Line #41 Main/WalkingInRhythm


1	->''"Walking in rhythm\
2	Movin' in sound\
3	Hummin' to the music\
4	Trying to move on"''
5	-->-- '''The Blackbyrds''', "Walking in Rhythm"
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7	A subtrope of MickeyMousing, this is a situation in which a character walks to the beat of the background music. The fact that his feet move to the music often causes the viewers to apply the song and its attributes to the character. As such, this is an effective way to set a mood for a particular character.
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9	If the hero walks down the street to the beat of an upbeat, fast-paced song, it sets up the character as one with attitude. A sad, slow song may invoke a feeling of hopelessness about the character. The same effect can be used as a character walks away.
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11	It can also be used to set up a dramatic moment. Perhaps the hero is doing TheSlowWalk toward his foe, or maybe he is stepping up to fill a dead comrade's place. Whatever the situation, as his slow-motion steps touch the ground in time with the music, the drama increases.
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13	It can be used to emphasize a change in a character. Perhaps the hero has embraced his inner evil, or maybe he has just lost someone dear to him. As the montage of his new outlook roles, his feet fall in time with music more fitting to his new persona.
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15	Or it could just be done for the RuleOfCool.
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17	See also TeamPowerWalk.
18	----
19	!!Examples:
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21	[[foldercontrol]]
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23	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
24	* TropeCodifier is probably ''Film/SaturdayNightFever''; specifically, a song composed by Barney Perry and sung by the Blackbyrds. Also, ''Film/StayingAlive'', a young John Travolta / Tony strutting down the street to the Bee Gees beat.
25	* Played for laughs in ''[[Film/ImGonnaGitYouSucka I'm Gonna Git You Sucka]]''. Fly Guy is a pimp whom we earlier met in prison. He returns to the streets to take back what's his, while wearing platform shoes with inset aquariums.
26	* At the end of ''Film/RushHour'', Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker do a sorta dance to "War" while walking away.
27	* Used in ''Film/HighSchoolMusical 2'', of all places: Sharpay orders the percussionist to "give [her] a beat" to which she can walk huffily out of the room.
28	* In ''Film/TheWorldsEnd'' the protagonists walk from one pub to the next to "Alabama Song" by Music/TheDoors as they try to keep the pretense that everything is normal.
29	* ''Film/SpiderMan3'': After getting his black suit (and turning into a JerkAss EmoKid), Peter walks down the sidewalk, while checking out all the girls he passes.
30	* During the end credits of ''Film/TheAdventuresOfBuckarooBanzaiAcrossThe8thDimension'', the entire cast walks down the [[DownLADrain Los Angeles River Aqueduct]] to the movie's theme music.
31	* ''Film/StTrinians'' (original films): Flash Harry had a "theme" which played while he sneaked in.
32	* ''Film/TheBluesBrothers'': While sneaking into the Palace Hotel Ballroom, Jake and Elwood Blues tiptoe past a snoozing policeman to the beat of Music/CabCalloway singing ''Minnie the Moocher''. The scene is probably a reference to artists like Calloway, who would lead a band and a crowd simultaneously, and walk to the beat as part of the performance.
33	* ''Film/UndercoverBrother'': The title character does this while first walking through the corridors of Multinational Inc.
34	* The Creator/LaurelAndHardy movie ''Bonnie Scotland'' has Laurel doing this (with a rhythm that's apparently playing inside his head). It spreads to the rest of the military outfit in which he's enrolled.
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38	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
39	* On an episode of ''Series/AllyMcBeal'', her therapist advised her to play a theme song in her head. She takes the advice, is walking down the street and starts moving to the beat, and when she stops at a 'don't walk' sign she starts swaying in place to it--and then it spreads to the crowd around her, and when they start walking, they're all moving to the same beat as her.
40	* A director of an episode of ''Series/BlakesSeven'' tried to apply this trope by having the StompyMooks march to the ticking of a metronome set to match the beat of the martial music he was planning to dub onto the scene later. Unfortunately a practical joker thought it would be funny to increase the ticking rate so everyone would have to march faster, so it didn't match.
41	* Played with hilariously in ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' - after Xander has cast a love spell that's gone haywire, we see his feet as he strides down the school hall to the Average White Band's funky "Got the Love" - as the camera pans up, we see he's in a DeerInTheHeadlights state of panic as all the girls eye him appreciatively and the boys look outraged.
