Noisy Nature: Difference between revisions

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This trope can also cover animals who utter calls and cries that actually do not belong to them. All owls hoot, all big cats roar, and all birds of prey will have the cry of a Red-Tailed Hawk dubbed over (because [[Rule of Cool|a Bald Eagle's cry MUST be Awesome.]]) More movies and TV shows than you can shake a stick at have ambient noise that includes bird calls of species not native to that region. This is especially common in movies filmed in [[California Doubling|California but set on some other continent]], but even a movie filmed "on location" can have misplaced bird calls added in the editing process.
 
A particularly jarring subtrope of the above is the tendency, in fiction, for ''everything'' to roar. Say your hero is being attacked by something non-human and possibly even outside the animal kingdom; a plant or a robot or something. But we still know it's angry and very dangerous. Why? Because the thing is roaring as it fights. It might also scream in pain if the hero manages to fight back. [[Man-Eating Plant|Man Eating Plants]], despite [[You Fail Biology Forever|lacking in the vocal chord --or lung-- department]], will roar, scream and hiss just in case you didn't know they were dangerous. In a similarly helpful manner [[Giant Spider|Giant Spiders]]s and [[Big Creepy-Crawlies]] scream or hiss and there are at least two documented cases (in fiction, of course) of roaring ''sharks''. And if you've got to fight a '''robot''' that looks like a particular animal, you can be damn well certain that robot will make the sounds of that animal.
 
The possibility that an enemy who attacks you in utter silence [[Nothing Is Scarier|without saying a thing]], or who instead makes utterly inorganic noises like grinding gears, might actually be [[Uncanny Valley|far, far more chilling]] never, ever comes up.
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May disrupt [[Suspension of Disbelief]] for tropers who know their stuff about animals. Not to be confused with [[Cute but Cacophonic]]. Noisy forests also tend to be places where [[Everything Trying to Kill You|Everything is Trying To Kill You]]. See also [[Misplaced Wildlife]], [[All Animals Are Dogs]], and [[Bug Buzz]]. Use of [[Stock Sound Effects]] is a common culprit. Possibly related to [[Small Reference Pools]].
{{examples}}
 
