History Main / DeliberateValuesDissonance

* EllisPeters characters from the ''Brother Cadfael'' books adhere to medieval feudal values without losing her or the reader's sympathy. Especially Oliver's MyMasterRightOrWrong attitude in a civil war doesn't one bit change the fact that she seems a little in love with him.

* ''LambTheGospelAccordingToBiff'' features a [[RuleOfCool more]] or [[RuleOfFunny less]] authentic representation of first century life in the region that Jesus would have grown up in. Slavery is references regularly, it's made clear that Mary Magdalene could be stoned to death for leaving her husband, and thirteen-year-olds having sex is pretty much normal.

** This sounds more like [[LeaveNoWitnesses standard literary spycraft]] rather than any type of values dissonance. A Bond villain (or even [[RealLife the real KGB or CIA]] would do the same thing.

* The punishment of [[TheInheritanceCycle Sloan]] drew from this. When Eragon wonders whether he was justified in his [[MindRape punishment]], the kings who have a concept of divine right to rule reply that he has the authority to punish people without sentencing them to death,

* The Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe writes historical novels about the Igbo people, and doesn't fail to include disturbing cultural practices like abandoning newborn twins in the forest to die, a certain caste being forbidden to live with the rest of the people or one protagonists killing his adopted son due to an inscrutable oracular order. The point is that while many aspects of Igbo culture were good and their loss a tragedy, the novels ''also'' make it clear why so many Igbo were willing to trade that in for the colonial Anglo-Christian culture, which is also portrayed as neither wholly good or bad.

* Frank Miller did this with ''{{300}}'' by making the Spartans homophobes. But unlike other examples of this trope, it's a product of DidNotDoTheResearch. Homosexual relationships between men and adolescent boys were common in Sparta, as pointed out by AlanMoore.

* For Ken Follett's novel ''Fall of Giants'', dealing with the changes in society during the time of WorldWarOne, this trope is inevitable. The most obvious example among main protagonists would be Earl Fitzherbert, an English aristocrat who is against the very principle of women's suffrage, and [[EvenEvilHasStandards (although even he disapproves the brutal way the Russian nobility treats its subjects)]] also against the emancipation of the lower classes.

* ''Snow Flower and the Secret Fan'' is a historical fiction story set in 19th century China, and features the main female character making remarks about how she (and her daughters) are worthless to her family and going through foot-binding to improve their lives. The author has [[ShownTheirWork Shown Her Work]] by going to China and talking to real women who went through foot-binding, and the deliberate value dissonance is the best part of the book. At least one book on the role of feet and shoes in sexuality, in its extensive discussion of footbinding, reveals that, for many centuries, footbinding was actively sought out by '''every single Chinese family that could afford the procedure''' because small, dainty feet were considered ''the'' foremost mark of beauty and sexual attractiveness in classical Chinese culture, so girls as young as 5 were sent through it at the risk of infection and even death. Footbinding was universally viewed in classical Chinese culture as ''improving'' the shape of the foot to give it beauty and sexual allure. Class issues also enter into the question; bound feet were associated with wealth in general and the upper classes, and unbound feet were considered uncouth and a mark of a woman's peasant status.

** Also note on the author's website, she wrote reviews of herself [[LiteraryAgentHypothesis "written"]] by both [[http://www.jonathanstrange.com/copy.asp?s=1&id=8 Strange]] and [[http://www.jonathanstrange.com/copy.asp?s=1&id=9 Norrell]], in which both come across as sexist jerks.
*** Strange comes across more classist than sexist. He doesn't mind that she's a woman, only that's she's not a proper Lady. And [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking wears pink shoes]].
* In [[GeorgeRRMartin George R.R. Martin]]'s ''{{A Song of Ice and Fire}}'', marriage of girls barely out of prepubescence to men twice their age is considered perfectly normal, to reflect the ''perceived'' values of RealLife medieval times.
** In reality, this may be DidNotDoTheResearch. While nobles in the Middle Ages often ''betrothed'' their children at an uncomfortably early age, the actual marriage was often not consummated until the respective children were more mature. This makes sense; the primary purpose of marriage and sex for these noble families ''was'' to produce an heir and join their families, after all. As for less wealthy peasants, they usually married in their 20s, because of the expense of marriage.
*** Which is still [[CompletelyMissingThePoint not the issue]], as the trope arises out of the fact that marriage in these books is usually ''immediately consummated''. Betrothal may be arranged even in early childhood, but the timing of the actual marriage is dependent on menarche (generally an indicator of the earliest time a girl can become pregnant). This means that [[{{Squick}} girls as young as eleven or twelve will be having sex and bearing children for men many times their age]] - as is seen with Daenerys, married and pregnant at the age of ''thirteen''.
*** The practice of peasants (and even relatively well-to-do people, what we would today call "middle-class") marrying relatively late for economic reasons continued into the 17th century, as discussed on several occasions in [[SixteenThirtyTwo the ''1632'' series]].
** Oh, that's not the ''least'' of it. The favored method of trial in Westeros is trial by combat -- that is, two combatants are chosen by each party for a fight to the death, and the guilt or innocence of the accused is decided by whose champion is "more righteous in the eyes of the gods" (read: able to beat the seven shades of shit out of the other guy). As this was an actual judicial method under Germanic law, Martin's not reaching that far here.
*** In England, a man successfully claimed his right to a trial by combat in the ''Nineteenth'' Century. Parliament, which hadn't realized that law was still on the books, outlawed trials by combat the next year.
** Of course, Westeros (and probably the rest of the SoIF 'verse) is an outrageously CrapsackWorld, so the GenreSavvy reader should ''expect'' to see the worst stereotypes of the Dark/Middle Ages in play.

* AmericanDreams being set in the early sixties plays with this trope extensively. While it contains a certain amount of NostalgiaFilter there were pains taken to give characters realistic attitudes in regards to things like race, sexuality and war. There was also a fair amount of care taken to avoid Strawmen (althought there were some arguable examples) and people attitudes and actions were often conflicting. Pete Pryror was shown to be casually racist in his dealings as a cop but also seemed to genuinely respect Henry his brothers BlackBestFriend . Jack Pryror might have somewhat archaic views on women but allows his wife to work and offers to help his daughter attend college despite his initial misgivings. Even borderline MartyStu JJ objects to his his sisters budding inter-racial relationship. Some critics (especially since Mad Men has come along) have said it could have hit this trope harder but many others feel that not having a specific political viewpoint gave the show a more expansive perspective on the period.

** [[SatireParodyPastiche The original, non-musical film is both an affectionate tribute to the relatively underground dance culture of the early 1960's, but also takes some pretty ruthless jabs at the mainstream culture of the time]]. [[HystericalWoman White housewives become shrieking wreaks]] at the moment they arrive in the black part of town, a therapist tries to hypnotize Penny out of liking Seaweed, and the heroes, themselves, become terrified when they accidentally stumble into a den of {{Beatnik}}s ("let's get naked and smoke!"). The segregationists mostly act out of fear, paranoia, vanity rather than any profound hatred, while another scene shows a white woman throwing fireworks into a crowd of peaceful protesters and starting a race riot just ForTheEvulz.

*** [[Discworld/SmallGods There's good eating on one of those.]] As [[{{QI}} Stephen Fry]] is [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wapX3uz-dtI only too happy to tell you.]

* Very much the case in ''MafiaII'' (somewhat less so in the [[{{Mafia}} first game]], where the characters are about as racist as you can get in a game without causing a controversy. For instance: Vito asks Joe if he drove to the bar (in an African-American community), and Joe replies, "I wouldn't park my car in this neighborhood!"

Some, however, [[ShownTheirWork research the culture]] and make an effort to accurately reproduce the attitudes of the time and place, even when they are wildly different to what the author might consider sensible. Thus, one ends up with a deliberate case of ValuesDissonance.

In HistoricalFiction and HistoricalFantasy, this is an obvious necessity to avoid anachronisms. Readers, indeed, may criticize works for failure to accurately reflect the actual historically accurate views -- as when a Regency heroine has [[EternalSexualFreedom common 21st century views on premarital sex]], which is about as likely as her wearing blue jeans -- as AnachronismStew.

*** [[Discworld/SmallGods There's good eating on one of those.]] As [[{{QI}} Stephen Fry]] is [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wapX3uz-dtI only too happy to tell you.]]

** Don't forget prepubescent boys acting as officers, commanding men at least thrice their age by the simple benefit of coming from the upper class (which didn't mean that they didn't get harsh discipline, and difficult and dangerous tasks, themselves).

* Done similarly in the ''{{Temeraire}}'' series, which is basically ''MasterAndCommander'' [-[[DragonRider WITH DRAGONS]]-].[[hottip:*:Seriously, [[WordOfGod the author has said]] it started out as [[AscendedFanfic alternate-universe slash fic]].]] There's an amusing moment in the first book where Laurence reacts with shock and horror at the revelation that Captain Roland is [[spoiler: 'natural born', i.e. [[HeroicBastard the product of premarital sex]].]]

* Not shown in the game itself, but in the spin-off short movie ''Lineage'' for ''[[AssassinsCreed Assassin's Creed II]]'' features Lorenzo de Medici having a prisoner brutally tortured to reveal his information about an upcoming political assassination, but he is still a good guy, both in the movie and in the game. Ofcourse a game where the main character is an assassin, the moral issues become a little gray, in any case.

* Done similarly in the ''{{Temeraire}}'' series, which is basically ''MasterAndCommander'' [-[[DragonRider WITH DRAGONS]]-]. There's an amusing moment in the first book where Laurence reacts with shock and horror at the revelation that Captain Roland is [[spoiler: 'natural born', i.e. the product of premarital sex.]]

* ''MadMen'' is basically about this trope. Set in the early 1960s, the male characters on that show smoke like chimneys, drink like fishes, and regularly display what would today be considered firing offenses with regards to sexually harassing female co-workers. The women on the show also display period behavior, especially with regards to their married lives or with the actions of their female peers. Decidedly non-kosher shrimp cocktails are served at a lunch meeting with a Jewish family. One of the younger men working freelance for Sterling Cooper tells his colleagues he's gay, leading to a painful silence and people talking behind his back, and Betty nicknames her daughter "daddy's little lesbian" because of said daughter's love of handiwork (in fact, as one scene shows, she is in fact a somewhat {{tomboy}}ish {{Tsundere}}-in-waiting). Betty's low-speed car crash which had the kids (restrained only by the friction of their clothing against the car's vinyl seats) thrown into the footwell. And finally, one scene of the Drapers leaving all of their garbage behind after a picnic in a public park seemed so outlandish that some viewers wondered whether the show was [[AccentuateTheNegative accentuating the negative]] on purpose. Overall, ''Mad Men'' is very much NOT a nostalgia piece for 1960s America, but neither is it a condemnation. Everything presented to the viewers is accepted by the characters as normal, acceptable (even expected) behavior.

* ''MadMen'' is basically about this trope. Set in the early 1960s, the male characters on that show smoke like chimneys, drink like fishes, and regularly display what would today be considered firing offenses with regards to sexually harassing female co-workers. The women on the show also display period behavior, especially with regards to their married lives or with the actions of their female peers. Decidedly non-kosher shrimp cocktails are served at a lunch meeting with a Jewish family. One of the younger men working freelance for Sterling Cooper tells his colleagues he's gay, leading to a painful silence and people talking behind his back, and Betty nicknames her daughter "daddy's little lesbian" because of said daughter's love of handiwork (in fact, as one scene shows, she is in fact a somewhat {{tombo}}yish {{Tsundere}}-in-waiting). Betty's low-speed car crash which had the kids (restrained only by the friction of their clothing against the car's vinyl seats) thrown into the footwell. And finally, one scene of the Drapers leaving all of their garbage behind after a picnic in a public park seemed so outlandish that some viewers wondered whether the show was [[AccentuateTheNegative accentuating the negative]] on purpose. Overall, ''Mad Men'' is very much NOT a nostalgia piece for 1960s America, but neither is it a condemnation. Everything presented to the viewers is accepted by the characters as normal, acceptable (even expected) behavior.

* In ''Marshal Law'', the members of the Jesus Society of America can hardly see an Asian person or hear a German word without coming to the conclusion that they've become stranded in a parallel universe where the Axis won WorldWarII. Oh, and Marshal Law sets the record straight that these guys were legitimately not real heroes by any stretch of the imagination.