Line #215 Main/SlidingScaleOfShinyVersusGritty


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5	[[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/WallE https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/walleearthandspace.png]]]]
6	[[caption-width-right:350:From gritty to pretty in 60 seconds, that's the [[MegaCorp Buy n Large]] promise!]]
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12
13	->''"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..."''
14	-->-- ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour''
15
16	The setting, costumes, lighting, and sound of a production are critical in setting its tone and mood. One of the most fundamental stylistic choices is where to position these production values on the sliding scale of shiny vs gritty.
17
18	Stereotypically "shiny" elements include [[AsceticAesthetic reflective plastic, chrome]], stainless steel, precious metals, gems, glass, light, fine woods, fine fabrics, bright colors, pastels, pop music, ClassicalMusic, and ballads (power, or otherwise).
19
20	"Gritty" elements include dirt, rust, dust, blood, iron, broken glass, darkness, rough plywood, concrete, {{Abandoned Area}}s, burlap, items that are scratched, pockmarked or damaged, [[DownInTheDumps scrapyards]], [[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". Indeed, some works may blend shiny and gritty aesthetics.
21
22	This is one of those scales where productions tend to be uniform throughout rather than varying from scene to scene. Furthermore, there is a tendency for a work to head toward one end of the scale or the other to take advantage of the evocative power of shiny or gritty. The occasional contrasting scene is used just to highlight the overall tone. A contrasting tone may be used to emphasize a position on the SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism. Some {{Shoujo\|Demographic}} {{Manga}} have immaculate settings inhabited by TheBeautifulElite but are very cynical.
23
24	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 [[DisasterScavengers 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.
25
26	Big budget films, especially escapist films about beautiful people (MillionairePlayboy, {{Socialite}}) in {{Big Fancy House}}s with [[CoolCar luxury cars]], who have [[CostumePorn huge designer wardrobes]] and seem to [[SceneryPorn travel internationally to exotic locations every week]] tend to go for shiny as it makes for beautiful "eye candy" visuals.
27
28	Gritty Animation and VideoGames tend to be high-budget, since that's a lot of detail to draw and render. This is one reason RealIsBrown. Less "realistic" games and ones for less powerful systems tend to be either mid-scale or shiny; people who like shiny often like games that are retro or {{Retraux}}.
29
30	Compare with SlobsVersusSnobs.
31	----
32	!!Related Tropes:
33	[[index]]
34	[[AC:Shiny:]]
35	* AsceticAesthetic
36	* BrightCastle
37	* CostumePorn
38	* CreepyCleanliness
39	* CrystalSpiresAndTogas
40	* ErmineCapeEffect (you think royalty would look dirty?)
41	* EverythingIsAnIPodInTheFuture
42	* EverythingsBetterWithSparkles
43	* EverythingsBetterWithRainbows
44	* EverythingsSparklyWithJewelry
45	* FluffyFashionFeathers
46	* GlitterLitter
47	* GoldAndWhiteAreDivine
48	* GoldMakesEverythingShiny
49	* GorgeousPeriodDress
50	* LighterAndSofter
51	* LivingInAFurnitureStore
52	* NeonCity
53	* PrettyInMink
54	* RaygunGothic
55	* TheRichHaveWhiteStuff
56	* SceneryPorn
57	* ShinyLookingSpaceships
58	* SolarPunk
59	* SugarBowl
60	* TransparentTech
61	* TronLines
62
63	[[AC:Gritty:]]
64	* AbsurdlySpaciousSewer
65	* TheApunkalypse
66	* CityNoir
67	* CobwebJungle
68	* CobwebOfDisuse
69	* CorpseLand
70	* CrapsackWorld
71	* DarkerAndEdgier
72	* DerelictGraveyard
73	* DownInTheDumps
74	* TheDungAges
75	* ExtremelyDustyHome
76	* IndustrialGhetto
77	* MeatMoss
78	* {{Mordor}}
79	* LandfillBeyondTheStars
80	* NightmarishFactory
81	* PeltsOfTheBarbarian
82	* PollutedWasteland
83	* PostApunkalypticArmor
84	* RealIsBrown
85	* ScavengerWorld
86	* SceneryGorn
87	* SwampsAreEvil
88	* TrashOfTheTitans
89	* UsedFuture
90	* WretchedHive
91
92	[[AC:Both:]]
93	* ShabbyHeroesWellDressedVillains (the heroes are gritty, and the villains are shiny)
94	* VillainousBadlandHeroicArcadia
95	[[/index]]
96	----
97	!!Examples:
98
99	'''Note:''' Try to post the examples in the shininess and grittiness order, not at the bottom of each category.