{{examples}}
== Media in General ==
== Played Straight ==
=== Media in General ===
* Nearly every jungle scene, no matter what the intended location, features the distinctive call of the Kookaburra, only native to dry upland areas in Australia, probably because many uninformed people mistake it for a generic primate's "ooh ooh ahh."
** Hilariously, in Jesus Franco's ''Count Dracula'' (1973) you hear the kookaburra call ''in the Borgo Pass.''
** ''[[Raiders of the Lost Ark]]'' has a kookaburra in the South American Jungle
** ''[[Black Narcissus]]'' had one in the Himalayas!
** The Kookaburra is one of the many completely misplaced animals that turn up in the Disney film version of ''[[The Swiss Family Robinson]]''.
** An edited kookaburra sound provided [[Flipper]]'s famous chatter.
** The attentive viewer familiar with the kookaburra's various calls might notice an unusual one in "''[[The Wizard of Oz" (film)|The Wizard of Oz]]'' - specifically, as they enter the haunted forest.
* [http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Common_Loon_dtl.html Common Loons] are very large, somewhat rare aquatic birds who are also known as The Great Northern Diver. In reality, they tend to be heard almost exclusively around their natural habitat: large bodies of open water in cold parts of the Northern Hemisphere. According to movie logic, they are '''everywhere'''. Even shallow swamplands, the middle of a forest, the middle of a ''mountain range'' (!?!), [[Lost|Craphole Island]], and the planet where [[The Dark Crystal]] takes place. Their cry ''is'' evocative, so [[Rule of Cool]] can make some instances work - as long as they're believable.
* Heck, any stock horror scene where all the animals in the forest are apparently ganging up to scare the hell out of the protagonist by making startling cries. For no other reason. At night.
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* All seabirds in fiction sound like herring gulls regardless of species.
** And every seashore in fiction has them calling in the background, regardless of location or season.
* The Pacific tree frog is the only kind of frog that very definitely goes "ribbit". It's the frog that lives in California, which is why Hollywood believes frogs everywhere in the world go "ribbit". There are, technically, a few other amphibians [[Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Abridged Series|in America]] whose song sounds like ribbiting - but they're toads. Actual frogs tend to make [https://web.archive.org/web/20131108165206/http://allaboutfrogs.org/weird/general/songs.html chirping, burping, beeping, or trilling calls].
** There's a species on the east coast around the Carolinas that very clearly says "HNAAAAGH!" with a volume out of ''all'' proportion to its size.
** In Japan, frogs go "kero kero".
** Bullfrogs call for "Rrrrrum" and Green Frogs call for "Doug"!
** Pac-Man frogs make [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JK0gRFvFjZ8 a horrifying screech].
* The default noise made by any bird of prey, especially the Bald Eagle, is in actuality [http://www.naturesongs.com/rtha1.wav the cry of a Red-tailed Hawk], a long, drawn out, and majestic-sounding call. This is ''so damn pervasive'' that it shows up in places where the producers really ought to know better. The station IDs for [[Animal Planet]], for example. For the record, a Bald Eagle [http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Bald_Eagle/sounds actually sounds like this.] Just to bring things full circle, there have been a few instances where this is used for the cry of a Red-Tailed Hawk. D'oh!<br /><br />It's really easier to list the aversions and weirdest examples:
:It's really easier to list the aversions and weirdest examples:
** Mostly averted in Disney's ''[[Brother Bear]]'', where Sitka sounds like an actual eagle - except for the grand crescendo at the end, where he once again became a hawk in disguise.
** One of the most confusing instances of this was an episode of ''[[Alvin and The Chipmunks]]'' (of all things) where the baby Bald Eagles made genuine eagle calls but their parents sounded like hawks. Oi.
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** And in ''[[K-On!]]'' the cry is yet again used for a seagull during the obligatory [[Beach Episode]], maybe as a [[Shout-Out]] the aforementioned ''[[Suzumiya Haruhi]]'' episode, which is produced by the same studio.
* Though the idea that giraffes cannot make any sound at all seems to have been discredited, they are still very silent creatures. This is apparently disliked by filmmakers, who makes them sound like... ''rhinos'' (one example: ''[[Gladiator]]'' - the giraffes make the same sound as the baby ''Stegosaurus'' in ''The Lost World: [[Jurassic Park]]'', which in turn sounds just like the audio sample in Encarta's entry on the Black Rhinoceros)
* When a rat appears on screen, it will squeak. Real rats squeak very rarely, usually when fighting. They ''are'' very vocal, making lots of clicks and chittering noises... most of which are too high-pitched for humans to hear.<br /><br />Also, ''ANY'' Rodent will squeak, even if it's a rodent that makes another noise, like guinea pigs. Guinea pigs have a rather wide range of sounds, but the closest thing to squeaking is when they wheek. And where as a squeak is usually a small sound, a guinea pig's wheek is more like a loud yelling when they want attention. [http://www.jackiesguineapiggies.com/guineapigsounds.html Here are some of the sounds guinea pigs make,] and you can almost guarantee you will never hear them when a guinea pig is on-screen.
:Also, ''ANY'' Rodent will squeak, even if it's a rodent that makes another noise, like guinea pigs. Guinea pigs have a rather wide range of sounds, but the closest thing to squeaking is when they wheek. And where as a squeak is usually a small sound, a guinea pig's wheek is more like a loud yelling when they want attention. [http://www.jackiesguineapiggies.com/guineapigsounds.html Here are some of the sounds guinea pigs make,] and you can almost guarantee you will never hear them when a guinea pig is on-screen.
 
 
== Advertisements ==
* So, how about the recent "Green Sense" commercial where the [[Cute but Cacophonic|Starling's call]] is overdubbed with the far cuter, far less cacophonic Robin's song?
 
=== Advertisements ===
* So, how about the recent{{when}} "Green Sense" commercial where the [[Cute but Cacophonic|Starling's call]] is overdubbed with the far cuter, far less cacophonic Robin's song?
* In one Axe hair gel commercial, a man (using a different hair gel) impales fish on his hair while cliff diving and is attacked by a seagull screeching like hawk.
 
=== Anime & Manga ===
 
== Anime & Manga ==
* [[GaoGaiGar|Galeon]] roars at every opportunity, just because it's dramatic. (Wouldn't you if you were a giant robot lion?) ''Sometimes'' it's justified, as the roar is being used to negate barriers.
* The ''[[Pokémon (anime)|Pokémon]]'' episode "Chikorita's Big Upset" had dogs barking in the background during the scene where a Hitmonlee, a Hitmonchan, a Machoke, and a Primape find the titular Chikorita lost in the woods.
 
