad into paste! DID I MENTION HE IS ON FUCKING FIRE!??"
** Even funnier, they will sometimes, while on fire, go down to get some (highly explosive) booze. No prizes for guessing what happens next.
** The fire men living in magma are the most literal case of this.
* ''[[Mega Man (
** Except Burst Man.
* Torch-carrying slaves and tar-throwing engineers were designed for this purpose in ''[[Stronghold]]''. The best part? When a peasant on fire runs into a farm and the fire spreads all around.
* If you break the wrong kind of jar in a fight in ''[[Jade Empire]]'', you get set on fire. You lose health, but your character is otherwise fine, [[Incendiary Exponent|and you can keep fighting anyway]].
* In the [[Rail Shooter]] part of ''[[Die Hard]] Trilogy'', people periodically get set on fire by explosions, etc. Shooting them gets you a "[[Mercy Kill|Mercy Shot]]" bonus.
* Early on in ''[[
* [[World of Warcraft]] warlocks and mages can set their enemies on fire for short periods of time.
** So can many mobs and bosses (if you are not careful) leading to the now-meme "Don't stand in the fire."
** In ''Cataclysm'' there is a quest in Mount Hyjal to extinguish burning Twilight Cultists who have failed their training test to defeat a fire elemental.
** Engineers can get the Transporter Malfunction debuff "YOU ARE ON FIRE!!!"
* ''[[Odium]]'' has lighting the monsters on fire (they burn and receive damage for three turns) as one of the most helpful and damaging combat maneouvers. You can begin doing it very quickly, since you find a flamethrower a few combats into the game. There are also [[Molotov Cocktail
* ''[[Scott Pilgrim vs. the World|Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game]]'' feature [[
* ''[[
* ''[[Overlord]]'s'' red minions can do this to enemies, some of which have the courtesy to [[Kill It
* ''[[
* One of the [[Mook
* In ''[[Banjo Tooie]]'', if you use your fire eggs or Dragon!Kazooie's fire breath on a mook, you can watch him run around ablaze until it stops or you kill him.
* It's something of a tradition for ''[[
* ''[[Resident Evil 2]]'' and ''[[Resident Evil 3: Nemesis]]'' both have burning zombies.
** Also, both Mr. X and the Nemesis are set ablaze in the game.
* ''[[Fallout
* Enemies in ''[[
* ''[[Evolva]]'': Use the mucus attack against your enemies, then the flame weapon. [[Hilarity Ensues]]. Your enemies can do the same thing to you if a mucus and a flame parasite stick together, though. Thankfully, such a situation can only happen at the end of level 11.
* [[Bare Handed Monk|Lee Sin]] of [[League of Legends]] did so [[All There in the Manual|in his backstory]], leaving him as a [[Handicapped Badass]]. Also a shout out to Thich Quang Duc in the [[Real Life]] section.
Line 213 ⟶ 209:
==
* ''[[
** In a later comic the [[Big Bad]] of the same arc (who ''doesn't'' need the drug for his ninja skills) admits that setting yourself on fire does prevent ninjas in general (himself included) from catching you... {{spoiler|[[You Have Failed Me...|after telling the ninjas who failed to catch Dan to set themselves on fire to prove otherwise]]}}.
* ''[[8-
** [http://www.nuklearpower.com/2009/12/12/episode-1203-maligned/ Also happened to Black Mage when he tried to equip a holy weapon:]
{{quote|
* In ''[[
* In [https://web.archive.org/web/20110602051139/http://bukucomics.com/loserz/go/323 this strip] of ''[[Loserz]]'', for no apparent reason.
* In ''[[
* In Lethal Doses, a long-gone
== Web Original ==
* Burning Man Count has become sort of a running gag in [[Necro Critic]]'s reviews, whenever he reviews a movie that abuses this trope.
* Parodied in ''[[
* Melina Frost of ''[[Survival of the Fittest]]'' is briefly set alight in one scene. By all accounts this results in her looking like [[Batman|Two-Face]]. - She actually survives this, as the fire is quickly extinguished.
**
* ''[[College Saga]]'' has a brief scene in which an NPC lit on fire runs across the room while the party walks by. [[
* Caboose manages to set his combat armor on fire (while wearing it, of course) in the trailer for ''[[Red vs. Blue]]: Recreation''.
* In ''Wink The Game'', the PC Wink can grab torches and toss them on enemies. They set on fire, running around making [[Speaking Simlish|screaming noises]] until they disintegrate into ash
* ''[[Asdfmovie
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120503054148/http://www.safenow.org/ If you have set yourself on fire, do not run].
== Western Animation ==
* The first customer we ever see in ''[[Clerks the Animated Series]]'', who catches on fire ''after'' running from his burning wrecked car.
* In one episode of ''[[
* ''[[The Simpsons (
{{quote|
** Also, from the time Ned and Maude Flanders are performing a skit about fire safety and Ned catches on fire:
{{quote|
'''Maude''': Um...stop, drop, and roll, Neddie. (everyone laughs)
'''Ned''': It's not working! [[Broken Aesop|It just spreads the flames!]] }}
** Getting stuck in a tar pit and rescued by Stampy the elephant Barney Gumble thanks him as he lights a cigarette and due to being covered with tar he catches on fire. It doesn't seem to bother him much.
