History Main / TheFutureIsNoir

* ''Manga/{{Akira}}'' seems to take place [[AlwaysNight almost entirely at night]].

** And by extension, ''Anime/BubblegumCrisis'' and ''SilentMoebius,'' two anime series that took visual inspiration from ''Blade Runner.''

** As noted on SFDebris, [[Series/StarTrekVoyager Voyager]] tended to do this in their "magic meeting room" whenever the situation was supposed to be serious.

* ''PerfectDark'' (fittingly, considering the title) has several dimly lit levels, including the Skedar attack ship.

* ''[[Literature/PrimeSuspectsACloneDetectiveMystery Prime Suspects: A Clone Detective Mystery]] is a dark, rainy, sleazy setting full of corruption as well as FantasticRacism. It's also very dark because that's how it is on this planet.

One thing that we know for certain about the future and of alien species waiting for us out in the universe: None of them have discovered the usefulness of adequate lighting. And in some cases, humans have forgotten it.

* ''GhostInTheShell'', particularly the film. Although there are daytime scenes, they're usually cloudy and dim, and the majority of the action is set at night or in darkened buildings.

* Anime/CowboyBebop often uses this trope during episodes related to the series' MythArc, as many buildings are darkened to fit the mood of the MythArc; especially during the GrandFinale.

* All interiors in ''Film/Serenity'', be it on the ship or elsewhere, are poorly lit.

[[folder: Film ]]

* ''Film/{{Renaissance}}'', a French CGI film about a TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture cop's search for a woman and her [[spoiler:immortality-granting]] MacGuffin, takes this UpToEleven. Aside from having a classic noir plotline at first, the film is composed almost entirely of pure black and pure white.

[[folder: Literature ]]

** And by extension, ''BubblegumCrisis'' and ''SilentMoebius,'' two anime series that took visual inspiration from ''Blade Runner.''

* ''Renaissance'', a French CGI film about a TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture cop's search for a woman and her [[spoiler:immortality-granting]] MacGuffin.

* ''Film/{{Renaissance}}'' takes this UpToEleven. Aside from having a classic noir plotline at first, the film is composed almost entirely of pure black and pure white.

* In ''{{Firefly}}'', the interior of ''Serenity'' is always depicted as fairly dark to contrast with the bright florescent lighting and CreepyCleanliness of Alliance ships (see ''StarWars'').

* The ''ComicBook/JudgeDredd'' SpinOff ''TheSimpingDetective'', which follows undercover judge Jack Point.

* The French film ''{{Alphaville}}'' (1965), making this OlderThanYouThink.

* The setting of ''RepoTheGeneticOpera'', aside from a handful of places mostly entered by the obscenely wealthy, takes the words 'grim and gritty' to their logical extreme.

* ''Doom 3'' was infamous for not giving you enough light. On Mars. Apparently, we not only forgot duct tape, but basic lighting.

** EnkiBilal seems to love this. His two other movies (Bunker Palace Hotel and Tykho Moon) have a similar Noir-ish feel.

* The aptly titled novel ''[[CyberPunk NOIR]]'' by K.W. Jeter, where a [[IronY sympathetic]] guy named [=McNihil=] is a retired [[PrivateDetective PI]] and had his eyes surgically altered to see the world in shades of grey, like noir films of the 30s.

Compare CityNoir, UnnaturallyBlueLighting and UsedFuture. Contrast EverythingIsAnIpodInTheFuture.

* Terry Gilliam's dystopian SciFi movie ''Film/{{Brazil}}''. Though this one is justified, because given how inept Central Services (the red-tape bound bureaucracy that provides heating, cooling, water, power, and pretty much everything else) is, it's not surprising that everything is permanently in a state of brownout.

* Terry Gilliam's dystopian SciFi movie ''Film/{{Brazil}}''.

* ''TheTerminator'', which even had a night club called "Tech Noir".

* ''HighlanderIITheQuickening.'

* ''{{Gattaca}}'' isn't set very far in the future, nor are there any aliens to be seen, but the aesthetic is purest SF noir.

* Inverted by ''Film/THX1138'', ''{{Gattaca}}'' and ''TheIsland''. The future will be ''[[CreepyCleanliness white]]''.

One thing that we know for certain about the future and of alien species waiting for us out in the universe: None of them have discovered the usefulness of adequate lighting. And in some cases, humans have forgotten it.

[[AC: {{Anime}}]]

[[AC: {{Comics}}]]

[[AC: {{Film}}]]

** The real-life explanation is that the E-D sets were not built to a high enough standard to look real on film using normal light. ''Generations'' used dim lighting to hide flaws in the sets. However, when a more high-tech ship was introduced in ''Film/StarTrekFirstContact'', the plot dictated that the ship be under permanent Red Alert, making the sets even ''darker''.
** ''Enterprise-E'' is a Sovereign class warship, of course. And you can't know that your ship is a warship and not a neighborhood with a warp drive unless everything's dim, right?

[[AC: {{Literature}}]]

[[AC: LiveActionTV]]

* This trope is the rule, rather than the exception, on ''Series/{{Farscape}}''.

[[AC: TabletopGames]]

[[AC: VideoGames]]

* The 1997 ''VideoGame/BladeRunner'' videogame is set in the ''Film/BladeRunner'' universe, and in fact the very same city as the film. It's no wonder that it takes the aesthetic of its predecessor.

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* In the first ''MassEffect'', lights on the ''Normandy'' are kept very low. Between this and the bright orange computer screens, humanity has evidently conquered eyestrain.
** On a battleship this is potentially justified in that it makes instruments easier to see. The living sections of the ship do seem to be a lot brighter than the deck level...
** It also explains why Cerberus is so much more advanced than the Alliance: their stations and vessels actually have adequate lighting!
*** Ironically, this was meant to make them seem creepier, in a cold, sterile, medical sense.