=== Films ===
 
* The [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3k9Uov6Xlc extended version] of Will Vinton's short ''Dinosaurs!'' is [[What Do You Mean It Wasn't Made on Drugs?|exceedingly trippy]] for an educational film. The trippyness almost ''excuses'' the fact that it's got Loons in a forest '''and''' Ravens at night. There's also a bit of an Everything Roars thing going on as the clip includes distorted versions of both calls made to sound like screams. (Bonus: [[Dragons Are Dinosaurs]]]] '''and''' [[What Measure Is a Non-Cute?]]! You may not want to watch it if those tropes bother you a lot.)
== Films ==
* The [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3k9Uov6Xlc extended version] of Will Vinton's short ''Dinosaurs!'' is [[What Do You Mean It Wasn't Made on Drugs?|exceedingly trippy]] for an educational film. The trippyness almost ''excuses'' the fact that it's got Loons in a forest '''and''' Ravens at night. There's also a bit of an Everything Roars thing going on as the clip includes distorted versions of both calls made to sound like screams. (Bonus: [[Dragons Are Dinosaurs]]]] '''and''' [[What Measure Is a Non-Cute?]]! You may not want to watch it if those tropes bother you a lot.)
* A particularly jarring example occurs in the pirate movie ''[[Cutthroat Island]]''. Among the ambient jungle noises on the small Caribbean island is a distinctly elephantine trumpeting. In the Caribbean. Once more: An elephant. In the Caribbean.
** Much subtler - so much so that it has to be pointed out in the commentary - is in ''[[Jurassic Park]]'', in the scene where Nedry "fights" the dilophosaur. The commentary explicitly notes, no, there are no elephants on the island, it's just there to pull the viewer into the jungle setting.
* The swan in ''[[Hot Fuzz]]'' honks like a goose. The common white swan is more properly known as the ''Mute'' Swan; it is capable of making some sounds, usually hissing at predators (or people who get too close), but not honking.
* The giant mutant ants in ''[[Them]]'' are quite noisy for creatures without vocal cords.
* All fictional lizards (the [[Reptiles Are Abhorrent|cute ones, at least]]) seem to make the same weird nasal growling noise. The trailer for ''Nim's Island'' featured an impossibly talkative bearded dragon. They only hiss -- andhiss—and they'll do ''that'' only if you try to give them a bath.
* There was a documentary on big cats where they gave a cheetah a fierce roar. When they failed to point out that cheetahs do ''not'' roar (they chirp!), she turned off the TV and took refuge in the encyclopedia.
* The most hilarious recent example can be heard in [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDepiNP_3Ys this trailer] for ''Oceans''. Err, those aren't baby ducklings...
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* [[Giant Spider|Kumonga]]. [[Godzilla|Roaring spiders anyone?]]
** Kumonga sounded more like he was daintily sneezing. Kamacuras the giant preying mantis definitely screeched, and Megalon made a metallic grinding/shrieking roar. Also Mothra's ethereal chirps.
* And let us not forget the ''[[Mystery Science Theater 3000]]'' classic, ''[[Our Werewolves Are Different|Werewolf]]'', which takes place in Flagstaff, Arizona. It has every variation of this trope: Wolf-people who never shut up, growling and howling at everything. Red-tailed Hawks crying at ''night''. A crappy Werewolf puppet who ''makes the calls of a hawk and a bat'' (WTF seems sadly inefficient here). And a soundtrack that uses every one of these animal calls as its [[Scare Chord|Scare Chords]]s.
** Another feature on ''[[Mystery Science Theater 3000]]'', ''[[Cave Dwellers]]'', has roaring ''snakes'' (technically the real snakes merely growl. The giant rubber puppet snake roars).
* ''Prancer'' has it all too: an injured Reindeer who won't stay quiet and [[Cute but Cacophonic|bellows at maximum volume all the time]], and ''Spring'' Peepers chirping in the middle of a Christmas Eve [[Dreaming of a White Christmas|blizzard]]. A-ha.
* Oddly enough, ''[[Tarzan]] of the Apes'' uses the lion roaring as it attacks, but seems to be aware that this can easily be a tactical mistake. The book claims that most animals are frozen in fear by the sound of the lion's roar, and only Tarzan himself, being human, is smart enough that the roar alerts him and encourages him to fight back. Of course, Edgar Rice Burroughs wasn't one to let the actual facts about lions get in the way of the story--thestory—the bigger question here is, [[Misplaced Wildlife|what was a plains-dwelling animal like a lion doing in the middle of the jungle?]]
** [[Monty Pythons Meaning of Life|Because there are no tigers in Africa.]]
* Possibly justified with ''[[RoboCop]]''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s ED-209: the (presumably prerecorded) lion's roar probably works as a pretty decent criminal deterrent. It's changed into puppy sounds in '''Robocop III'' because Ed has become a robotic [[Butt Monkey]] by that point.
* Not sure if it counts, but coming within a decent proximity of any of the tornadoes in the movie ''[[Twister]]'', provokes the odd animalistic roar in with the dramatic sounds of wind. As if you weren't already fairly certain that this was one kitty not to be petted.
** Justified in that survivor accounts of tornadoes describe many different sounds caused by the high winds and debris: a hundred roaring lions, a herd of squealing pigs, gigantic washing machines, jet engines, a huge tin can filled with rocks and being shaken.
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* In ''[[Avatar]]'', the Thanator (scary black panther thing) that chases Jake into the jungle keeps roaring at him. In frustration? Worse than that, though: it keeps ''pausing'' to roar at him. A predator that did that would starve.
 