** Then there was the ridiculous [[Treehouse
* Mr. Krabs in ''The [[
{{quote|
** Yes, we're all aware that the show takes place ''underwater''. It's [[Rule of Funny]]. Moving on.
** Also in a deleted scene from "Just One Bite" Squidward gets doused in gasoline and set on fire by the Krusty Krab security system twice.
Line 255 ⟶ 249:
* In the ''[[Rocko's Modern Life]]'' episode "Pranksters" after feeling sorry for Rocko's grandmother Heffer ties himself to the rocket he set for her and ignites it, at one point he crashes into the sun and becomes engulfed in flames.
* In the ''[[Beavis and Butthead]]'' episode "For Better or Verse" Beavis lights his lighter while Butthead sprays a can of aerosol into the flames to experiment; as a result, Beavis catches on fire.
* In the ''[[
** In the episode "Chef Goes Nanners" Chef tells the Mayor about when protestors used to set themselves on fire he then douces a monk in gasoline and sets him a flame.
* In an episode of ''[[The Venture Bros]]'' Brock Samson douses a henchman in gasoline and sets him on fire with a lit cigarette, he then puts him out by punching him.
** Used in another episode where The Incredible Mr. Brisby (a [[Walt Disney]] [[Expy]]) monologues a little too close to the fireplace. Due to his being in a wheelchair, his legs catch on fire and he screams "I've come aflame again!" as Ling-Ling, his "companda", swats at him and stomps the fire out.
* In the ''[[
* This has happened to the title character of ''[[
* Self-inflicted on an episode of [[Sealab 2021]]. The crew are camping in the woods, only to discover it full of "Tree-snakes." They realize the snakes are repelled by the light, so they don't come near the campfire. [[Too Dumb to Live|Stormy]] at once proclaims, "So if we lite ''ourselves'' on fire, we can go anywhere!" before dousing himself in gasoline and striking a match.
* Humorously and accidentally averted in an episode of ''[[The Smurfs]]'', when Clumsy splashes water on Papa Smurf and is thanked by him for putting out his beard.
* In ''[[Futurama]]'', one episode had Bender (a ''robot'') on fire, with no explanation whatsoever. After a moment, several members of the crew put him out, [[
== Real Life ==
=== Self-Immolation as Protest ===
* Perhaps the most famous was [[wikipedia:
* Richard Pryor set himself on fire while freebasing and literally did run down the street while ablaze in 1980. In his next big special, he [[Take That Us|made jokes about it]].▼
* The Tunisian ("Jasmine") Revolution of 2010-11 was started when a young man, Mohammed Bouazizi, [[Kill It
* Has happened more than once in [[Formula One]] and other racing sports. Some fuel sprinkles here, then it catched heat, and BOOM. Jos Verstappen's case is the most recent, but Niki Lauda and ''specially'' [[Tear Jerker|poor Riccardo Paletti]] take the cake.▼
** The protests in Libya developed into a full-blown revolution, which, as of this writing,{{when}} is close to overthrowing the Libyan government. Given its efficacy in Vietnam in the 60s, and the fact that it resulted in regime change in three countries this year, this makes the present trope seem a very effective form of protest.▼
** The worst is probably that the fire burns invisible. In other words you are on fire and no one notices it to come and help you because they don't know you are on fire.▼
▲* The Tunisian ("Jasmine") Revolution of 2010-11 was started when a young man, Mohammed Bouazizi, [[Kill It With Fire|attempted suicide by fire]] as a protest against bad conditions in the country (he died later in the hospital). Besides a full-blown revolution in Tunisia, Bouazizi's actions have inspired four copycats in Egypt, where the Mubarak regime fell one month after Bouazizi's death. Other Middle Eastern nations - Jordan, Syria, Algeria, Libya, Bahrain, and Iran - are undergoing mass protests in response to what happened in Tunisia and Egypt.
▲** The protests in Libya developed into a full-blown revolution, which, as of this writing, is close to overthrowing the Libyan government. Given its efficacy in Vietnam in the 60s, and the fact that it resulted in regime change in three countries this year, this makes the present trope seem a very effective form of protest.
** At least one video has emerged of protestors accidentally setting themselves ablaze with poor Molotov throws.
* Actually happened in the Vietnam era in the USA. [[wikipedia:Norman Morrison|Norman Morrison]], a Quaker protester of the war, set himself on fire outside the Pentagon in 1965.
* Self-immolation also happened in protests against the Chinese government's suppression of Falun Gong.
* Several people committed a suicide by self-immolation as a protest against Soviet occupation of Czechoslovakia: [[wikipedia:Ryszard Siwiec|Ryszard Siwiec]], [[wikipedia:Jan Palach|Jan Palach]], [[wikipedia:Jan
=== Other Cases ===
▲* [[Richard Pryor]] set himself on fire while freebasing and literally did run down the street while ablaze in 1980. In his next big special, he [[Take That Us|made jokes about it]].
▲* Has happened more than once in [[Formula One]] and other racing sports. Some fuel sprinkles here, then it catched heat, and BOOM. Jos Verstappen's case is the most recent,{{when}} but Niki Lauda and ''specially'' [[Tear Jerker|poor Riccardo Paletti]] take the cake.
▲** The worst is probably that the fire burns invisible. In other words you are on fire and no one notices it to come and help you because they don't know you are on fire.
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Man on Fire]]
[[Category:This Index Is On Fire]]
[[Category:Action Adventure Tropes]]
[[Category:Spectacle]]
▲[[Category:Man On Fire]]
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