History Main / SlidingScaleOfShinyVersusGritty

* ''Anime/DigimonFusion'' is very idealistic, very optimistic, and - in the later half especially - everything gleams as though polished for hours.
* ''Manga/OuranHighSchoolHostClub''. Except for one extremely gritty scene which is PlayedForLaughs

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[[AC: Shiny:]]

[[AC: Gritty:]]

Both:

[[quoteright:330:[[Film/TalesOfTerror https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/girl_walking_in_dirty_house.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:330:[-Compare the elegant lady with the cobwebbed chairs.-] ]]

* ''Film/{{Underworld}}'' contrasts the shiny vampires and their shiny mansion and their shiny clothes with the gritty, concrete-plywood-and-brown-leather existence of the Lycans.

Gritty tones are in general easier and cheaper to produce in live-action than shiny ones, so low-budget or quickly-made films are more often in a gritty style. Examples include low-budget horror films, action shows, and dystopian series. A dystopian sci-fi series set in a post-apocalyptic US may be less expensive to produce than a SpaceOpera set in a distant planet's [[StandardRoyalcourt royal court]], because the dystopian series can be set in an AbandonedArea where the [[Disaster Scavengers survivors]] have erected crude structures from [[DowninTheDumps scrap]]. In contrast, the SpaceOpera will need costly sets for the BlueBlood character's gleaming spaceship interiors, royal halls, and lavish ballrooms.

Gritty tones are in general easier and cheaper to produce in live-action than shiny ones, so low-budget or quickly-made films are more often in a gritty style. Examples include low-budget horror films, action shows, and dystopian series. A dystopian sci-fi series set in a post-apocalyptic US may be less expensive to produce than a SpaceOpera set in a distant planet's royal court, because the dystopian series can be set in an AbandonedArea where the survivors have erected crude structures. In contrast, the SpaceOpera will need sets for spaceship interiors, royal halls, and lavish ballrooms.

Big budget films, especially escapist films about beautiful people in {{Big Fancy House}}s with luxury cars, who have [[CostumePorn huge designer wardrobes]] and seem to [[SceneryPorn travel internationally to exotic locations every week]] sometimes go for shiny as it makes for beautiful "eye candy" visuals.

** ''WesternAnimation/{{Snow White|AndTheSevenDwarfs}}'' 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.

* The ''Franchise/StarWars'' {{prequel}}s

Gritty tones are in general easier and cheaper to produce in live-action than shiny ones, so low-budget or quickly-made films are more often in a gritty style. Examples include low-budget horror films, action shows, and dystopian series.

Stereotypically "shiny" elements include [[AsceticAesthetic plastic, chrome]], precious metals, gems, glass, light, fine woods, fine fabrics, bright colors, pastels, pop music, classical music, and ballads (power, or otherwise). "Gritty" elements include dirt, rust, dust, blood, iron, broken glass, darkness, rough plywood, burlap, [[DeliberatelyMonochrome deliberate monochrome]], [[RealIsBrown sepia]], hard rock, punk rock, and heavy metal. But context is everything. Many choices fall somewhere in between the gritty and shiny extremes; hence, the "sliding scale".

Gritty tones are in general easier and cheaper to produce in live-action than shiny ones, so low-budget or quickly-made films are more often in a gritty style. Big budget films, especially escapist films, sometimes go for shiny just because they can.

* ''Theatre/IlCreatoreCheHaDistrutto'' takes place in Renaissance Italy, a CrapsackWorld, but a very shiny one. Even its obligatory beggars scene is full of beautiful, though dark, music. One theme of the play is that beautiful art is a necessary refuge for the soul.

* ''* ''Series/HouseOfTheDragon'' has even grittier and duller colors than ''Game of thrones'' because it lacks most of the fantasy elements of its parent show. Everything looks [[RealIsBrown so brown]] as if the entire show was shot using sepia filter.

* ''Series/HouseOfTheDragon'' has even duller colors than ''Game of thrones'' because it lacks most of the fantasy elements of its parent show. Everything looks [[RealIsBrown so brown]] as if the entire show was shot using sepia filter.