Mickey Mousing: Difference between revisions

This is not the same as a [[Leitmotif]], which is a particular theme tied to a character, object, or idea. It is also not the same as the use of music to express emotions. It only counts as Mickey Mousing if the music is timed to - and usually similar in contour to - the actions on screen.

While it was prevalent in the early days of animation due to how efficient it was for the animators to time the animation to, it soon became derided as cliché and corny, and its usage decreased considerably in the following years. That said, it's certainly ''not'' a [[Discredited Trope]]—there are still some modern cartoonists who still use this, such as [[The Powerpuff Girls|Genndy Tartakovsky]] (who loves timing his cartoons to tempos) and [[Ed, Edd 'n' Eddy|Danny Antonucci]]. Feature animated films still make some use of it, but it's limited to musical sequences, like the ones seen in [[Rio]].

See also [[Mime-and-Music-Only Cartoon]], [[Musical Chores]], [[Standard Snippet]], [[Theme Music Power-Up]], [[Record Needle Scratch]]. Compare [[Variable Mix]]. May be used in conjunction with [[Sorry I Left the BGM On]].

* Used briefly in ''[[Dr. No]],'' when Bond is crushing the tarantula. The music emphasizes his strikes.

* Also used in the ''[[The Fifth Element]]'' where the music comes from an in-universe opera and emphasizes Leeloo's strikes against the aliens. Seen [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0qy3JHz6X0 here.]

* In ''[[Scott Pilgrim vs. the World]]'', Lucas Lee's neck cracks are timed to the "Unversal Movies" opening.

* ''[[Johnny English Reborn]]''. During the end credits English cooks a meal for his [[Love Interest]] to the strains of "In the Hall of the Mountain King".

Games should only be included if their case of Mickey Mousing isn't [[Musical Gameplay]].

* The Moblins in ''Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker'' do this, the music usually beating in time with their footsteps.

* In the ''[[Sly Cooper]]'' series, sneaking up on an enemy would shift the music volume down and play a series of single notes in time with each step the player took.

*** Actually, it loops when stage scroll stops and Reimu/Marisa/Sakuya approaches the gate to Netherworld, just before the boss battle. The effect of music returning to the slow pace at that moment is epic, to say the least.

** In fact, many stages are scripted to exactly correspond to the music, to the extent where the game will throws out bonus enemies for you to destroy if you kill the midboss quickly, and sometimes skip midboss patterns if you kill them too slowly, all in attempts to perfectly synchronize the stages with their themes (assuming your game isn't running slowly for some reason, that is).

* In ''[[Sonic Unleashed]]'', specifically in [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=reL293uPEYc "The First Night" cutscene] around 1:25. Please pay no mind to [[Dan Green]] crying.

* ''[[Ikaruga]]'' mickey-mouses its music to the [[Scripted Event|scripted events]] of the levels.

== Western Animation ==

** Also frequent in its [[Spiritual Successor]], [[Danny Phantom]].

* Subverted/parodied twice in ''[[Family Guy]]''. In "The Story on Page One", Peter provides his own Mickey Mousing while sneaking around. In one of the segments in "Family Guy Viewer Request Episode #1", he asks a genie for his own personal soundtrack, and the music does this (being light and breezy when he's skipping, turning into a [[Sexophone]] when he and Lois are about to get intimate).

* [[Pixar]]'s dialogue-free short ''[[Pixar Shorts|Presto]]'', that screened just before ''[[WALL-E]]'' in theaters, uses Mickey Mousing extensively, among other classic animation comedy tropes.

* This is sort of the point of Disney's ''[[Fantasia]]'' and ''Fantasia 2000'', though it was actually [[Inverted Trope|done in reverse]], with animation produced based on existing music.

** As were two episodes of ''[[Tom and Jerry]]'' and ''[[Looney Tunes]]'' which had Tom and [[Bugs Bunny/Characters|Bugs Bunny]], respectively, playing Liszt's Second Hungarian Rhapsody. The two are suspiciously similar, right down to Bugs having to contend with an annoying mouse living in his piano. Oh, and there's a ''[[Looney Tunes]]'' episode based on the Barber of Seville overture. Let's just say that WB and MGM's animation departments did a lot of it in general.

* The "Hungarian Dances" are some of the most popular pieces used, especially in Looney Tunes: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nh11A41klL4\]

* One of the most common examples of mickey mousing are found in music players themselves where there's usually a set of bars which expand on every beat.

** Technically, that's a [[wikipedia:Fourier transform|Fourier Transform]] of the last fraction of a second of audio data, with the bar lengths corresponding to intensity of sound frequencies present in the audio.

* And similarly, there's [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGOlevcqxIc this] scene from ''[[No Country for Old Men]]'', set to the theme from ''[[The Life Aquatic]]''.

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmoAA9eob1I This] advertisement [[Lampshade Hanging|hangs a lampshade]] on the idea, by combining it with [[Sorry I Left the BGM On]].

* A stand-up routine by Bill Bailey explains how scoring childrens cartoons is a low point for a session xylophone player.

{{quote|"''What's the mouse doing now, going up a hill? Right," * deedlydeedlydeedlydeedlydeedlydeedly ding!* "Oh, now it's coming back down," * doodlydoodlydoodlydoodlydoodlydoodly dum!* * sighs* ''}}

** [[Scott Pilgrim]] also Mickey Mouses the Universal Studios fanfare with Lucas Lee cricking his neck and skateboarding on set. It's more funny than it sounds.

* Used in [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSnLne4qDn8 this] [[Goblins]] review.

[[Category:Score and Music Tropes]]

[[Category:Music Tropes]]

[[Category:Esoteric Trope Names]]