Sound technique · used in 7 films
Playing a cheerful or familiar pop song over violence or moral disaster. The gap between the song and the image creates dark comedy and political commentary.
Examples
Billy Wilder · 1951
A band and a vocalist perform a cheerful song called We're Coming, Leo for the crowd while the rescue drags on. The jolly tune makes the carnival look cruel, because the man it names is still trapped.
Where to see it: The carnival: Tourists flock to the rescue site while a carousel and a Ferris wheel run and trains unload more onlookers.
Stanley Kubrick · 1987
'Surfin' Bird' plays as Marines patrol the rubble of Hue City. 'These Boots Are Made for Walkin'' plays as a prostitute walks down a Da Nang street. The songs make no comment on the war. They show you the culture the war was fought in, which is American culture dealing with its own violence through cheerful noise.
Where to see it: The closing march to the 'Mickey Mouse Club' theme. The soldiers sing as they walk through burning Hue City.
Danny Boyle · 1996
Boyle plays Iggy Pop, Underworld and Blur over scenes of squalor and degradation. The music is ecstatic, anthemic and cool, and the characters are destroying themselves. That ironic gap between the energy of the soundtrack and what you're watching sets the tone of the whole film.
Where to see it: Iggy Pop's 'Lust for Life' over the opening sprint. It's the most joyful song possible, and it's playing over a portrait of junkies. The irony tells you the film will never lecture you about what it shows.
Paul Thomas Anderson · 1997
Anderson scores the 1970s sequences with real pop music of the era (like 'Best of My Love'). The songs are cheerful, and they play over scenes of exploitation and addiction. The decade's soundtrack ends up tied to the myth of the decade and shares in the blame for it.
Where to see it: The drug deal gone wrong at Rahad Jackson's house. 'Sister Christian', 'Jessie's Girl' and '99 Luftballons' play while the firecrackers explode and the deal collapses into violence. The bright pop music makes the disaster more horrifying.
Jordan Peele · 2019
The Beach Boys' "Good Vibrations" plays while the Tylers are murdered in their stylish beach house. When someone asks the smart speaker to call the police, it plays an N.W.A song about the police instead. The jokes make the violence feel even colder.
Where to see it: The Tylers' house. The family's doubles kill them one by one while upbeat music plays from the smart speaker.
Sean Baker · 2021
NSYNC's "Bye Bye Bye" runs through the film as a teen pop joke. Later Strawberry plays a piano version for Mikey. The sweet tune sits on top of a story about a grown man grooming a 17-year-old, and the gap makes you uneasy.
Where to see it: The piano scene. Strawberry plays a piano version of "Bye Bye Bye" for Mikey, and the childlike song plays while he plots to use her.
Todd Haynes · 2023
Throughout May December, Marcelo Zarvos reuses Michel Legrand's score from The Go-Between, which is itself a film about inappropriate desire. The borrowed romantic music plays over scenes of manipulation and people lying to themselves. The mismatch is fairly uncomfortable to sit in.
Where to see it: The swelling Legrand theme arriving over scenes of Elizabeth's research. The big romantic score makes her predatory way of working sound like a love story.
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