Sliding Scale of Shiny Versus Gritty: Difference between revisions
Sliding Scale of Shiny Versus Gritty (view source)
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{{trope}}
[[File:
{{quote|''He meditated resentfully on the physical texture of life. Had it always been like this? Had food always tasted like this? He looked round the canteen. A low-ceilinged, crowded room, its walls grimy from the contact of innumerable bodies; battered metal tables and chairs, placed so close together that you sat with elbows touching; bent spoons, dented trays, coarse white mugs; all surfaces greasy, grime in every crack; and a sourish, composite smell of bad gin and bad coffee and metallic stew and dirty clothes...''|''[[Nineteen Eighty-Four|1984]]''}}
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Apocalyptic movies such as ''[[Mad Max]]'' or ''[[Desolation Alley]]'', noir comic movies such as [[The Dark Knight]] franchise, and war movies such as ''[[Full Metal Jacket]]'' or ''[[Saving Private Ryan]]'' provide good examples of the grittier end of the scale.
Historical romances such as ''[[
Compare with [[Slobs Versus Snobs]].
Shiny:
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* [[Crystal Spires and Togas]]
* [[Ermine Cape Effect]] (you think royalty would look dirty?)
* [[Everything's Better
* [[Everything's Better
* [[Gorgeous Period Dress]]
* [[Lighter and Softer]]
* [[Living in
* [[Raygun Gothic]]
* [[Scenery Porn]]
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* [[Used Future]]
* [[Wretched Hive]]
{{examples}}▼
▲{{examples}}
'''Note:''' Try to post the examples in the shininess and grittiness order, not at the bottom of each category.
=== Anime and Manga ===
* ''[[Ouran High School Host Club]]''. Except for one extremely gritty scene which is [[Played for Laughs]]
* ''[[Digimon Xros Wars]]'' is very idealistic, very optimistic, and - in the later half especially - everything gleams as though polished for hours.
=== Film ===
* The ''[[Star Wars]]'' [[
** The point of this being to show the "good old days" preceding the Dark Times of the Empire. This goes back to Star Wars' fantasy roots. Star Wars is, ultimately, Space Opera. The fantasy end of Science Fiction.
** Leia's ship that gets captured at the beginning of A New Hope is also a good example. While the hallway is very smooth and shiny, the utility corridor she hides in with R2 is much more gritty.
** Also the insides of Star Destroyers, parts of Death Star II, Home One, and at times, Darth Vader's suit.
* ''
=== Live-Action TV ===
* The various ''[[Star Trek]]'' series. Even ''[[Deep Space Nine]]'' mostly had sets that looked neat and tidy. Perhaps that's just an unspoken credo of the Federation.
** The 2009 ''[[Star Trek (
* American [[Soap Opera|soap operas]] in general are very, very shiny (e.g., ''[[The Young and The Restless]]'', ''The Bold and the Beautiful'', ''[[Days of Our Lives]]'')
* Any and all children's sitcoms on the [[Disney Channel]] or [[Nickelodeon]].
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* ''[[CSI: Miami]]''; in addition to the exotic, fashionable city its set in, the actors have said it takes place in "a comic book world."
* ''[[Pushing Daisies]]'', which takes place in a fifties [[Retro Universe]].
* ''[[Mad Men]]'': The Sterling Cooper offices are elegant examples of the International Style, the brand-new SCDP
=== Toys ===
* [[Barbie]]
=== Video Games ===
* ''[[Robot Unicorn Attack]]'' Now this one is getting a bit too far.
** Unless, of course, you are playing the [[
* ''[[Loco Roco]]'' Very bright with lots of pastel colors mixed with bright colors. Seems that everything has a life of their own.
* ''[[
* ''[[Kirby]]'' series. Very bright colors, except when it gets to some of the final bosses.
* ''[[
* ''[[Umineko no Naku Koro
* ''[[Final Fantasy VIII]]'', for the most part. There are places like Winhill and the Horizon Bridge that are (or were) wrecked up, but other locations in the game and generally kept up and shiny (and in Esthar, [[Crystal Spires and Togas]] is in full effect.)
* [[Space Channel 5]] series. In fact one level is so colourful, an ''Epilepsy Warning'' had to be put in it!
=== Web Comics ===
* ''[[Goblins]]'' stays on the Shiny end nearly all the time, especially for characters wearing metal armor. It only moves towards Gritty when blood is involved.
=== Western Animation ===
* ''[[My Little Pony]]''
* ''[[Rainbow Brite]]''
* The [[Disney Princess|Disney princesses]].
** ''[[Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Disney film)|Snow White]]'' has the least gritty mine and miners ever.
** For purposes of illustration only. They rarely bathe. It doesn't look it, but clean was easier to draw.
* Most [[Pixar]] movies, until the first half of ''[[WALL-E]]'', tended towards the clean end (it helps that "clean" is generally easier to do in CG).
=== Film ===
* The [[James Bond]] films can tend towards either end of the scale.
* The films of ''[[Harry Potter (
** Although the 6th film is very washed out and bleak. The scene where Harry uses sectumsempra on Malfoy is so desaturated it is practically in black and white save for Malfoy's blood.
=== Live-Action TV ===
* Australian and New Zealand soaps (e.g., ''[[Neighbours]]'', ''[[Shortland Street]]'')
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* ''[[Degrassi the Next Generation]]'' is more gritty than most teen dramas, but it can still be pretty shiny at times.
=== Video Games ===
* ''[[Resident Evil 4]]'''s' famous art direction included a huge amount of detail in how the places looked, including the decaying village and military base, contrasted with the ornate castle.
* ''[[
=== Web Comics ===
* ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20110924014530/http://www.blastwavecomic.com/index.php?p=comic&nro=1 Gone With The Blastwave]'' takes place in a completely ruined city, but the would-be [[Badass Longcoat]] soldiers manage to somehow stay fairly clean.
=== Western Animation ===
* The [[Disney Animated Canon]] usually is clean without being too obvious about it, but does fall into the shiny end when the princesses are involved.
* ''[[The Transformers (
=== Anime and Manga ===
* Certain anime such as ''[[Texhnolyze]]'', ''[[MD Geist]]'', and ''[[Violence Jack]]'' tend to ''really'' push the envelope for grittiness.
=== Comic Books ===
* [[Frank Miller]].
=== Film ===
* ''[[Blade Runner]]'' was gritty for the most part, especially in contrast to the [[Executive Meddling|tacked-on happy ending]].
* ''[[Monty Python and
** [[
* The movie ''[[Se7en]]''
* ''[[La Reine Margot (
* ''[[Nineteen Eighty-Four]]'', especially the 1984 (yes!) film version.
** Though the Ministry of Love ({{spoiler|"the place where there is no darkness"}}) is considerably cleaner and better kept-up. The Party knows where to spend its money.
* ''[[Repo!
* ''[[District 9]]''
* Most films and games that heavily feature zombies fall into this category.
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* ''[[Pirates of the Caribbean]]'', very much so.
=== Live-Action TV ===
* Irish soaps (eg ''[[Fair City]], Ros na Run'')
* British soaps are the absolute champions of gritty (e.g., ''[[Coronation Street]]'', ''[[Eastenders]]'', ''[[Emmerdale]]'', ''[[Shameless]]''.)
* ''[[The Wire]]'' was intentionally shot to maximize the run-down aspects of Baltimore. The studio executives were uncertain about this decision at first, but in the end went along with
=== Video Games ===
* ''[[
* ''[[Half-Life]] 2'' is gritty everywhere except in Combine buildings.
* ''[[Gish]]''. First 3 worlds are very gritty, taking place in sewers, caves and hell. Last two are shinier though since they take place in sandstone-colored Egyptian level and church.
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* The ''[[Diablo]]'' games are gritty in the extreme, depicting a world invaded by demons who decorate with blood, limbs, impaled corpses and tortured souls.
=== Anime and Manga ===
* [[Masamune Shirow]] tends to make the major cities in his works so shiny that they're ''reflective''. However, there's always lots of grit outside the cities or just below the surface (introduce a bit of [[More Dakka|firepower]] into the mix and it becomes a moot point). The only exception is ''[[Dominion Tank Police]]'', where ''everything'' was gritty.
* ''[[
** The contrast shows up in the natural world as well, with the many desolate, eerie, washed-out landscapes traversed by the heroes contrasting the occasional scene of gorgeous flowers, lush meadows, and crystal blue lakes.
* ''[[Berserk]]'', taking place in [[The Dung Ages]] and having mercenaries as the primary characters, is predominantly gritty, though the scenes taking place in Midland's royal court involved a good amount of [[Gorgeous Period Dress]]. Later episodes of the manga push the shiny end to a whole new level, though, as {{spoiler|Griffith has just pulled a shiny new capital straight from the ground using Ganishka as a power source.}}
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* ''[[Code Geass]]'', most notably how the shiny Imperial Enclave of Tokyo and the run-down Shinjuku ghetto, practically opposites on the scale, are separated only by a railway.
=== Comic Books ===
* [[Superman|Metropolis]] and [[Batman|Gotham]] are often compared in the DCU, with the former being the shinier (at one point, Catwoman wonders if they ever turn off the lights at night) while the latter is normally very bleak (In The DCAU, the writers admitted to being freaked out by Gotham during a clear sunny day whenever they drew it, and only did so once due to the alternate universe setting it was being presented in.) Considering the types of heroes who operate in this city, it seems the city adapted to them instead of the other way around.
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* The comic book ''[[Baker Street]]'' started out very shiny and and a bit cartoony, but became steadily more gritty and realistically-rendered as the viewpoint character became more depressed by the horrible things that were happening on the way to the [[Downer Ending]].
=== Film ===
* [[The BBC]] vs. 2005 movie versions of ''[[Pride and Prejudice]]'' come to mind. In the BBC version, everything is shiny, even though it's the English countryside. In the movie, the Bennets' home is more realistically dirty.
** Except not particularly 'realistically'... there seems to be some misunderstanding about what the book means when the Bennets are described as 'poor'. There's no reason to suppose from the text that they don't still have a team of servants to clean the house for them- that would be a remarkable circumstance for people of their caste- servants were cheap. (A genteel Regency-era home shouldn't be ''obviously'' more dirty than most modern ones- though it would be a lot harder to keep clean, thanks to soot and lack of modern appliances like vacuum cleaners- it would be a full-time job for at least 2 maids, but said maids could be employed for nothing but their meals and a cubby-hole to sleep in.) On the other hand, the film does at least show the levels of lighting feasible from candles realistically in the evening scenes.
* ''[[The
* The original ''[[Star Wars]]'' included dirty both [[Used Future]] farms, towns, and junk traders (and the Rebel base and its equipment) and the pristine corridors of Leia's ship and of the Death Star. The blockade runner even combined the two on the same ship: the engine compartments and life pod bays have a [[Used Future]] look to them, too.
* ''[[The Matrix]]'' has a decidedly gritty real world, but the titular simulated world ranges from average to shiny.
* ''[[
* Most adaptations of ''[[Dune]]'': Caladan is natural and shiny, Giedi Prime is dark and dirty.
* ''[[Slumdog Millionaire]]'' is gritty for the majority of the flashbacks depicting Jamal's childhood in the slums, which starkly contrasts with the sleek, stylized look of ''[[Who Wants to Be
* The ''[[Pirates of the Caribbean]]'' movies, contrasting the orderly life of Elizabeth and Will with the chaotic life of Jack and Barbossa, or the [[Lawful Evil]] East India Trade Co. with the [[Chaotic Neutral]] (mostly) pirates.
* ''[[
* The ''[[Terminator]]'' series is mostly gritty, but the T-1000 and T-X are quite literally shiny.
* ''[[Underworld (
* The film versions of ''[[Henry V]]''. Olivier's version was very shiny, especially considering that the film was a piece of propaganda to rally the English people during WWII. Branagh's version is much grittier. Olivier's Battle of Agincourt is most memorable for [[The Oner|the charge of the French cavalry]] on a nice, sunny day with shiny armor and colorful pennants. Branagh's Battle of Agincourt is most memorable for the mud.
** Olivier's priest talking about Salic law and such speaks pompously and tosses aside cartoonishly-large pieces of paper; Branagh's mumbles through the lines quickly. When Olivier's says "It's as clear as the day!", it's still buffoonish; when Branagh's says it, he says it sarcastically with a wry smile, which is greeted with a few muffled snickers ({{spoiler|[[Don't Explain the Joke|the joke in either case is that it isn't clear at all]]}}).
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=== Literature ===
* ''[[Wicked Lovely]]'' contrasts a [[Red Light District]] known as Huntsdale (presumed to be in Pennsylvania) with the harsh beauty of the [[The Fair Folk|fey]] world.
* Played up in ''[[The Hunger Games]]'' where a ''very'' gritty, dystopian Real World in the satellite states, where most people are basically starving/worked to death and are forced to fight to the death for the amusement of the people living in the shiny city in the centre. And it is really very shiny. Think random tech that doesn't even exist in real life and fashion obsessions.
=== Live-Action TV ===
* ''[[Firefly]]'' varies quite a bit. By dint of being a [[Space Western|western in space]], it often lands on the gritty end of things, but episodes set in the Core worlds, with all the shiny spiffiness, tend to be much cleaner and pretty. This is deliberately contrasted in many parts of the series and movie.
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** The grittiness of the series is highlighted every time the "modern", shiny city of Caprica is shown in flashback, and the [[And Man Grew Proud]] prequel ''[[Caprica]]'' will highlight that further, showing futuristic technology from ''fifty years ago'' that (as far as I've seen) no one uses in ''Galactica'', such as electronic touch screen paper and holograms.
*** 50 years previous would have been some time before the first war with the Cylons, and given those things capacity at electronic warfare, is it any wonder that a lot of mod-cons have been traded in for something a bit less vulnerable (in the hacking sense)?
* ''[[Babylon
* In ''[[Andromeda]]'' the titular ship is very shiny (and the remnant of a shinier age) while everything else is gritty.
