diff --git a/rest_framework/utils/html.py b/rest_framework/utils/html.py
index c7ede7803..ce1659f35 100644
--- a/rest_framework/utils/html.py
+++ b/rest_framework/utils/html.py
@@ -47,6 +47,11 @@ def parse_html_list(dictionary, prefix='', default=None):
 
     :returns a list of objects, or the value specified in ``default`` if the list is empty
     """
+    if  isinstance(dictionary, (list, tuple)):
+        dictionary = str(dictionary)[1:-1]
+    dictionary = '{' + dictionary[1:-1].replace('}', '').replace('{', '') + '}'
+    dictionary = eval(dictionary)
+    
     ret = {}
     regex = re.compile(r'^%s\[([0-9]+)\](.*)$' % re.escape(prefix))
     for field, value in dictionary.items():