# Disturbing scenes set to cheery music **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 8, 2003, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disturbing-scenes-set-to-cheery-music/186965 "2003-07-08T10:00:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mr\_Tambo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/76d3ee/32.png) [@Mr\_Tambo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Tambo)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disturbing-scenes-set-to-cheery-music/186965/1 "2003-07-08T10:00:01Z")
It’s one of the nastiest tricks a director can pull. A tune that’s light, frothy and hummable, a tune that we find ourselves nodding along to, plays in the background while really horrible things go on onscreen. How many films have done this effectively? _A Clockwork Orange_ Alex singing ‘Singing in the Rain’, with one of his droogs as chorus, while he kicks in the author’s ribs and prepares to rape his wife. _Reservoir Dogs_ Mr Blonde torturing the cop, cutting off his ear and then dowsing him in oil, in between dancing to ‘Stuck in the Middle with You’. _Richard III_ The Ian McKellan adaption. As the credits roll, Richard’s body falls into the smoke and flames below and Al Jolson’s ‘Sitting on Top of the World’ plays. _Blue Velvet_ Frank beats Jeffrey up while listening to and mouthing the words to Roy Orbison’s ‘In Dreams’. ---
**Author:** ![Bruce\_Daddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@Bruce\_Daddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bruce_Daddy)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disturbing-scenes-set-to-cheery-music/186965/2 "2003-07-08T12:54:04Z")
The hatchet scene in American Psycho. “It’s hip to be square!” ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disturbing-scenes-set-to-cheery-music/186965/3 "2003-07-08T12:59:55Z")
The entire movie **Mondo Cane**. The ending of **Dr. Strangelove**. ---
**Author:** ![International\_Playboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/48db29/32.png) [@International\_Playboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/International_Playboy)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disturbing-scenes-set-to-cheery-music/186965/4 "2003-07-08T13:08:48Z")
While searching for his runaway daughter who was thought to have fallen in with a rough porn crowd, George C. Scott watches a snuff film to the tune of Doris Day singing, “Que Sera, Sera” in the movie, “Hardcore.” ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disturbing-scenes-set-to-cheery-music/186965/5 "2003-07-08T13:22:40Z")
That _X Files_ ep with the inbred beast boys bludgeoning to death a couple while Johnny Mathis’ _Wonderful, Wonderful_ plays in the background. :shudder: ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disturbing-scenes-set-to-cheery-music/186965/6 "2003-07-08T13:29:31Z")
The ending of _Twelve Monkeys_ with Louis Armstrong singing “Wonderful World”. ---
**Author:** ![Drastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Drastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drastic)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disturbing-scenes-set-to-cheery-music/186965/7 "2003-07-08T13:33:23Z")
One of the more memorable bits in John Woo’s “Face Off” was a shoot-em-up setpiece proceeding in slow-motion to the crooning of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.” ---
**Author:** ![widdershins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f0a364/32.png) [@widdershins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/widdershins)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disturbing-scenes-set-to-cheery-music/186965/8 "2003-07-08T13:57:19Z")
The climax of the anime _Metropolis_ where Ray Charles sings “I Can’t Stop Loving You” while things are blowing up. ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disturbing-scenes-set-to-cheery-music/186965/9 "2003-07-08T14:05:07Z")
Another from _A Clockwork Orange_, but to me even more disturbing than the “Singing in the Rain” sequence, is the gang fight between Alex and Billy Boy and their respective droogs. Set to Rossini’s overture to “The Thieving Magpie,” it is one scene after another of horrific violence, brilliantly choreographed. I can listen to “Singing in the Rain” without conjuring up images of Alex (same with Beethoven’s 9th), but whenever I hear “The Thieving Magpie,” that fight is burned into my consciousness. ---
**Author:** ![Netbrian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71e660/32.png) [@Netbrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Netbrian)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disturbing-scenes-set-to-cheery-music/186965/10 "2003-07-08T20:40:37Z")
Another vote for Metropolis. As soon as I saw the thread, I immediately thought of that scene. Of course, then the boards lagged, and widdershins beat me to the punch. Dang. ---
**Author:** ![Katisha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bcef8e/32.png) [@Katisha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Katisha)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disturbing-scenes-set-to-cheery-music/186965/11 "2003-07-08T20:47:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mr Tambo \* > **_Richard III_ > The Ian McKellan adaption. As the credits roll, Richard’s body falls into the smoke and flames below and Al Jolson’s ‘Sitting on Top of the World’ plays.** I _love_ that ending… Not _exactly_ in tune with the OP, but close: I also love the shot in Julie Taymor’s _Titus_ with the meat pies cooling on the windowsill and cheery Italian music playing in the background… ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disturbing-scenes-set-to-cheery-music/186965/12 "2003-07-08T21:20:10Z")
There was a war film many years ago (Execution of Private Slovak?) that played “I’ll Be Home For Christmas”, as they marched the poor slob out in front of a firing squad. Or do I have this all screwed up? ---
