Is this what it sounds like when doves cry?
"*spitting noises* What's with all these doves? Did he go overboard with the theatrics again?"
— Nagi Springfield, Negima! Magister Negi Magi
A Stock Visual Metaphor: when something significant happens, expect to see birds flying off, especially white ones, especially pigeons (biologically the same thing as doves). These birds are likely to suffer from Perpetual Molt. This is Truth in Television as flocks of trained pigeons are sometimes incorporated into ceremonies such as weddings and flag retreats. And if the action involved movement, it might startle any nearby birds into flight. Also, doves and pigeons tend to clatter their wings together as they take off, making a distinctive sound that adds to the dramatic effect.
Frequently subverted; not to be confused with the Bat Scare, in which flying creatures are symbolic of abandonment if anything. See also Foreboding Fleeing Flock, which is about flocks of birds fleeing the scene being a sign of something bad about to happen.
Similar to That Poor Cat and its automotive equivalent, That Poor Car. Pesky Pigeons is the malevolent version in which pigeons are portrayed as annoying or predatory birds. Related to Doves Mean Peace.
Examples:
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Anime and Manga
- Blue Drop anime does this a lot, too, except that it's mostly seabirds rather than doves.
- In the beginning of Blue Exorcist, Rin is standing in the park with mutilated pigeons at his feet as other pigeons fly right past his face and into the morning sky. The dead pigeons were not his fault, but he had just beaten up the guys who did and drove them away.
- In Cowboy Bebop:
- When Julia dies, the doves go flying. In slow motion, no less! For some reason, the doves stayed still through the running gunfight until Julia gets hit.
- The frequent flapping and squawking of Vicious' pet bird during the Cathedral fight scene, and the dove flyby over Spike's dead body.
- In Dear Brother, Nanako tells Fukiko in a church about her intention to leave the Sorority. As if flying doves weren't enough, one dove CRASHES THROUGH A STAINED GLASS WINDOW.
- Used once in the anime adaptation of Dragon Ball Z during the Cell Games arc. Perfect Cell decides to bring out Gohan's hidden power by provoking him to anger through the torture of his friends and the murder of his ally. He gets his wish and Gohan's breaking point is symbolized by a flight of doves behind his eyes.
- Fist of the North Star does this with the conclusion of Raoh's battle against Toki.
- Spoofed in the FLCL episode "Burabure" ("Brittle Bullet"). Naota and his grandfather are watching a pastiche of John Woo movies where a melodramatic death scene ("Brother! I'm a runaway bullet train after all!" "Brother! Don't you die on me now!") is interrupted when the non-dying character is overwhelmed by a flock of Disturbed Doves. (For those who didn't get the joke, the dub adds the line "What are all these pigeons doing in here?") The doves then fly out of the TV set after Kamon is sent crashing into the room and breaks the TV.
- In Future GPX Cyber Formula, this happens outside the hospital where Osamu is staying when Hayato's mother tells him that his father is dead, which results in his Heroic BSoD.
- One of the signature poses of Golgo 13 has him standing in a field of doves taking flight.
- Kagurabachi: As two criminals discuss the inevitable chaos caused by the annual Rakuzaichi, the brief moment of peace before Chihiro and his allies invade the event ending is represented by the nearby birds on power lines being disturbed and flying away as their conversation ends.
- Maison Ikkoku Episode 20: Kyoto denies feeling lonely while Godai is away at his hometown for New Years, and he keeps delaying his return. Then she meets Kozue (interesting how the two women in the Love Triangle get along so well) and they start talking about Godai, and how he hasn't come back yet. Kozue then says "I'm lonely". A moment to take in Kyoko's reaction- and the suddenly a bunch of pigeons take flight (and they watch them go, possibly combining this with the bird of lost love?) First time through it seems a little off, but looking back that was a very important moment when Kyoko realizes that she is lonely, and that Godai has become an important part of her life (even if it's not romantic).