=== Live-Action TV ===
* The newer ''[[Star Trek]]'' series, commencing with ''[[The Next Generation]]'', often had American Robins singing gaily in the background on various alien planets. So ''that's'' where they migrate in the winter...
* Similarly, CBS used to pipe in birdsong as "ambient sound" on their golf broadcasts. They stopped after an infamous instance where birdwatchers called them on the fact that the birds in a particular broadcast were not native to the location of the tournament.
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* ''[[Flipper]]'''s famous chatter? That's a sped-up kookaburra.
* [[The Colbert Report]] has an opening sequence has a red, white, and blue bald eagle making a red-tailed hawks cry. The show being what it is, it's either intentional or would be if they knew.
* ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'': In an episode where Buffy gets magically turned into a rat, a black cat stalks her, yowling repeatedly.
 
=== Music ===
 
== Music ==
* Parodied in the song "Tarzan and Jane" by the Danish band Toy-Box, which opens with a chorus of "jungle" sounds, including various birds singing, large cats growling, monkeys calling, ''sheep bleating'', and elephants trumpeting.
* [[They Might Be Giants]]' spoken-word piece "Turtle Songs of North America" is all about this sort of thing. It's hilariously bizarre.
 
=== Tabletop Games ===
 
* Averted in a way with [[Warhammer 40000|Warhammer 40K40,000]]''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s Tyranids. An Imperial Guard soldier noted the worst part of seeing an advancing Tyranid army was the total lack of vocal sound. No battle cries, wounded soldiers or shouted orders, just the tramp of clawed feet and rustling of chitin.
== Tabletop Games ==
* Averted in a way with [[Warhammer 40000|Warhammer 40K]]'''s Tyranids. An Imperial Guard soldier noted the worst part of seeing an advancing Tyranid army was the total lack of vocal sound. No battle cries, wounded soldiers or shouted orders, just the tramp of clawed feet and rustling of chitin.
** Except when another author writes them and they roar or hiss or go "skreee!". Even Lictors, famed for being extremely stealthy tend to let loose an ear-shattering "skreee!" on occasion.
 
=== Videogames ===
 
== Videogames ==
* A very strange example, as it swaps out an awesome-sounding call for a rather cuter one: in ''[[The Legend of Zelda]]: Twilight Princess'', [[Our Werewolves Are Different|Wolf Link]] gives ''coyote'' howls instead of wolf howls.
** Probably because a coyote's howl sounds more musical for the [[Ocarina Playlist|howling melody sections]]. (On that note, the howled melodies actually ''are'' the songs from ''Ocarina of Time''. [[Continuity Snarl|Make of that what you will]].))
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** In their appearance in ''[[Super Smash Bros.]] Brawl'', REX makes a high-pitched mechanical scraping screech while RAY does a somewhat quieter keening shriek. Gekkos still moo.
* The ''[[Bloody Roar]]'' series is guilty as charged with most of the characters' [[Animorphism|animal forms]], though the most glaring example would be Yugo, the roaring '''wolf'''.
* In ''[[City of Heroes]]'', if you're a Controller and happen to have Plant Control in your power set, congratulations! You're the proud owner of roaring man -eating plants and vines.
* ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' is a repeat offender. If it attacks you it will make a very large amount of noise, even if it lacks a mouth to roar at you with. Possibly an [[Acceptable Breaks From Reality|Acceptable Break From Reality]], as one of the functions of the sound is to inform the player that they've just aggroed something.
** What sound do ''[[WoWWorld of Warcraft]]'' orcas make when attacking? Humpback whale song.
** Devilsaurs, the [[Tyrannosaurus Rex]] of ''[[WoWWorld of Warcraft]]'', are big sneaky bastards.
 
