History Main / SoundtrackDissonance

[[labelnote:More]]Leonard Bernstein specifically conducted the entire symphony in Berlin shortly after the FallOfTheBerlinWall as a celebration, changing the word "freude" to "freheit" ("joy" to "freedom").[[/labelnote]]

You're taking advantage of a tactic used countless times over the years to heighten the sadness of a scene. Your dissonant music doesn't have to be played over a violent scene, of course. Happy, upbeat music at a funeral of a beloved character can also work. It ''can'' be used to excellent effect, especially if the song is somewhat silly, but if you use "SoundtrackDissonance/WhatAWonderfulWorld" or "SoundtrackDissonance/YouAreMySunshine", be warned, examples of those have their own pages now.

!!Other examples:
[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Asian Animation]]
* ''Animation/ThreeThousandWhysOfBlueCat'': In "Will Earth Be Destroyed?", right after we hear a lecture on how Earth could be destroyed, we hear a short, happy jingle play in the background. While we still see images of comets heading for Earth.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* ''ComicBook/DanInSpace'': Komputer seems to have a habit of playing music at inappropriate times. For example, when Joules is pulling a barely-conscious Dan back into the ship, Komputer starts playing Classical Techno.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Podcasts]]
* ''Podcast/AnimeSlushie'': The Eddy Rivas theme, from the episode "The Marrow Problem;" Eddy Rivas is one of the writers of ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'' and is known for his very bad forum posts in which he flat-out lies about what's in the show and/or manipulates the fandom. While Cube and Feen read these posts for the audience, a chill elevator music tune plays.
[[/folder]]

But wait. What if you overlay the horrific carnage with beautiful music? Then, you're not indulging your audience's bloodlust, you're making a deep philosophical point about the duality of human nature. What says, "Mankind is both glorious and murderous" better than a bunch of faceless mooks getting riddled by bullets while Schubert's [[WesternAnimation/{{Fantasia}} "Ave Maria"]] plays in the background? (Bonus marks for [[{{Overcrank}} Slow Motion)]].

You're taking advantage of a tactic used countless times over the years to heighten the sadness of a scene. Your dissonant music doesn't have to be played over a violent scene, of course. Happy, upbeat music at a funeral of a beloved character can also work. It ''can'' be used to excellent effect, especially if the song is somewhat silly, but if you use "SoundtrackDissonance/WhatAWonderfulWorld" or "SoundtrackDissonance/YouAreMySunshine" be warned, examples of those have their own pages now.

The ''Ode To Joy'' choral in the fourth movement of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 is especially cursed to suffer from Soundtrack Dissonance due to its notorious use in [[UsefulNotes/NaziGermany Third Reich]] propaganda, hence modern usage is just as often due to this association (or to the most well-known work to use it for Soundtrack Dissonance, ''Film/AClockworkOrange'') as it is its original intent.[[labelnote:More]]Probably much less so in Europe itself, since the tune (without lyrics) is as close to being [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthem_of_Europe European anthem]] as it could get.[[/labelnote]] To be absolutely clear, Friedrich von Schiller's original lyrics were about the equality of all humankind in the eyes of God: ''Joy, the bright spark of the gods/the daughter of Elysium ... All men now are brothers/beneath your gentle wing''. The tune also has lyrics written as the hymn "Joyful, joyful": ''Joyful, joyful, we adore Thee/God of Glory, Lord of Love''.

The entire process has been streamlined by the ability of some video game consoles to replace a game's soundtrack with anything the player cares to play. Try setting the most violent, obscene parts of ''VideoGame/GearsOfWar'' to [[StandardSnippet "Yakety Sax"]] sometime; your parents will search your mattress for drugs, but [[ComedicSociopathy you'll be enriched by the experience.]] Unless, you know, you actually have drugs stashed in your mattress. Speaking of video games, some video game developers have developed and implemented systems to try and avert this as much as possible; for more info see VariableMix.

When this trope is done poorly it can easily turn a dramatic scene into {{Narm}}.

In film school this trope is called [[http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/counterpoint Counterpoint.]] On the Internet, it has become a meme called [[http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/while-i-play-unfitting-music Unfitting Music.]]

But wait. What if you overlay the horrific carnage with beautiful music? Then, you're not indulging your audience's bloodlust, you're making a deep philosophical point about the duality of human nature. What says, "Mankind is both glorious and murderous" better than a faceless mooks getting shot in the head at close range while Schubert's [[WesternAnimation/{{Fantasia}} "Ave Maria"]] plays in the background? (Bonus marks for [[{{Overcrank}} Slow Motion)]].

But wait. What if you overlay the horrific carnage with beautiful music? Then, you're not indulging your audience's bloodlust, you're making a deep philosophical point about the duality of human nature. What says, "Mankind is both glorious and murderous" better than a faceless mooks getting shot in the head at close range while Schubert's [[WesternAnimation/{{Fantasia}} "Ave Maria"]] plays in the background? (Bonus marks for slo mo).

So you're a big-time Hollywood director. Congrats on that, by the way. You've got a dynamite action movie you're about to start shooting. It won't win you an Oscar, but hey, you've got two of those, and any way, your mortgage payments are becoming somewhat uncomfortable. There's just one problem: [[ExecutiveMeddling studio bosses insist]] this movie is ''has'' to end with a bloody firefight set piece, and your stupid conscience is acting up again. You went to NYU film school, dammit, you can't just have 13 minutes of blood and bullets.

But wait. What if you overlay the horrific carnage with beautiful music? Then, you're not indulging your audience's bloodlust, you're making a deep philosophical point about the duality of human nature. What says, "Mankind is both glorious and murderous" better than a faceless mook getting shot in the head at close range while Schubert's [[WesternAnimation/{{Fantasia}} "Ave Maria"]] plays in the background? (Bonus marks for slo mo).

So you're a big-time Hollywood director. Congrats on that, by the way. You've got a dynamite action movie you're about to start shooting. It won't win you an Oscar, but hey, you've got two of those, and any way, your mortgage payments are becoming somewhat uncomfortable. There's just one problem: the movie is supposed to end with a bloody firefight, and your stupid conscience is acting up again. You went to NYU, dammit, you can't just have 13 minutes of blood and bullets.

But wait. What if you overlay the horrific carnage with beautiful music? Then, you're not indulging your audience's bloodlust, you're making a deep philosophical point about the duality of human nature. What says, "Mankind is both glorious and murderous" better than a faceless mook getting shot in the head at close range while Schubert's [[WesternAnimation/{{Fantasia}} "Ave Maria"]] plays in the background?

->''"For there was light music. An orchestra of 'young and pretty girls all dressed in white blouses and navy-blue skirts'...had been formed from among the inmates. While the selections was being made for the gas chambers this unique ensemble played gay tunes from ''The Merry Widow'' and ''Tales of Hoffmann''. Nothing solemn and somber from Beethoven. The death-marches at Auschwitz were sprightly and merry tunes, straight out Viennese and Parisian operetta."''
-->-- '''William L. Shirer''', ''The Rise and Fall of [[UsefulNotes/NaziGermany the Third Reich]]''