- Almost every episode of Mitsudomoe includes a scene where someone screams, cut to a picture of their house and a bunch of crows flying away.
- This happened to Negi in Negima! Magister Negi Magi after Albireo used his shapeshifter item to become Nagi for ten minutes, the titular character's Disappeared Dad. Nagi complained about Albireo's needless theatrics upon appearing.
- Ouran High School Host Club in the beginning of the first episode. Haruhi walks down the school hallway and she passes a huge window while a flock of doves fly by. At the time she was thinking about her late mother. This is also her first day at Ouran and not long before she stumbles into the Host Club, an event that changes her life (and kicks off the rest of the series).
- Patlabor: The climactic scenes of the first two movies feature large flocks of seagulls.
- RahXephon has a minor example in the first episode with "Reika" surrounded by pigeons. This in turn recreates a scene with Haruka surrounded by seagulls.
- R.O.D the TV: The main characters have a pet pigeon named John Woo. Enough said.
- Tamagotchi Friends: There's a running gag in episode 40 of Tamagotchi! Yume Kira Dream where some dramatic scene results in a character shouting loud enough that the resulting reaction shot shows birds flying away, scared by the shouting. It happens three times: first, when Yumemitchi brings it up to Mametchi and Kuchipatchi that she suspects Benitchi of having an affair with Chukatchi; secondly, when Mametchi and Kuchipatchi are at the beach, having just found out that Yumemitchi was on to something; and the last time is when Chukatchi admits his love for Chinatchi, his actual wife, after having waved aside the accusations.
- Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann: The Lights in the Sky are Stars: There’s a particularly silly example when the galaxy-sized Anti-Spiral mecha, Granzeboma, grows to Super Granzeboma, you can see white energy birds the size of galaxies flying past it.
- Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V: When Shun Kurosaki draws his last card in his battle royale duel against Masumi, Hokuto, and Yaiba, the action generates a gust of wind that scares the birds away. The other three are suitably freaked out, and with good reason when Shun defeats them all at once.
Art
- The Lady of Shalott (Holman Hunt): Surprised by the Lady's actions, two doves in the background fly away from their perch.
Comic Strips
- Calvin and Hobbes: A prehistoric variant. In the August 4th, 1991, strip, where Calvin is picturing himself as a tyrannosaur stomping through his prehistoric domain, the creatures shown startled by the predator's passage include a flock of Pteranodon shown leaping into the air and flying off into the sky.
Fan Works
- Homecoming, 2026: Birds fly off when a bell breaks a silence:
Mounted below the cameras on the pole was a bell.
The silence of the afternoon was interrupted when the bell rang three times. A small flock of birds took to the air, startled by the sound. The clearing fell silent for a few moments before the two adults and two of the teenagers appeared. Rather than warping into the middle of the pad, they were clustered around a sturdy maple tree on the opposite side of the pole from the pad.
Films — Animated
- Appleseed Ex Machina: The doves are even slightly relevant to the plot,, since they are not actually real birds but rather radio re-transmitters disguised as such by the villain. Come think of it, it might have even been a twisted meta-Red Herring: the viewers are expected to know what doves mean in John Woo movies already and to assume that this is also the case here, failing to connect the dots until The Reveal. Evil.
- The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part: Discussed. Queen Watevra suggests releasing bats instead of doves at her wedding.
- Shrek 2: Birds are strategically released when Fiona and Shrek are announced to the kingdom. However, when everyone realizes that they're ogres, one of the birds gets so distracted they crash into a wall.
- Turning Red: As Mei makes her way to the concert, she causes a flock of pigeons on a rooftop to take flight symbolizing her breaking free of her mother's influence by fleeing.
Films — Live-Action
- Aparajito: The pigeons scatter from atop the temple as Apu's father Harihar dies.
- Barry Lyndon: The climactic duel takes place in an old barn with doves noticeably flying around, although perhaps fittingly given the general aesthetic of the film, they don't really interact with the combatants.