100
101	[[foldercontrol]]
102
103	'''Shiny End'''
104
105	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
106	* ''Anime/DigimonFusion'' is very idealistic, very optimistic, and -- in the later half especially -- everything gleams as though polished for hours.
107	%%* ''Manga/OuranHighSchoolHostClub''. Except for one extremely gritty scene which is PlayedForLaughs.
108	[[/folder]]
109
110	[[folder:Arts]]
111	* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idealism_(arts) Idealism]] is an artistic aesthetic featured in [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic_art Academic Art]], and therefore in Creator/AlexandreCabanel's paintings. As [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin its name indicates]], it's about idealizing reality to a standard of perfection and beauty that can only be found inside one's imagination. This means the artworks depicted no blood or dirt even when the scene would have required them and the textures were clean, smooth, and even outright shiny sometimes (in the case of metal surfaces and skin). One such example is ''Art/TheFallenAngel'', where a naked, muscly Lucifer sports soft, unspoiled skin despite having just kicked from {{Heaven}} after a vicious [[DivineConflict divine war]]. Moreover, the color palette has vibrant hues that are neither excessive nor clash with one another.
112	[[/folder]]
113
114	[[folder:Films -- Animated]]
115	* The Franchise/{{Disney princess}}es.
116	** ''WesternAnimation/{{Snow White\|AndTheSevenDwarfs}}'' has the least gritty mine and miners ever, at least for the purposes of illustration.
117	* Most Creator/{{Pixar}} movies, until the first half of ''WesternAnimation/WallE'', tended towards the clean end (it helps that "clean" is generally easier to do in CG).
118	[[/folder]]
119
120	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
121	* The ''Franchise/StarWars'' {{prequel}}s:
122	** 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.
123	** Leia's ship that gets captured at the beginning of ''Film/ANewHope'' 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.
124	*** Mostly, it's a divide on socio-economic status. Civilized worlds like Naboo, Kamino, and the upper levels of Coruscant are bright and pristine, while {{Wretched Hive}}s and out-of-the-way places like Tattooine, Hoth, and Coruscant's lower levels are gritty and used.
125	** When Lucas first produced ''A New Hope'', he was very conscious that he wanted things to look a bit gritty to make them seem used and realistic. Supposedly a shiny new prop would be delivered, and he'd instruct the prop guy to bang on it with a hammer for a while to put some dents in it and make it look ''real.''
126	* ''Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey''
127	* The female singer in ''Film/TheCatPiano''
128	* Picture comes from the first act of the Creator/RogerCorman anthology film ''Film/TalesOfTerror'', where a girl visits the home of her father, who let most of the place get this way after his wife died.
129	[[/folder]]
130
131	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
132	* The various ''Franchise/StarTrek'' series. Even ''[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Deep Space Nine]]'' mostly had sets that looked neat and tidy. Perhaps that's just an unspoken credo of the Federation.
133	** ''Film/StarTrek2009'', on the other hand, has some very, [[LensFlare very]] shiny parts (where all the iPod-esque walls and screens appear to be scrubbed by {{red shirt}}s armed with with Federation-issue general-purpose cleaning solution every hour on the hour) contrasted with some grittier parts (grittier for the series, anyhow; busier, messier crowd scenes than anything previously seen in ''Trek'', the outsides of the ships are clearly not scrubbed with the same rigor as the insides, child Kirk speeds in a jalopy whose only really shiny parts are the electronics, industrial-grade rails and plastic curtains abound, and Vulcan is made of dust storms [[spoiler:even before it gets turned to dust entirely]]).
134	** This end was the only end they could have reasonably used for the Federation given that the Star Trek universe is not only set in the future, but in an optimistic and (usually) idealistic version of it. Since conflict is necessary for a story, there are more problematic aspects to other races the Federation encounters, and those sometimes lead Federation actions into [[BlackAndGreyMorality gray areas]]. However, if one imagines civilian life on Earth during peacetime, it would be close to utopia (though that part is hardly shown as it would make for boring TV).
