Aug. 5th, 2010

What do you call it when the background music/sound of a movie or TV program is at odds with the main action? I was watching Mythbusters last night, and during the episode where they investigate the "Elephants fear mice" myth*, something was bothering me about the soundtrack. Eventually I realized that the background sound was a loon distress call. That's just not right for Africa - or elephants.

I'm sure this is done deliberately sometimes. For instance, the movie "A Clockwork Orange" had a gang beating done to the tune of Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring". The effect is dissonant. In literary terms, it might be called a mixed metaphor. Neither of these quite describes the phenomenon where you're seeing one thing and hearing something at odds with what you're seeing.


*under the conditions presented in the show, it appears that elephants do notice and avoid mice!

Profile

petardier

September 2017

S M T W T F S
     12
3456789
10111213141516
17181920212223
24 252627282930

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated May. 28th, 2025 05:25 pm
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios