Ride of the Valkyries in popular culture

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ride of the Valkyries is an iconic opera stereotype in popular culture: the principal Valkyrie Brünnhilde in breastplate and horned helmet, clutching a spear and shield, and crying out "HO JO TO HO!" exhorting her fellow Valkyries to ride and collect the souls of slain warriors. In cartoons, she is usually depicted as rather heavier in build than most modern opera singers.

Ride of the Valkyries as featured in Apocalypse Now.

1 In films
2 In video games
3 In real life
4 Humorous uses
5 See also

[edit] In films

The piece has been used to great effect in a wide variety of films:

The best known example is the use by the fictional 1/9th Air Cavalry helicopter assault in Apocalypse Now. The stirring tones play as the helicopters swoop in to annihilate a village, Viet Cong soldiers, women, children, livestock and all. The piece has also been used in a serious context in the following:
In the Japanese trailer to Snakes on a Plane [1]
In a Nazi propaganda film^{[citation needed]}, as the background to a film displaying German planes in flight.
As the soundtrack to the scene in Birth of a Nation where the Ku Klux Klan rides into town against the black militia.
Appears in the spa sequence in Fellini's 8½.
Briefly played in Lord of War during the scene at the 1984 Berlin Arms Fair.
In 2004's The Football Factory it serves as Billy Bight's Stolen Phone Ringtone—giving away Zeberdee as the thief of the phone.
In V for Vendetta

[edit] In video games

The piece is used in the following video games

In SimCopter by Maxis.
In Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix, the helicopter level plays it, then the speakers get shot up.
In Return Fire for PC and the original Playstation, different classical music selections are played based on choice of vehicle and game situation. Naturally, Ride of the Valkyries plays whenever the helicopter is being used.
In StarCraft for PC, the Siege Tank can be heard humming the first notes of the tune if it is clicked on repeatedly.
In Battlefield Vietnam for PC, it is a selectable track that can be played while piloting a vehicle. This is likely refering to it's use in Apocalypse Now.

[edit] In real life

The Caltech undergraduate community has a tradition of playing "Ride of the Valkyries" loudly every morning of finals week, and a taboo against playing it at any other time.
The conservationist Paul Watson is alleged to have played this piece of music when he confronted seal hunters and fishermen who use drift nets. He no longer does this.

[edit] Humorous uses

In fact, the music is now so recognizable that it has become something of a parody of itself. Several films and television shows have lampooned its use in popular culture, including:

The Bugs Bunny cartoon What's Opera, Doc?, when Elmer Fudd sings "kill da wabbit" to its main theme.
The movie The Blues Brothers, when the "Illinois Nazis" chase Jake and Elwood toward the end of the movie.
The Simpsons episode "Mother Simpson", where Mr. Burns starts to play a recording of Ride of the Valkyries (in a situation similar to The Blues Brothers, see above), only to discover that Smithers has taped over it with the ABBA song "Waterloo".
In the concert film Killadelphia by American heavy metal band Lamb of God, when the band is shown skydiving.
In the Yu-Gi-Oh! Grand Championship arc, Zigfried Von Schroider's signature card is known as "Ride of the Valkyries", which special summons his Valykrie cards, one of which is named Valkyrie Brunhilde, which is made to look like the real Valkyrie Brünnhilde. The other Valkyries are from Norse mythology. These cards do not appear in the real Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game.
In The Parole Officer, the piece plays as a robot constructed out of a toy fire engine slowly rights itself with a beach ball, and subsequently accompanies an invasion of the road outside a bank by cycling protesters.
In the television advertisements for Carling Black Label from the 1980s. Other products which used the Ride into their ads include Listerine.
In the television cartoon The Emperor's New School, the song is used for Kuzco Allegience Day in Peasant for a Day.
In The Monkees episode "The Monkees In Paris", this song is heard during the scene when the Monkees are romping around the Seine River. It is played when Peter is imitating Mickey Mouse in a scene from Disney's Fantasia when he is waving his arms up in the air and the water magically flows upward. (In reality, the motor from the barge is bringing the water upward.)
During the run of The Bozo Show when Bozo was played by Joey D'Auria on WGN-TV from 1984 until 2001, his Bozo had a disdain for any music by Richard Wagner especially when Ride of the Valkyries was played.
In Family Guy Lois' father, Carter Pewterschmidt, is seen being literally blown away while listening to the piece.
In a Red Bull commercial.