135	* American {{soap opera}}s in general are very, very shiny (e.g., ''Series/TheYoungAndTheRestless'', ''The Bold and the Beautiful'', ''Series/DaysOfOurLives'')
136	* Any and all children's sitcoms on the Creator/DisneyChannel or Creator/{{Nickelodeon}}.
137	** ''Series/AndiMack'' tries to look realer than a typical Disnick Kid Com with almost everything done outdoors or on location, but it's still a well-scrubbed, bright look with a new school inhabited by stylishly-dressed kids, a picture-perfect house and street, and even the funky urban spaces the kids and younger adults inhabit by choice exhibit a very...Utah Mormon version of a hipster aesthetic, further cleaned up by Disney (the show has earned a reputation for leaving locations cleaner than they found them).
138	* ''Series/UglyBetty'', as it takes place in the fashion industry.
139	* ''Series/DesperateHousewives'', which takes place in an idealized (but still rather troubled) version of suburbia populated by imperfect {{Stepford smiler}}s.
140	* ''Series/CSIMiami''; in addition to the exotic, fashionable city its set in, the actors have said it takes place in "a comic book world."
141	* ''Series/PushingDaisies'', which takes place in a fifties RetroUniverse.
142	* ''Series/MadMen'': The Sterling Cooper offices are elegant examples of the International Style, the brand-new SCDP offices--particularly Roger's office--are enthusiastically Mid-Century Modern (i.e. That Style You See And Immediately Think "Sixties" No Not Hippie Stuff The Other Thing, Yes, Like JFK Airport), the Draper house is well-furnished (though not expensively so), even Peggy's small Brooklyn apartment is well-kept (well-worn, but hardly "gritty"...unless you would describe a well-maintained kitchen as "gritty"...), and the hotels and restaurants we see are mostly top-hole. Plus the GorgeousPeriodDress. The series follows ad executives in the early Sixties (i.e. the era of the Three Martini Lunch and other such examples of excess), and additionally borrows heavily from the "visual vocabulary" of the era, so it's hardly surprising that despite the lean towards cynicism, the show is on the shiny end. The occasional bit of dirt shows up, but it's not terribly common.
143	* WordOfGod intentionally aimed for ''Series/TheLordOfTheRingsTheRingsOfPower'' to look glorious and vibrant in contrast to how the cinematic trilogies depicted the Third Age as a period of decay. Numenor, Eregion, Lindon and Khazad-dum, which are all completely destroyed by the Third Age, are magnificent examples of {{Shining Cit\|y}}ies, CrystalSpiresAndTogas and CostumePorn.
144	[[/folder]]
145
146	[[folder:Pinball]]
147	* ''Pinball/SilverballMania'' hammers the needle deep into the "Shiny" end of the spectrum.
148	[[/folder]]
149
150	[[folder:Theatre]]
151	* ''Theatre/CesareIlCreatoreCheHaDistrutto'' 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.
152	[[/folder]]
153
154	[[folder:Toys]]
155	* {{Franchise/Barbie}}
156	[[/folder]]
157
158	[[folder:Video Games]]
159	* ''VideoGame/RobotUnicornAttack''. Now this one is getting a bit too far, unless you are playing the HeavyMetal version.
160	* ''VideoGame/LocoRoco'' is very bright with lots of pastel colors mixed with bright colors. Seems that everything has a life of their own.
161	* The ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'' franchise as a whole.
162	* ''VideoGame/{{Kirby}}'' series. Very bright colors, except when it gets to some of the [[TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon final stages]].
163	* ''VideoGame/MirrorsEdge'' is very high on the shiny scale, with lots of clean white and bright sunlight, yet it feels also very [[SlidingScaleOfSillinessVersusSeriousness oppressive]] and [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism gloomy]].
164	* ''VisualNovel/UminekoWhenTheyCry'' juxtaposes a very shiny wealthy family and very shiny inhuman witches with horrific, gritty murders full of {{Gorn}}. However, the shiny aspects definitely win out for the overall production.
165	* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'', 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, CrystalSpiresAndTogas is in full effect.)
166	* ''VideoGame/SpaceChannel5'' series. In fact one level is so colourful, an ''Epilepsy Warning'' had to be put in it!
167	[[/folder]]
168
169	[[folder:Webcomics]]
170	* ''Webcomic/{{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.