- Big Fat Liar: Invoked. When the main character jumps off a roof, it is shot in slow motion with doves flying in the background. The birds were placed there on purpose to do just that.
- Blade Runner: At the climax, the decaying upper stories of the Bradbury Building are full of doves (and pigeon poop) as Deckard and Roy Batty play hide-and-seek, and Roy famously holds one in his hand as he delivers the magnificent Tannhäuser Gate monologue, releasing it as he murmurs "Time to die..." This may be one of the earliest appearances of the trope as a Significant Emotional Moment reaction, as opposed to a Loud Noise reaction.
- The Bourne Identity: Invoked when Bourne is being tracked through tall grass by Clive Owen's Cold Sniper. Bourne lets off a shotgun, disturbing some very noisy birds, and runs for cover while the ensuing cacophony covers his footsteps.
- Branded to Kill, director Seijun Suzuki, didn't have the budget to buy birds, so he just superimposed their silhouettes on the scene he wanted them.
- The Bridge on the River Kwai: When the Japanese discover the British commandos bathing, the first shot is followed by a cut to the bats woken up by the shot flying around above the canopy.
- Edge of Darkness (1943): A German regiment has been dispatched to investigate a report of the Norwegian flag flying over a town in occupied Norway. They find a town filled with corpses. One jittery soldier lets loose with a machine gun burst, causing a flock of pigeons to fly away.
- Eye of the Devil: A flock of doves flies away after Catherine drives into the courtyard of the spooky castle that is her husband's estate. Then some scary, dead-eyed locals shoot one of the doves out of the sky. It's a Town with a Dark Secret.
- Eyes Without a Face: Disturbed doves are used for the haunting ending. This actually inspired John Woo in The Killer (1989).
- The Gospel According to St. Matthew: When Jesus goes around Flipping the Table in the Temple, one of the things he flips over is a wicker barrel containing doves, which pops open and lets the doves loose.
- Highlander: Ramirez is chatting with Heather when he feels the Kurgan approaching. He looks up and sees the birds flying away. Apparently, animals can tell if an evil immortal is on the way.
- I Am Cuba: They're sent flying when the cops fire off a warning volley in an attempt to get the audience at Enrique's speech to disperse. A second volley actually shoots one of the doves out of the air, whereupon the film goes super-Anvilicious as Enrique leads a march away, holding the dead dove in front.
- In Bruges: A flock of disturbed seagulls take off when Harry Waters arrives.
- Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade had to use doves instead of gulls in the "scaring the birds" scene, because they couldn't get the gulls to take off.
- James Bond: John Glen's run (For Your Eyes Only straight through to Licence to Kill) had at least one per film.
- John Woo has made this trope a trademark of his since The Killer (1989), where they featured strongly during the siege at the church in the finale. By the time Mission: Impossible II was released, it appeared as though Woo had married this trope and fathered a dozen of its babies. This trope even appears in the anime movie Appleseed Ex Machina he is producing (see above). In his video game sequel to Hard Boiled, Stranglehold, you can activate Spin Attack, which kills every mook in the room and summons doves. For no reason. Inside any building. And in Red Cliff he finally finds a way to make the symbolic doves plot important: they're bred by Zhuge Liang for use to deliver messages.
- The Matrix Reloaded: A variation. Just before the "Burly Brawl" sequence, the Oracle had been feeding a flock of metaphoric ravens while talking with Neo. When she and Seraph leave, the ravens fly off in fright as Agent Smith approaches...
- Penelope (2006): When Penelope's mother discovers that she's run away and runs out the front door of the house calling after her, startled pigeons fly up in the background. They're more conspicuous in the trailer than in the actual film.
- Triangle: A flock of disturbed seagulls take flight when Jess bursts out on to the top deck and finds a wounded Sally crawling away through piles of dead copies of herself.
- 21 Jump Street (2012): Parodied. Doves fly out of a limo that the characters are in, with Jenko exiting holding a box labeled "Doves".
Literature
- The Art of War gives this as one of the signs that the enemy is on the move:
The rising of birds in their flight is the sign of an ambuscade. Startled beasts indicate that a sudden attack is coming.
- Eifelheim: After the village fire is gotten under control at the start, Dietrich the priest and Sergeant Schweitzer's conversation is interrupted when the latter notices a flock of acorn-jays taking off from the nearby forest and notes that something or someone must be moving around in there to startle the birds like this, which is the human characters' first clue that there's something odd in their woods.
- Reading—for the first time—Jonathan Safran Foer's Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, you're expecting the title to refer to one of the 9/11 plane crashes, because that would likely be relevant to the plot. Turns out to be ten-years-old narrator Oskar's description of the sudden departure of a flock of birds.
- Haruhi Suzumiya: During the making of the home movie, Haruhi decides that a flock of doves flying by Mikuru would make a perfect shot; unfortunately, all she can find are shrine pigeons. Of course, after the shoot, they end up turning pure white...
- Heralds of Valdemar: A short story in Oathblood involves a villain who wants to cage and control firebirds, and mages, to take their power for herself. She's thwarted and the cages are opened, but Kethry is left considering if she too has that kind of controlling ambition. At the end of the story she and Tarma embrace and watch the firebirds flying, and Kethry thinks An Aesop about allowing those she loves, Tarma included, to come and go freely.
- Warhammer 40,000: Gaunt's Ghosts: In Blood Pact, when fighting breaks out at the climax, flocks of (unspecified) birds take flight.
Live Action TV
- The Colbert Report lampoons a group of people claiming that birds taking off during their rally was a sign from God, saying something along the lines of "What are the odds that birds would take off the moment a hundred people started clapping at once?".
- Daniel Tosh once joked that if he was rich he'd rig doves to fly out whenever he made an entrance so people would think "Hey that must be John Woo's kid"
- Game of Thrones:
- Inverted when the Black Cloaks and the Wildings know when the White Walkers are coming when the crows land around them.
- When Ned Stark is beheaded.
- Prehistoric Planet: The main role of the enantiornithine birds in the series is to fly away in startled flocks when scared off by bigger animals.
- Psych: During a Mexican Standoff, Shawn Spencer quips, "If this were a John Woo movie, doves would be flying everywhere right now."
- The Swamp Fox: Using a gunshot to scare the birds near Marion's hideout into flight was a frequent way to summon the brigade. Could be real-life based, but unverified.
Music
- My Chemical Romance's song You Don't Know What They Do To Guys Like Us In Prison has a line with this trope:
I'm like a bullet through a flock of doves!
- There's an obscure concert tee of the band Disturbed's Mascot walking through a murder of Disturbed Ravens.
- The video of "I Will Be There" by Art of Dying does this at the end, but with crows.
- The video for "Weird Al" Yankovic's "It's All About the Pentiums" features these flying out of his car at the beginning.
- Sentenced's "No One There" closes out the album The Cold White Light ominously with the sound of a flock of eurasian cranes panickingly taking off, in a Call-Back to their sounds in the Album Intro Track "Konevitsan Kirkonkellot".
Professional Wrestling
- Randy Orton's signature taunt, where he leans back slightly with his arms extended outward and upward
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Video Games
- Ace Attorney:
- Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney: Played for laughs with Valant Gramarye. He's a magician, so his shock sprite involves not only disturbed doves but disturbed rabbits and disturbed bunches of flowers to boot.
- The Great Ace Attorney: One of the animations for Lord Chief Justice Mael Stronghart features a group of birds in the background scenery flying off for effect. Somehow, this seems to happen only when he performs this pose, and happens every time.
- Arcana Heart: As a Shout-Out to John Woo movies, one of Petra's winning poses has her shoot one of her guns in the air, followed by a flock of doves flying past her.
- Assassin's Creed:
- Assassin's Creed I: Flocks of doves mark points where it is safe to take a Leap of Faith, so you'll probably disturb them yourself as you jump.
- Assassin's Creed II: In the trailer, birds fly off when Ezio uses his wrist gun. Justified, because the shot was fairly loud.
- Canabalt has the protagonist run through flocks of birds perched on the rooftops, which fly off as he passes. In Epic Coaster, scaring away birds will give you an achievement called "Canabalt homage".
- City of Heroes: The demo video for the Dual Pistols Powerset featured doves as part of its finishing move: "Hail of Bullets". The doves were a joke added in by the animator, and were removed before the Powerset's final release, mostly because he didn't want to deal with customizing the doves.
- Command & Conquer: Generals: Zero Hour: One of the campaign scenarios begins with a large flock of ravens sitting in a tree that overlooks a cliff. A slight noise can be heard in the distance, the birds fly away, and a motorcycle drives over the cliff. Followed by another. Followed by dozens.
- Condemned: Criminal Origins has this somewhat: dead birds started showing up during and before the course of the game, related to the evil jaw-thing at the end of the game.
- Deus Ex: You'll occasionally disturb flocks of pigeons. They're rarely important, aside from alerting the odd guard. In a possible shout out to John Woo, it appears that roughly half of the world pigeon population resides in Hong Kong.
- Evolve: A gameplay mechanic. Flocks of birds spawn around the map, which a monster will startle into flight if it moves too close. This can be prevented by sneaking when moving near birds or using smell to detect them early and avoid them altogether.
- The Floor is Jelly: If there are birds in a tree, they'll fly off if the stretch of ground the tree is rooted on suddenly jiggles.
- Killer7: A single disturbed dove is part of the boss fight against Curtis Blackburn. He challenges Dan Smith to a quick-draw contest, saying, "We begin when the bird flies." The two stare each other down while one of Curtis's doves settles on his shoulder. As soon as it flies away again, the two draw on each other. The first to get a shot off gets a point; the first to four points wins. If you try to attack before the bird flies Curtis will shoot you for cheating. There's a secret cue to let the player anticipate when the dove will fly - it coos seconds before it takes off.
- Loopmancer: When you fight Hiroyuki, there's a flock of seagulls in the deck which flies off when you and Hiroyuki charge at each other in the pre-boss battle cutscene.
- Metal Gear:
- Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty: Solidus frees Raiden from his chains before they fight. Raiden readies his sword, and a flock of pigeons rise up behind Solidus.
- Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots: When we see old Big Boss first time since Metal Gear 2, Old Snake says his name and this trope happens.
- Pokémon Black and White: Stepping outside your house for the very first time will startle a flock of Pidove in your yard, and they'll fly off. If it's after sunset, you instead disturb a flock of Woobat.
- Shadow of the Colossus: Doves gradually gather around Mono's altar; they will fly away if you get too close or shoot arrows at them. Given that there are so few animals in the game, and that a new dove appears for each colossus killed, this is almost certainly symbolic.
- Team Fortress 2: A painting at the Valve offices featuring Medic posing with his Badass Longcoat blowing in the wind, holding a Medigun, and surrounded by Disturbed Doves was leaked online, foreshadowing the "Meet the Medic" video that would be shown soon after. It turns out that the Medic keeps doves as pets in the video, hence their disturbed flights. You can also get a taunt which allows you to perform this at any time you want. The item's description is this:
Remind those ungrateful bastards how valuable your Medic skills are by striking a heroic pose accompanied by an angelic choir, beams of divine light, and a flock of doves.
- Townscaper: As a town is built up, flocks of birds come to roost on its roofs. Altering a house with a flock resting on it will cause them to leap into the air with much clapping of wings and circle overhead for a while, before either departing or coming to rest somewhere else.
Webcomics
- Blue Yonder: Jared, as a baby, was just hanging with the doves when his parents found him; his glee sent them off.
