National Anthem: Difference between revisions

{{quote|''"Nanny Ogg reasoned that it would be easy money because national anthems only ever have one verse or, rather, all have the same second verse, which goes 'nur'hnur'mur'nur nur, hnur'nur'nur, hnur' at some length until everyone remembers the last line of the first verse and sings it as loudly as they can."''|''[[Discworld/Carpe Jugulum|Carpe Jugulum]]''}}

A '''National Anthem''' is like the offically recognized [[Theme Song]] of a country, usually (but not always) officially recognized by the government. Due to their iconic status they tend to show up in media a lot.

Many countries with monarchies also has a separate Royal Anthem that is basically the monarch's personal [[Leitmotif]]. The UK is somewhat unusual in that the royal anthem is also the '''National Anthem'''. This is tied to individual countries of the UK all having their own de facto athem, played at sporting events.

* In the Irish film ''[[The Wind That Shakes the Barley]]'', the main characters have been imprisoned in a small jail by the British Army, and as one of their number is taken away for torture, they sing the Irish National Anthem, Amhrán na bhFiann, to help him endure. However, Amhrán na bhFiann was not adopted as the national anthem until 1926, 5 years after the movie takes place.

* [[Command & Conquer]] Generals used the Chinese National Anthem (March of the Volunteers) during the intro and ending of the Chinese campaign.

=== [[Comedy]] ===

* In the classic [[Mel Brooks]] sketch, the 2000-year-old man recalls that his cave's national anthem was "Let 'Em All Go To Hell Except Cave 76".

* [[Les Luthiers]] give us two examples: the "Song to the Independence of Feudalia" (a country as independent as you'd expect from its name), and "La Comision", in which [[Hilarity Ensues]] when two corrupt politicians and one inept musician have to modify the national anthem of their (unnamed) country to include propaganda for the ruling party.

{{quote|Hail, hail East Germany, land of fruit and grape

Land where you'll regret if you try to escape

No matter if you tunnel under or take a running jump at the wall

Forget it, the guards will kill you, if the electrified fence doesn't first. }}

{{quote|Kazakhstan greatest country in the world.

All other countries are run by little girls.

Kazakhstan number one exporter of potassium.

Other countries have inferior potassium. }}

{{quote|Genovia,

The land I call my home,

Genovia, Genovia!

Forever will your banner wave! }}

* The movie adaptation of [[The Hunger Games]] has [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRspqsOb-pY The Horn of Plenty] as Panem's national anthem.

{{quote|We bankrupt all invaders, we sell them souvenirs

We ner ner ner ner ner, hner ner hner by the ears

Er hner we ner ner ner ner ner

Ner ner her ner ner ner hner the ner

Er ner ner hner ner, nher hner ner ner (etc.)

Ner hner ner, your gleaming swords

We mortgaged to the hilt

Morporkia! Morporkia!

Hner ner ner ner ner ner

We can rule you wholesale

Credit where it's due. }}

* The original ''[[Battlestar Galactica Classic|Battlestar Galactica]]'' theme was used as the basis for the anthem of the Twelve Colonies in the [[Battlestar Galactica Reimagined|reimagined series]]. Before unification, each Colony had its own anthem. We hear that of [[Caprica]] on couple occasions.

* In the [[Stephen Sondheim]] musical [[Assassins (theatre)|Assassins]], Samuel Byck tells us of the "other National Anthem", which is actually a metaphor for the emptiness of the American dream.

* ''[[Metal Gear]] 2: Solid Snake'' contained a casette tape which played the Zanzibar Land National Anthem. If soldiers heard this, they'd freeze in place to salute for the duration of the song (which lasted thirty seconds - presumably it was the song's opening or final bars). If played too often, the tape will warp and skip, and soldiers will stop responding to it and merely investigate the source of the music. I've seen one fanfic which claimed Snake was actually singing it, and wrote lyrics. The anthem sounds suspiciously like ''We Wish You a Merry Christmas'', of all things.

{{quote|Hail, hail Robonia

A land I didn't make up }}

* In at least one movie, ''The Internationale'' was called the Soviet Anthem—and "The Internationale" was the Soviet Anthem from the founding of the USSR to 1944. However, there is nothing ''national'' about ''[[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|The Internationale]]'', so it was replaced with a real national anthem, whose melody is now used for the Russian national anthem. Of course, the USSR was most interesting after WWII. The anthem used to be a poem about Stalin's glory and [[Badass]] -ness. [[Nikita Khrushchev]] unpersoned [[Joseph Stalin]] and for 24 years, the USSR had a national anthem with a tune but no words. [[National Anthem/Awesome Music|An awesome tune]], but still...no words.

* "Rule Britania" will sometimes be used as a British theme in place of "God Save the Queen"

* Everybody say it with me now: '''''[[The Sound of Music|Edelweiss is NOT the national anthem of Austria]].''''' It was a song written ''exclusively'' for the movie, though it sometimes suffers [[Adaptation Displacement]] and the song gets put into stage revivals anyway.

* In Jules Verne's ''[[From the Earth to the Moon]]'', a group of Americans, in a moment of Patriotic Fervor, sings "Yankee Doodle''. Admittedly, at the time Verne was writing, the United States did not have a national anthem.

* In ''[[The Naked Gun]]'', Lt. Frank Drebin pretends to be the famous opera singer Enrico Palazzo, and proceeds to sing the American anthem painfully out of key, much to the real one's abject horror.

* The aliens on [[3rd Rock from the Sun]] start to sing their home-world's anthem in one episode. None of them can remember the lyrics after the first few lines so they just sort of hum it until they reach the end, which they all remember as "something something …spaceship!"

** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkhbpeL-8sY Rosseanne Barr] did a satirical version at a Padres game in 1990... It didn't go over well.

** At the 2011 Super Bowl, Christina Aguilera did a pretty good job with the actual singing part... but the lines she missed were definitely noticeable.