171	[[/folder]]
172
173	[[folder:Western Animation]]
174	%%* ''Franchise/MyLittlePony''
175	%%* ''WesternAnimation/RainbowBrite''
176	* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'' has lots of light colors and shininess, especially since much of the cast are gems. Homeworld takes it to another level.
177	[[/folder]]
178
179	[[hardline]]
180
181	'''Somewhere in the Middle'''
182
183	[[folder:Eastern European Animation]]
184	* ''Animation/InvestigationHeldByKolobki'' is somewhere in the middle - it's bright and sunny, but very detailed, diaplidated to an extent with things like broken statues and cracked stucco on buildings, and has wavy object[=/=]character outlines along with sort of a film grain effect over the scenes.
185	[[/folder]]
186
187	[[folder:Films -- Animated]]
188	* The Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon usually is clean without being too obvious about it, but does fall into the shiny end when the princesses are involved.
189	[[/folder]]
190
191	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
192	* The ''Film/JamesBond'' films can tend towards either end of the scale.
193	* The films of ''Film/HarryPotter'': Magic is sparkly; ancient castles are not; the vague SteamPunk vibe is somewhere in the middle. 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.
194	[[/folder]]
195
196	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
197	* Australian and New Zealand soaps (e.g., ''Series/{{Neighbours}}'', ''Series/ShortlandStreet'')
198	* Indian soaps
199	* ''Series/{{CSI}}'' and ''Series/{{CSINY}}'', though the latter was much grittier in the beginning: their original workplace was a 100-year-old stone building, complete with arched ceilings and a palpable element of despair (it premiered not long after 9/11)
200	* ''Series/DegrassiTheNextGeneration'' is more gritty than most teen dramas, but it can still be pretty shiny at times.
201	* ''Series/{{JAG}}''
202	* ''Series/LawAndOrder''
203	[[/folder]]
204
205	[[folder:Video Games]]
206	* ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil4'''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.
207	* ''VideoGame/WorldOfGoo'' has elements common in both ends.
208	[[/folder]]
209
210	[[folder:Webcomics]]
211	* ''[[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 BadAssLongCoat soldiers manage to somehow stay fairly clean.
212	[[/folder]]
213
214	%%[[folder:Western Animation]]
215	%%* ''WesternAnimation/TheTransformers''
216	%%[[/folder]]
217
218	[[hardline]]
219
220	'''Gritty End'''
221
222	[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
223	* Certain anime such as ''Anime/{{Texhnolyze}}'', ''Anime/MDGeist'', ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'', and ''Manga/ViolenceJack'' tend to ''really'' push the envelope for grittiness.
224	[[/folder]]
225
226	[[folder:Comic Books]]
227	* Creator/FrankMiller.
228	[[/folder]]
229
230	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
231	* ''Film/BladeRunner'' was gritty for the most part, especially in contrast to the [[ExecutiveMeddling tacked-on happy ending]].
232	* ''Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail'', although plenty of historical films at the time were made in reaction to GorgeousPeriodDress.
233	** Creator/TerryGilliam's ''Jabberwocky'' is, if anything, even grittier.
234	* The movie ''Film/{{Se7en}}''
235	* ''Film/LaReineMargot'' made even the gorgeous period dresses look gritty.
236	* ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour'', especially the 1984 (yes!) film version.
237	** 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.
238	* ''Film/RepoTheGeneticOpera'', where we learn that the future is {{Goth}} and cities are little spots of grime surrounded by graveyards. And seas full of dead bodies. Then again, there ''was'' that pesky organ failure epidemic...
239	* ''Film/{{District 9}}''
240	* Most films and games that heavily feature zombies fall into this category.
241	* ''Film/ChildrenOfMen'', which is set in a decaying world where no child has been born in many years.
242	* ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'', very much so.
243	* ''Film/PacificRim'', saturated with the rainy-atmosphere battle on the ocean, though some high-tech Jaegers such as Striker Eureka are possibly the few shiny exception.
244	[[/folder]]
245
246	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
247	* Irish soaps (eg ''FairCity, Ros na Run'')
248	* British soaps are the absolute champions of gritty (e.g., ''Series/CoronationStreet'', ''Series/{{Eastenders}}'', ''Series/{{Emmerdale}}'', ''Series/ShamelessUK''.)
249	* ''Series/TheWire'' 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 it -- to great effect.
250	* ''{{Series/Supernatural}}'', especially in the earlier seasons, when our heroes are a pair of unemployed flannel-wearing drifters who squat in abandoned buildings and hustle pool to keep themselves fed.
251	* ''Series/{{Falling Skies}}'' starts out World War II gritty and gets worse, so that by the middle of the second season you wonder if anyone on the show can even remember what soap and running water look like. The obligatory "it was all a dream" episode is confusing because everyone is so clean they're largely unrecognisable.
252	* ''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.
253	[[/folder]]
254
255	[[folder:Music]]
256	* Music/NineInchNails is gritty in both sound and artwork. The music videos have a lot of gritty imagery too.
257	[[/folder]]
258
259	[[folder:Video Games]]
260	* ''VideoGame/{{Machinarium}}'': Game takes place in a mechanical city made largely out of decaying buildings made out of cracking stone and rusty metal. This world is completely devoid of living animals although there is some plant life present.
261	* ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'' is gritty everywhere except in Combine buildings.
262	* ''VideoGame/{{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.
263	* Most, if not all, games that take place in a historical wartime setting (''VideoGame/CallOfDuty,'' ''VideoGame/MedalOfHonor'', etc.) take many pains to make things as gritty as the systems of the day can handle.
264	* Most FirstPersonShooter games in the modern day fall pretty deep into the gritty end of the scale.
265	* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' series is very gritty in some places, especially considering that it takes place in post-apocalyptic environment.
266	* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII''. Any town that wasn't razed to the ground during the course of the game or ''VideoGame/CrisisCore'' is choked with dust, crime, urban decay, and rusting technology.
267	* ''VideoGame/GearsOfWar'' is not so much "gritty" as it is "soaked in dirt, blood, grime, and waste, beaten repeatedly against the wall and left to dry in the middle of a sandstorm, then set on fire and burnt to smoldering cinders."
268	* The ''VideoGame/{{Diablo}}'' games are gritty in the extreme, depicting a world invaded by demons who decorate with blood, limbs, impaled corpses and tortured souls.
269	[[/folder]]
270
271	[[hardline]]
272
273	'''Contrasting'''
274
275	[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
276	* ''Manga/BattleAngelAlita'' contrasts the dirty, chaotic world of the Scrapyard with the sleek and clean Tiphares.
277	** ''Last Order'' doubly contrasts the shiny appearances of the [[LawfulEvil techno totalitarian empires]] of Venus, Jupiter and the Orbitals with their rotten undersides on the one side, with the often dirt-poor and thus UsedFuture based, but [[ChaoticGood very noble and idealistic heroes]] on the other. And then there's ChaoticNeutral characters like [[TheAce Zekka,]] who doesn't fit in ''any'' classification.
278	* ''Manga/{{Berserk}},'' taking place in TheDungAges 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 GorgeousPeriodDress. 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.]]
279	* ''Anime/CodeGeass,'' 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.
280	* Creator/MasamuneShirow 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 [[MoreDakka firepower]] into the mix and it becomes a moot point). The only exception is ''Anime/DominionTankPolice,'' where ''everything'' was gritty.
281	* ''Anime/ErgoProxy'' has the painstaking cleanliness and sleekness of the City of Romdeau... And then there's the [[{{Mordor}} outside world...]]
282	* ''Anime/{{Kaiba}}'' is filled with bright, colorful artwork that represents an extremely dark (not with respect to lighting) world. It occasionally slips into very dark tones, as well.
283	* ''Anime/WolfsRain'' has the dirt-covered, dilapidated human cities that sharply contrast with the glittery, self indulgent decadence of the Nobles' flying ships.
284	** 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.
285	* ''Manga/KnightsOfSidonia'': Sidonia has a clean white aesthetic. But hundreds of years in space have left their toll, and you don't even have to go to the shantytowns to see the wear and tear. The clearest example is the countless micrometeorite craters on the octagon cylinder-shaped outer hull.
286	[[/folder]]
287
288	[[folder:Comic Books]]
289	* [[Franchise/{{Superman}} Metropolis]] and [[Franchise/{{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.
290	** Metropolis adapted to Superman, Gotham ''made'' Batman.