* The TARDIS interior from ''[[Doctor Who]]'', compare the sterile and minimalist console room from the old series with Ninth and Tenth's dilapidated techno-organic console, or Eleventh's cobbled-together steampunk decor.
=== Tabletop Games ===
* ''[[Warhammer 40
** Slaanesh worshippers thrive on being shiny.
*** The Dark Eldar, like other followers of Slaanesh, are shiny. However, they strive to be gritty in order to express their love of inflicting [[Cold-Blooded Torture]]. So they [[Scary Impractical Armor|put blades all over their armor]], although they just end up looking [[Narm|ridiculous]].
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=== Theatre ===
* The musical ''[[Wicked (
=== Video Games ===
* In ''[[The Legend of Zelda]]: [[Ocarina of Time]]'', Adult Zelda is shown wearing a much more elaborate dress than her younger counterpart is, even though by that point she had no home, no posessions, her kingdom is in ruins, and she has been on the run for seven years, {{spoiler|posing as a Sheikah}}.
* ''[[Portal (
* ''[[
* ''[[Halo]]'' - The Covenant is all shiny silver and purple, and everything is sleek and rounded. UNSC equipment is blocky and gray/tan/dull green.
* ''[[Eversion]]'' - {{spoiler|Visits the both ends of the scale and everything in between.}}
** More like {{spoiler|The Sliding Scale of [[Tastes Like Diabetes]] and [[Nightmare Fuel]].}}
** {{spoiler|And that is ''some'' sliding scale.}}
* ''[[
* ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' CD has this as its theme. The present day levels for the most part are usually in the middle when it is bright and shiny. The past levels are the same way, just more primitive. If you're playing the good future levels, they are really bright and shiny. Though if you're playing in the bad future(the one ruled by Dr. Robotnik's/Eggman's)it is total hell. Everything's got a dark brown, rusty and muddy look, the skies have a crimson/purple look, the oceans are polluted, and so on. Those futures are so bad that even the Doc's robots are miserable and broken down. Yes it's just that bad.
* ''[[
** The Zerg are biological, normal gritty doesn't actually come into it.
** That's not grit, that's ichor. And the Zerg have plenty of that.
* ''[[
* Ditto for ''[[Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines]]''. The
* In one extent or another this is case in most of the strategy games, with the "good" fraction having shiny, or at least well-structured and regularly-shapped buildings while those of the "bad" one tend to be gritty, ominous-looking and/or battered or even cobbled together. The biggest offenders are, of course, Orcs (in ''[[Dawn of War]]'' they DO cobble their buildings together from junk), GDI/NOD are more into the Ordinary vs Ominous territory, and in ''[[Dark Reign 2]]'' the contrast was laid out with the subtlety of a battering ram: JDA, the global law-enforcers, have silvery high-tech premises and their enemies Sprawlers huddle in rusty and angular dwellings.
* ''[[
* ''[[Fallout]]'' contrasts the shininess of the Vaults and Brotherhood of Steel-related locations with the ultra-gritty Wasteland. In [[Fallout 1
* ''[[Assassin's Creed]]'' series varies it's locales quite a bit, from [[Shown Their Work|elaborately modeled]] palaces, churches, mosques and temples all the way to the run-down and dirty districts of the poor. In the second game, the protagonist can lift the town of Monteriggioni from [[The Dung Ages]] by investing in renovations and [[Fisher King|art]]. However, the shiniest and prettiest parts are invariably the "temples" and vaults of [[Precursors|Those Who Came Before.]]
* ''[[Final Fantasy VI]]''. Oddly, the towns are just as shiny after the Apocalypse as before. Except for Tzen and Mobliz.
* Taken to extremes in ''[[Dystopia (
* Administrative and scientific areas in ''[[Doom]] 3'' are usually of a silvery tone, and polished metal prevails. Rust-orange colors and rougher materials are characteristic of maintenance sections.
* Most of ''[[The Journeyman Project]]'' is shiny, except for the [[Underwater Base]], Sinclair's lab, and the underground part of the Mars colony.
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=== Western Animation ===
* ''[[Insektors]]'' was basically about a war between Gritty and Shiny.
* ''[[WALL-E]]'' consciously hits both extremes: it has a very dirty setting (the ruins of Earth) and a very clean setting (the spaceship). WALL-E himself is filthy and made up of spare parts, and EVE is shiny, sleek and streamlined.
=== Real Life ===
* This is most definitely [[Truth in Television]]. Basically, the more concentrated the wealth and power, the shinier, newer, and better maintained the buildings, clothes, and people will be.
** The [[Big Applesauce]] in [[Real Life]]. Everything more than ten feet above the ground is shiny. Everything less than ten feet above the ground is gritty.
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[[Category:Laws and Formulas]]
[[Category:Metafiction Demanded This Index]]
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