Weird Cinematic Uses of the Literature

[karlhenning]

№ 71:  Handel's "And he shall purify" chorus from Messiah, at just that point when the Afghans are equipped to pull Soviet helicopters down from the sky (Charlie Wilson's War)

[jochanaan]

Well, if we're talking weird, I still think the way Stanley Kubrick used Beethoven's Ninth in A Clockwork Orange is one of the most twisted.  I know, I know, everybody here is accustomed to that now--but it's still twisted.

[karlhenning]

No, that's dead on topic, jo.  Of course, it basically springs from the textual source . . . .

[karlhenning]

№ 46:  Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries for napalm operations in Apocalypse Now. Similar to jo's example, it has been made tame by familiarity.  The Valkyries serve to 'redeem' the heroic slain;  but here Coppola uses their music as accompaniment to chemical slaughter.

[mn dave]

Well, if we're talking weird, I still think the way Stanley Kubrick used Beethoven's Ninth in A Clockwork Orange is one of the most twisted.  I know, I know, everybody here is accustomed to that now--but it's still twisted.

I've said it before, but that movie helped get me into classical.   

[ChamberNut]

I've said it before, but that movie helped get me into classical.   

Same here.  Clockwork Orange and other Kubrick films planted the seed of interest for me.  From there, I went to buying the movie soundtracks, to some Wendy Carlos, to a Best of Beethoven CD, to the complete symphonies of Beethoven.

From that point, there's been no turning back. 

[karlhenning]

Oh, I'm not saying that good cannot come from the weirdness.

Still, you know: weird is weird 

[karlhenning]

№ 12:  To choose just one instance from a very hotbed of weird applications of the literature — Stravinsky's (butchered) Le sacre du printemps as an accompaniment to Life During the Cretaceous Period, in Fantasia.

[mn dave]

Oh, I'm not saying that good cannot come from the weirdness.

Still, you know: weird is weird 

Plenty of Elgar on that soundtrack as well. 

[jochanaan]

№ 12:  To choose just one instance from a very hotbed of weird applications of the literature — Stravinsky's (butchered) Le sacre du printemps as an accompaniment to Life During the Cretaceous Period, in Fantasia.

Yeah, that one's weird too.  I like the bare-breasted Wuppertal ballerina better.

[Lethevich]

This is more common on TV, but I cannot count the amount of times La donna è mobile has been used for a "pure", "romantic" scene with zero regard for its text...

[Teresa]

How about when General Chang's remarks that one cannot appreciate Shakespeare without hearing it in the original Klingon in Star Trek VI?

taH pagh, taH be or in Terran English "To be, or not to be" 

Sorry this is a written literature example not musical literature but it's the first thing that popped into my head.   

[gomro]

Well, if we're talking weird, I still think the way Stanley Kubrick used Beethoven's Ninth in A Clockwork Orange is one of the most twisted.  I know, I know, everybody here is accustomed to that now--but it's still twisted.

I think that electronic William Tell Overture is even more twisted.  The old saying is "An intellectual can listen to the William Tell Overture and not think of the Lone Ranger" -- no, I think of Alexander DeLarge and his devotchkas getting it on like rabbits on speed. Thanks a lot, Kubrick.

[Kullervo]

Mendelssohn's Italian in my little sister's Barbie video. 

[PSmith08]

On Messiah, what about the scene in The Empty Mirror where the lead character 'conducts' "For unto us a child is born" while ranting and raving, as best as I can recall, as it's been some time since I've seen that one?

[Dancing Divertimentian]

The Shining sure had its potent mixture of classical music.

Might have one-upped the visuals, even.

[Kullervo]

The Shining sure had its potent mixture of classical music.

Might have one-upped the visuals, even.

Well, I think the focus of this thread is inappropriate usages of the repertoire in movies. I made a thread a few months back about good instances (not surprisingly, Kubrick came up often).

[Dancing Divertimentian]

Well, I think the focus of this thread is inappropriate usages of the repertoire in movies. I made a thread a few months back about good instances (not surprisingly, Kubrick came up often).

Well, that's kinda what I was driving at, since the classical music used wasn't originally written for horror purposes.

But dunno...I guess it was a pretty neat trick on Kubrick's part to find just the right music for his visuals... 

[The new erato]

Isn't there an episode in Star Trek were they supposedly listens to some Mozart and the soundtrack definitely is Brahms? Now THAT's weird!

[karlhenning]

№ 41:  Weird in a positive way . . . the wry use of the Mozart Requiem, as the title character informs the Dude of his wife's kidnapping in The Big Lebowski.