Grey and Gray Morality: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

'''Lilah:''' Funny thing about black and white. You mix it together and you get grey. And it doesn't matter how much white you try and put back in, you're never gonna get anything but grey.|''[[Angel]]'', "Habeas Corpses"}}

** ''[[Gundam AGE]]'' starts with an attack by the Unknown Enemy on the long-since peaceful Federation... {{spoiler|who abandoned hundreds of Mars colonists to agonizing disease rather than own up to the project being a terrible mistake, and they're still in the habit of rewriting history to be favorable to them. The UE are the descendents of those colonists, who want to return to Earth and get some revenge along the way.}} By the third generation, [[The Hero|Flit Asuno]] and [[Big Bad|Lord Ezelcant]] want to [[Not So Different|exterminate the other side]] more than anything else.

* The entire point of ''[[Legend of Galactic Heroes]]''. This quote from Yang Wen-Li sums it up best:

* By the end of ''[[Martian Successor Nadesico]]'', it has been revealed that Earth was the aggressor in the so-called Jovian war, Nergal was the one who spearheaded and rewrote it, and the Jovian general is just as power-hungry and deceptive as you could ask for. The crew of the Nadesico gets backstabbed until they just don't care anymore, and decide to cut the war short their way.

* ''[[Noir (anime)|Noir]]'', despite its name, actually ''isn't'' [[Black and Gray Morality]]; it's fairly dark, but it's more like slate and charcoal than anything else.

* ''[[The Wire]]'' is one of the finest examples of this trope in any medium. While you may arguably root for the cops to make their case, it's impossible to see even ''most'' of the cops as good guys. And the criminals get far too many humanising moments to possibly be considered bad guys. Creator David Simon said he wasn't interested in doing [[Black and White Morality|good vs. evil]] anymore; the results were as far in the opposite direction as can be done. While the politics remain consistently gray, as do the inner workings of the police department, in the conflict on drug kingpins, whenever [[Complete Monster|Marlo Stanfield]] and his crew are involved, the show arguably crosses over into [[Black and Gray Morality]].

* ''[[Dexter]]'', especially when it comes down to Dexter vs. Doakes in season 2. In the words of the man himself:

** He also points out that he essentially does Doakes' job but "at no cost to the taxpayer", and says that Doakes only knew he was a killer because he was one himself.

* ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' often dips into this. [[Dark Action Girl|Faith]], for example, still retained sympathetic traits even after doing a full-fledged [[Face Heel Turn]] (she [[Heel Face Turn|recanted]], eventually), and the heroes have [[Shoot the Dog|shot the dog]] on occasion, claiming they [[I Did What I Had to Do|did what they had to do]].

== Music ==

* [[The Monkees (band)|The Monkees]]' song "Shades of Grey" is about this.

''Only shades of grey'' }}

* A [[Billy Joel]] song with the same name as the above is about how he goes from the [[Black and White Morality]] of youth to this, while simultaneously warning of [[Black and White Insanity]].

** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4tDP-yMwXI Or does he?]

** French singer Jean-Jacques Goldman titled one of his songs "Entre gris clair et gris foncé" ("Between Light Gray and Dark Gray"). Specifically, its lyrics are about the increase of ambiguous morality in fiction.

''Devils aren't so [[Colour-Coded for Your Convenience|black]] anymore''<br />

''Nor whites [[Light Is Not Good|wholly innocent]]'' }}

* [[William Shakespeare]]'s historical plays sometimes work this way. In others he rewrites history to upgrade [[Historical Hero Upgrade|heroes]] and [[Historical Villain Upgrade|villains]] to create a [[Black and White Morality]] that appeases the reigning dynasty.

* [[Into the Woods]] uses this in relation to fairy tales; for example, Jack might be the hero, but he still killed someone's son. The point of the musical is to show that people are not good or evil, but just people.

''No-one waits when fortune intervenes'' }}

** And from [[You Are Not Alone|"No One is Alone"]] ([http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xaxP_kErTU here]), the heroes realise finally realise this

''No one is alone.'' }}

* ''[[Auto Assault]]'' had this as it's background: each of the three playable factions has good reasons to be fighting the other two.

* During the stealth tutorial for ''[[Splinter Cell]]: Chaos Theory'', Sam Fisher lampshades this trope:

* ''[[Final Fantasy Tactics]]''. In the beginning, two princes are fighting each other for the throne. Since it is basically the [[Wars of the Roses|War of the Roses]] in the form of Final Fantasy, neither side is really good. Later in the game it becomes more like [[Black and Gray Morality]] once the Church and {{spoiler|Delita}} start playing more significant roles in the war. {{spoiler|Delita, while ultimately a hero that saves the kingdom from falling into utter chaos, still uses any and every Machiavellian method available to him in order to accomplish his goals. The Church is basically controlled by Satan}}. The only white to be found is Ramza and his fate is {{spoiler|[[Crapsack World|to become a footnote in history]]}}.

* Used heavily in the ''[[Golden Sun]]'' games, though it doesn't quite become apparent until ''The Lost Age'', where all the antagonists of ''The Broken Seal'' are revealed to have been working for good ends, and trying to defy a system that if left in place will result in the decline and ultimate end of the world of Weyard, but whose supporters (rightly) fear the abuse of Alchemy unleashed.

== Real Life ==

* From [[Hayao Miyazaki]], of [[Studio Ghibli]] fame...

** Though [[Studio Gibli]] films usually tend a bit more towards [[White and Grey Morality]], this ''is'' generally true. ''[[Princess Mononoke]]'' is one of the best examples (with the two sides having both good and bad qualities), and ''[[Spirited Away]]'' protagonist Chiho is prone to the fallibilities of being a child rather than a perfect angel. It's nonetheless worth noting that Miyazaki's earlier films were more [[Black and White Morality]], so retroactively even the ''writer'' developed a better understanding of this trope's existence.

* [[Truth in Television|Pretty much any conflict in reality can be boiled down to this]] - everyone has their own motivations for their acts.