=== Western Animation ===
 
== Western Animation ==
* Played with in the film ''[[Madagascar]]'', the main characters are animals in a New York City zoo. Fair enough - but in the background are generic jungle noises. The cast go to bed... and someone yells to [[Sorry I Left the BGM On|turn off the ambiance]]. When that happens, a generic New York City background noise replaces it, complete with sirens. Alex the lion then yawns and relaxes and goes to sleep. Surprisingly, this is [[Truth in Television]], since many zoos do have random jungle white noise played throughout the park to make the guests (and animals) feel more immersed.
* The [[Western Animation]]/Veggietales episode "Josh and the Big Wall" contains birdsong and chirping crickets ''in the middle of the desert.'' [[Lampshaded]] in the commentary.
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* ''[[Beast Wars]]'' spiders Tarantulas and Blackarachnia and [[Stock Dinosaurs|velociraptor]] Dinobot speak in near constant hiss, and Tigatron and Airrazor have rather vocal beast modes. Megatron, of course, speaks in constant [[Large Ham|ham]], no matter which mode he's in.
 
== Aversions/Parodies ==
 
=== Aversions/Parodies[[Film]] ===
 
== [[Film]] ==
* ''Spy Hard'' has an agent sneaking into the enemy base in a noisy jungle. As she enters through the back door, the camera pans over to someone making animal sounds while holding a book of wild animal calls. Dinosaurs are included in the noises.
* In ''[[Congo]]'' as our intrepid heroes pass through howler monkey territory in the jungle. As their name implies, howler monkeys are on the chatty side. Also a case of [[Misplaced Wildlife]] as Howler Monkeys are New World Monkeys, which means that our heroes who are traveling in [[Darkest Africa]], have stumbled upon some Howler Monkeys that are lost by a hemisphere.
* Due to the sheer over-the-top amount of sounds, likely parodied in ''[[Indiana Jones|The Temple Of Doom]]''. It's almost like they planned for a lengthy sojourn in the forest and gathered all the sounds, but left with one scene simply crammed them all in.
* George's ''Indiana Jones'' fantasy at the start of ''[[UHF (film)|UHF]]''. If you listen closely, you can hear cows, cats, and dogs among the cacophony.
 
=== [[Literature]] ===
* ''Timeline'' by [[Michael Crichton]] has our protagonists transported to a forest in a medieval setting, they are all shocked as to how quiet the forest really is. In the film adaptation everything imaginable in the forest makes a loud noise.
* In ''Ivory Extraordinaire'', an alternate Earth dominated by amphibians is considered creepy because the native tetrapods don't have voices. Ironic, considering how frogs and toads are among the few taxa that ''can'' be as noisy as depicted in film, but justified because the beasts on Amphibia are more akin to Permian-era labyrinthodonts and the like.
 
=== [[Western Animation]] ===
* [[Cartoon Network]] ran a spoof starring [[Yogi Bear]], where a director filmed ''[[Everythings Worse With Bear|When Bears Attack]]'' with a sleepy Yogi and Boo Boo - for instance, Yogi's yawning was shot and played over with the roar of [[Super Mario Bros.|Bowser]].
 
=== [[Real Life]] ===
* Inversion: Contrary to popular belief, fish actually make a lot of sound with a surprising variety. However, the human ear isn't very trained to hear these.
** The same goes for crickets and cicadas during the mating season. In summers where you've got multiple species of cicadas up, expect to want earplugs. For good measure, an upside-down or otherwise trapped one can make a ''definite'' racket through panicking '''and''' hiss like a snake.
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[[Category:Animal Tropes]]
[[Category:Artistic License Biology]]
[[Category:Noisy Nature{{PAGENAME}}]]