- Ears for Elves: On the very first page, several types of woodland creature are disturbed by Tanna's archery practice, and a flock of birds fly away from the area.
- Questionable Content: Referenced and lampshaded when Marten notes that he doesn't know "who released the white doves when [the monk] did that spinning jump-kick thing", but he thought it was a nice touch.
Web Videos
- Star Wars Downunder: Spoofed in the opening when fleeing fruit bats herald Darth Drongo's attack on the Brown Mullet pub.
Western Animation
- American Dad!: "Roy Rogers McFreely": Parodied. Roger takes over the homeowner's association and it eventually culminates into the equivalent of a mob war between him and Stan. Stan's group cut the breaks on a riding mower used by one of Roger's Mexican gardeners. Seeing he's headed for a small drop, he dramatically jumps off the mower into a bush, where doves fly off. The mower then comes to a stop.
- Avatar: The Last Airbender:
- "The Beach": Parodied when Zuko takes off his shirt. The director on the DVD commentary states that it's their "big John Woo tribute".
- Played straight in the series finale when the wildlife is driven off by fire.
- Danny Phantom: In the beginning of the first Made-for-TV Movie, ghost ravens (or it is raven ghosts?) caw and fly off as Vlad Plasmius awakens Pariah Dark.
- Drawn Together: Parodied in that, almost every time something even slightly dramatic happens, Disturbed Doves will fly outward from the area randomly. In one scene, after the housemates look at a dramatic scene with Disturbed Doves in the background, said Disturbed Doves immediately attack the housemates.
- Molly of Denali: In "Nature's Medicine", a couple of crows take off in fright when Trini suggests packing something other than pilot bread and everyone gasps at the notion.
- My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic:
- "The Show Stoppers": Scootaloo's high-speed leap over a tree branch sends a flock of birds scattering, framing her on either side in slow-motion.
- "Frenemies": When Cozy Glow finds out that Rusty Bucket owns a copy of the friendship journal and applied one of its lessons to avoid her manipulation, her furious scream sends a flock of birds flying away from Mount Everhoof.
- The Simpsons: In "Who Shot Mr. Burns?", Homer is frustrated that, despite numerous encounters and his having worked for the man for years, Mr. Burns still has no idea who he is. Marge advises him to send a gift. He sends a box of chocolates, and receives a thank-you note addressed to the other members of the Simpson family, but not to him. Enraged, he tells the kids to step out of the room, takes a deep breath, and shouts an Atomic F-Bomb, censored by a church organ. The cuss was so loud that it causes a flock of doves to fly away.
- Teen Titans (2003) plays this straight when a flock of disturbed doves appears during Robin and Red X's team up. It also doubles as the series' version of a "big John Woo tribute".
- 12 oz. Mouse does this during one of the shootout scenes. Considering the show itself, that's quite normal.
Real Life
- The release of large numbers of doves, symbolising peace, is a traditional part of the opening ceremony of the modern Olympic Games. Starting with the Barcelona 1992 games substitutes such as balloons, kites, fireworks and dancers have been used instead due to an unfortunate incident during the Seoul 1988 games where the doves landed on the cauldron before the Olympic flame was lit.
- In outdoor eating places it isn't uncommon to get a large flock of pigeons or (if you're near the beach) seagulls hanging around. Running through them tends to produces this effect. (Although you may find that some fly into your face, ruining any dramatic effect you were hoping for.)
- This infamous video shows a pastor at a funeral attempting to release a dove, only for it to die of shock when he throws it into the air.
- In yet another example of things Gone Horribly Wrong, Pope Francis and two children released two doves from the Vatican, only to watch them get attacked by a seagull and a crow.
- Generally, trying to Invoke this in real life with a "dove release" is heavily ill-advised: Wildlife rescuers and vets are frequently encountering lost and injured doves roaming the wilderness after being "sent off" from weddings and other celebrations.