**Author:** ![Murcielago](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/da6949/32.png) [@Murcielago](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Murcielago)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disturbing-scenes-set-to-cheery-music/186965/13 "2003-07-08T22:11:42Z")
I suppose you could catagorize the end of _Layla_ (the piano part) as cheery. In _Goodfellas_, after Jimmy eliminated the ancillary players in the Lufthansa heist, that music was used underneath the gruesome discoveries of the dead bodies. Struck me as an interesting contrast. ---
**Author:** ![hyacinth690](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e79b87/32.png) [@hyacinth690](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hyacinth690)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disturbing-scenes-set-to-cheery-music/186965/14 "2003-07-08T22:18:41Z")
The final scene of _Heavenly Creatures_ , where Pauline and Juliet bludgeon Pauline’s mother to death while Puccini’s “Humming Chorus” plays… creepy! ---
**Author:** ![Agrippina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8797f3/32.png) [@Agrippina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agrippina)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disturbing-scenes-set-to-cheery-music/186965/15 "2003-07-09T00:40:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Little Nemo \* > \*\*The ending of _Twelve Monkeys_ with Louis Armstrong singing “Wonderful World”. \*\* In **Good Morning Vietnam** that Armstrong song is played to shots of the Vietnam War. Bombs in rice paddie fields, buildings blowing up, young soldiers in the jungle, etc. That scene made me cry the first time I saw it. Speaking of the Vietnam War----the theme song to “The Mickey Mouse Club” near the end of **Full Metal Jacket**. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disturbing-scenes-set-to-cheery-music/186965/16 "2003-07-09T00:50:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Chefguy \* > \*\*There was a war film many years ago (Execution of Private Slovak?) that played “I’ll Be Home For Christmas”, as they marched the poor slob out in front of a firing squad. Or do I have this all screwed up? \*\* Actually, it was “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” by Judy Garland. When I saw the movie, it was the first time I’d ever heard the song and it ruined it for me for years. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mullets](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/aeb1de/32.png) [@John\_Mullets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mullets)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disturbing-scenes-set-to-cheery-music/186965/17 "2003-07-09T01:09:03Z")
Full Metal Jacket was filled with it, “Bird Surfing,” “Misky Mouse Club,” etc. The only music that wasn’t inappropriate was during the suicide scene ---
**Author:** ![SlickRoenick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e68b1a/32.png) [@SlickRoenick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlickRoenick)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disturbing-scenes-set-to-cheery-music/186965/18 "2003-07-09T05:02:56Z")
Opening fight scene in **Gangs of New York**. It’s Civil War era and the music is some kind of trashy 90’s rock. It upset the cosmic balance of the movie. The rest of the movie was junk. The end had the same kind of rock-n-roll music along with different camera angles on the GONY title on the screen. And add another vote for **Metropolis**. ---
**Author:** ![Ura-Maru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/51bf81/32.png) [@Ura-Maru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ura-Maru)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2003, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disturbing-scenes-set-to-cheery-music/186965/19 "2003-07-14T19:52:48Z")
Babylon 5’s _And The Rock Cried Out ‘No Hiding Place’_ had a guy getting torn apart by Narns set to joyous gospel song of the same name. Overated but still good anime **Neon Genisis Evangelon** used Ode to Joy over a succession of moderatly horrible things. It was really cool the first time, but soon lead to a loud questionioning of weither or not any other classical music was available. 🙂 The anime version of **Sanctuary** had a couple of beatings over jazzy nightclub-style songs, though I can’t remember which songs. The ‘bad even by MST3K standards’ **Devil Fish** had a woman’s corpse being found to soft-core porn music, though I think that was an editing mistake, not intentional irony. – ‘If my life has a soundtrack, the music would swell . . .’ ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2003, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disturbing-scenes-set-to-cheery-music/186965/20 "2003-07-14T19:59:24Z")
The end of _Dr. Strangelove:_ We nuclear mushroom clouds obliterating the habitations of the earth while “We’ll Meet Again” plays on the soundtrack. Obviously this refers to the national leaders’ resolution to hide out in mineshafts and resume the war after the radioactive dust settles. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disturbing-scenes-set-to-cheery-music/186965.md?page=2)