Curiosity: foley tropes

[elainegrey]

We were watching an X-Files (OMG, actors so young, hair so fluffy, mobile phones so clunky) last night and a little atonal two note flute motif played to hint to the viewer "Vietnam veteran." (Christine isn't sure if it's a minor second or perhaps an augmented fourth, not in a major key. She says there's a flutter involved as well.) I swear i've heard that same little motif used before to indicate "Vietnam!"

I presume it is the flute Wikipedia describes as

The sáo (also called sáo trúc or "sow trook", pronounced [ʂǎːw ʈʂǔkp]) is a small flute found in Vietnam that is traditionally thought to contain the culture and spirit of Vietnam's countryside.

That explains the instrument but not the two note motif. I assume the particluar interval between notes is common to Vietnamese music, but why do i know that? How did this auditory shorthand get to American culture so that i can hear two notes and know "Ah, this has to do with Vietnam"?

Comments

[yourlibrarian]

What an interesting observation (also about 'OMG, actors so young, hair so fluffy, mobile phones so clunky'!) I hadn't noticed it before myself but now I'm going to looking out for it.

[elainegrey]

I don't know when i've heard it before (other than this particular episode) but the familiarity of it leads me to belive it's not uncommon.

X-Files rewatching fascinates me with the pre-Homeland Security pre-9/11 conspiracy ... lightness? innocence? I ponder a roommate i had in graduate school who took the series a little more seriously than its fictional nature deserved, and wonder about how her guileless interpretations have stood her.

[zyzyly]

Interestingly, that flute sound popped right into my head as I read this, and I knew what you were talking about.

[elainegrey]

Yay, i'm not imagining it!

[warriorsavant]

Just asked Nom. She said there is a little flute, but she didn't feel it was especially classically Vietnamese (regardless of what Wikipedia states). She couldn't think of any 2-note motif that is especially evocative. Understand that although she was born in VN and raised rather traditionally, she did actually grow up in Montreal.

[elainegrey]

I suspect that the motif was in some American epic like The Deer Hunter (or Apocalypse Now or Platoon?), and has been handed down as short hand ever since. It's sort of like how the same red tail hawk sound effect is used over and over, or the Wilhelm scream.