42	* ''Series/DoctorWho''. In "Last Christmas" a woman has to sneak past telepathic alien monsters who will be drawn to anyone who thinks about them. To avoid doing so, she has "Merry Xmas Everybody" by Music/{{Slade}} played over her headset as an EarWorm, and proceeds to dance past the aliens.
43	* ''Series/LazyTown'': In "Defeeted", when Sportacus walks on his hands near the end of "Always A Way", he does so to the techno beat of the track.
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46	[[folder: Professional Wrestling]]
47	* Wrestling/{{CHIKARA}} had Wrestling/ArchibaldPeck, a [[WrestlingDoesntPay wrestling marching band leader]]. Actually [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot a wrestling time-traveling marching band leader with alternate personalities]].
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50	[[folder:Video Games]]
51	* Done in the ''VideoGame/SlyCooper'' games, when Sly sneaks up on {{Mooks}}
52	* In ''VideoGame/NewSuperMarioBrosWii'', various mooks will respond to cues from the background music.
53	* It is done commonly in ''VideoGame/SpaceChannel5''
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56	[[folder:WesternAnimation]]
57	* In a direct spoof of ''Film/SaturdayNightFever," Bart [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons Simpson]] walks rhythmically in "Bart's Girlfriend" after Jessica Lovejoy invites him to dinner.
58	* ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994'': As Simba scales Pride Rock, his feet fall in time with the music, leading up to his triumphant roar at the top. Also happens during the part of "Hakuna Matata" where they walk across the log.
59	* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' sort of inverts this, when Peter Griffin wishes to a {{genie in a bottle}} of beer for his own theme music. When he walks around, music plays depending on the situation: it's happy, cartoony and upbeat when he walks happily, sad violins when he meets a poor hobo or suspenseful when he's about to get battered.
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62	[[folder:RealLife]]
63	* Marching bands, who are completely awesome in every way. They march in time to the music. It's a part of the job description. (Yay!)
64	** Webcomic/{{xkcd}} joked about this [[http://www.xkcd.com/389/ in one comic]], and said that one could pick out members of a marching band in a store by making the background music skip and watching them stumble.
65	** Songs with irregular beats can have a similar effect.
66	* When the [[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/1835376.stm Millennium Bridge]] over the Thames was opened, it had to be closed ''the same day'' as it was swaying. It has been theorised that it was the result of the footsteps of everyone crossing it being subconsciously co-ordinated by the music being played (getting a few thousands of people walking in sync over a bridge is a massive no-no. If the swaying hits the correct frequency, it can rapidly amplify itself and bring the bridge crashing into the river in a couple of hours). This problem has been known since at least the 19th century, and following some [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broughton_Suspension_Bridge high-profile]] [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angers_Bridge bridge disasters]] early on the century, many bridges were fitted with warnings to soldiers to "Break Step" while marching across them.[[note]]In the Angers Bridge disaster, the soldiers had actually broken step but the bridge was alreayd swaying in a high wind and it's thought that they inadvertently fell back into step in an attempt to counteract the swaying. The Millennium Bridge remained closed for two years while engineers fitted it with inertial dampers, fixing the problem.[[/note]]
67	* Armies traditionally march in formation. Combined with the stereotypical "marching" gait, this is the most efficient way to move large numbers of people on foot. This was especially helpful if you need to move large numbers of people in a coordinated manner to precise locations (before modern firearms). The strong authoritative drumbeat associated with quite a bit of martial music is actually intended to make it easier for the troops to stay in step (compare to marching band music, which features a similar strong drumbeat). For similar reasons to the above example it is always avoided on bridges.
68	** Surprisingly, it's not a DeadHorseTrope. Such marching is useless in modern battle, but it is very helpful when you just need to keep control of a group of people and keep them organized, and the vast majority of a soldier's life is ''not'' fighting.
69	** In English, the command Route Step, March and At Ease, March exist as commands to get off the same rhythm and tell soldiers they are to remain in formation, but may move freely. Route Step also allows talking. To resume walking in rhythm, the command Quick Time, March is used.
70	** Then there is Double Time, March, which is running in rhythm.
71	* Not technically background music, but people may start subconsciously walking in rhythm to music on their iPods. iPod runner's software inverts this trope, as it chooses music the goes in rhythm to the runner to help keep their pacing.
72	[[/folder]]

Context Main / WalkingInRhythm