History Main / PlayingTheHeartStrings

* Both played straight briefly and parodied in the original version of Stage 6 of ''[[VideoGame/ParappaTheRapper UmJammer Lammy]]'': [[spoiler:first, when Lammy is killed in a BananaPeel accident and her black-and-white soul [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence Ascends to a Higher Plane of Existence]]... sort of; and then, when Lammy laments her own death in hell, "Parappa's End Roll in G Minor" plays briefly [[FissionMailed during the fake end credits]]... right before Jack Smash appears and stops the credits before taking her away to Teriyaki Yoko. (The full version of the sad-string song can be heard in the original soundtrack, though.)]]

** ''{{Halo 4}}'' has this in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Gnx4SoWaZE "Green and Blue"]], during Cortana's death cutscene.

* Used in the first ''Film/SpiderMan'' movie when Peter comes home to Aunt May after [[spoiler: Uncle Ben's death]].

* Music/{{Garbage}}'s "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ze0PsQXzjn4 Happy Home]]" uses this to make their usual DownerEnding ballad even more depressing.

* ''VideoGame/MayPayne2'' and ''VideoGame/MaxPayne3'' both feature [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZfaSNoZ6L0 a melancholy strings arrangement]] of the first game's main theme.

* ''MaxPayne 3'' uses [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZfaSNoZ6L0 a melancholy strings version]] of the series' [[RecurringRiff main theme]].

Except for the Strings.

* As [[Series/DoctorWho the Doctor]] is [[spoiler: forced into [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E12ThePandoricaOpens the Pandorica]]]], only the [[SoundtrackDissonance triumphant strings]] can be heard.

[[AC:Film]]

* ''Film/HarryPotter and the Order of the Phoenix'' does this, after [[spoiler: Sirius' death]].
** ''The Half Blood Prince'' also has a go.
*** ''Deathly Hallows Part 2'' also has a bit of an attempt, and this one works wonders. The song Courtyard Apocalypse is played as the trio fight their way through the Hogwarts courtyard, and they see some pretty vicious stuff. The sound is slightly muted, but it is noticeable.

* Used in the first Film/{{Spider-Man}} movie when Peter comes home to Aunt May after [[spoiler: Uncle Ben's death]].
* ''The Departed'' [[spoiler:as Queenan is tossed off the building in slow-motion]].
* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-7c0U9t9oc This]] is the music that plays during the opening CurbStompBattle / HeroicSacrifice in ''Film/StarTrek''. Oh, yeah.
* In ''Three Kingdoms'' Phoenix Heights battle between the Zhao and Cao's top commanders, the dramatic strings with bass beats are diegetic; Cao Ying herself plays the zither while her soldiers beat the drums. A few other times Cao plays to unnerve the defenders, and it works, since even Zhao finds her sinister.
* The ten-minute finale of Michael Mann's 1992 adaptation of ''TheLastOfTheMohicans'' plays this trope for all it is worth, as seen [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9SEFMIBwAs here]]. [[TearJerker Bring a box of tissues.]]
* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZXjdKKa3jw "The End"]] from Film/{{United 93}} is pretty much this trope in it's pure, distilled, form.

* DannyElfman's score for ''Film/TheWolfman2010'' definitely makes very good use of the strings. Probably as a subtle ShoutOut to the original score.

[[AC:Live-Action Television]]

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePrinceOfEgypt'' uses this to truly [[TearJerker heart-rending effect]] after Moses has confronted [[AntiVillain Pharaoh Rameses]] who's son has just died in the tenth plague of Egypt.

* This trope pops up every now and then in the ''{{Homestuck}}'' soundtrack: such as the intro to [[http://homestuck.bandcamp.com/track/chorale-for-jaspers-2 "Chorale For Jaspers"]] (the opening of which has been quoted in many other songs) and an Asian-themed variation in [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xm1r294qQrk&feature=related "Even in Death"]].

* ''{{Final Fantasy XIII-2}}'': Serah's Theme becomes this ([[LonelyPianoPiece after a solo-piano opening]]). It plays many times, but most notable is the scene where she and Lightning reunite, [[spoiler:right after Serah dies]]. It's almost entirely silent except for the music and [[spoiler:Serah's pleas for Lightning to remember her]].

* This trope pops up every now and then in the ''{{Homestuck}}'' soundtrack: such as the intro to [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUbUFb5stQI "At The Price of Oblivion"]] and an Asian-themed variation in [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xm1r294qQrk&feature=related "Even in Death"]].

* The Adagio finale of Music/GustavMahler's Symphony No. 9. The final page of the score, in particular, has only strings playing very slowly and quietly, with the operative performance direction being ''ersterbend'' (dying away). Music/LeonardBernstein described this ending as "the closest we have ever come, in any work of art, to experiencing the very act of dying... It ''is'' terrifying, and paralyzing, as the last strands of sound disintegrate."

* Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings, one of the saddest, most moving pieces of music out there, fits this trope to a T.
** [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adagio_For_Strings Among other things]], it was used to commemorate the death of Roosevelt and the Twin Tower bombings.

* The Crüxshadows use an electric violin in many of their songs.

* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZXjdKKa3jw "The End"]] from Film/{{United93}} is pretty much this trope in it's pure, distilled, form.

* ''[[BluePlanet Blue Planet: War in Heaven]]'' cuts the sound effects and plays a mournful viola and cello piece when [[spoiler:the [=UEFg=] ''Yangtze'' makes its last, suicidal stand against the GTD ''Imperieuse'']].

* ''{{Final Fantasy XIII-2}}'': Serah's Theme becomes this ([[LonelyPianoPiece after a solo-piano opening]]). It plays many times, but most notable is the scene where she and Lightning reunite, [[spoiler:right after Serah dies]].

* Used several times in Casualties of War. This is the best example. Starts around the halffway mark. Have some tissues handy.

* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZXjdKKa3jw "The End"]] from [[United93]] is pretty much this trope in it's pure, distilled, form.