291	** This divide can even be seen with their super''villains'': [[CityOfAdventure Metropolis]] has an nice sleek Evil MegaCorp, highly illegal, dangerous lab projects financed by said MegaCorp, power-grabbing conspiracies involving said MegaCorp, flashy massive disasters caused by the machinations of said MegaCorp, a gang weaponized by [[ComicBook/NewGods Apokalips]], alien invasions, rampages by giant robots, sentient computer viruses, [[StupidJetpackHitler time-traveling neo-nazis with jetpacks]], and random military attacks from rich, supervillain third-world dictators. [[WretchedHive Gotham]] on the other hand, has filthy, slum-level street crime, mafia bosses, drug trafficking, warring organized crime rings comprised of supervillains, senseless mass murder, police corruption, and loads and loads of clinically-insane psychopaths and freaks trying to make a name for themselves.
292	* The comic book ''BakerStreet'' 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 DownerEnding.
293	[[/folder]]
294
295	[[folder:Films -- Animated]]
296	* ''WesternAnimation/WallE'' 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.
297	[[/folder]]
298
299	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
300	* ''Film/TwentyEightDaysLater'' takes a somewhat unorthodox approach to mixing the two. The ''look'' of the film overall is gritty (they shot it on digital camcorders for this reason), but a lot of the locations are of typically shiny and clean places (hospitals, a castle, convenience store etc). The look of the film and the locations eventually converge as the story progresses.
301	* Most adaptations of ''Franchise/{{Dune}}'': Caladan is natural and shiny, Giedi Prime is dark and dirty.
302	* ''Film/{{Elysium}}'' gets the shiny, [[CrapsackWorld Earth]] gets the sh- I mean ''gritty''.
303	* The film versions of ''Theatre/HenryV''. Olivier's version was very shiny, especially considering that the film was a piece of propaganda to rally the English people during WWII. [[Film/HenryV1989 Branagh's version]] is much grittier. Olivier's Battle of Agincourt is most memorable for [[TheOner 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.
304	** 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:[[DontExplainTheJoke the joke in either case is that it isn't clear at all]]]]).
305	* Used to great effect in ''Film/TheDarkKnightTrilogy''. ''Film/BatmanBegins'' contrasts the shining Gotham of Bruce Wayne's childhood with the derelict, crime and poverty ridden Hellhole in the aftermath of an economic depression - almost entirely controlled by the mob, and their mysterious backers. Look no further than the Wayne Industries-built elevated rail lines' state of disrepair, for a sense of how far things have come since the time of Thomas and Martha Wayne.
306	** ''Film/TheDarkKnight'' opts for a shiner aesthetic, now that Batman has turned the tables on organized crime - putting the police and municipal officials back in control of a city no longer bogged down by the Mob's fear and misery. Gotham's transformation after just a year of order is ''stunning.'' As a cinematographic design choice, the film opts for cooler colors over the first film's desolate dirt toanes.
307	** ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'' brings Gotham full circle - at first shiny like the second film, turned gritty again after Bane and company rise up and place the city under siege.
308	* ''Film/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy2005'' manages to hit every point in the spectrum. Arthur even points it out. "Well, it's a whole lot better than that dingy Vogon crate! This is my idea of a spaceship, all gleaming metal, flashing lights, everything."
309	* ''Film/TheMatrix'' has a decidedly gritty real world, but the titular simulated world ranges from average to shiny.
310	* ''Film/QuantumOfSolace'' is Film/JamesBond-movie shiny, until James Bond begins to run out of money. The poorer he gets, the grittier everything gets, until the third act gets shiny again.
311	* The ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'' movies, contrasting the orderly life of Elizabeth and Will with the chaotic life of Jack and Barbossa, or the LawfulEvil East India Trade Co. with the ChaoticNeutral (mostly) pirates.
312	* Creator/TheBBC vs. 2005 movie versions of ''Literature/PrideAndPrejudice'' come to mind. In the BBC version, everything is shiny, more than it would be in the English countryside. In the movie, the Bennets' home is more dirty.
313	** 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.
314	* ''Franchise/RoboCop'' takes place in gritty [[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture Old Detroit]], but the evil and shiny OCP corporation plans to develop a cleaner and shinier Delta City "where Old Detroit now stands".
315	* ''Film/SlumdogMillionaire'' is gritty for the majority of the flashbacks depicting Jamal's childhood in the slums, which starkly contrasts with the sleek, stylized look of ''Series/WhoWantsToBeAMillionaire''
316	* ''Film/Stalker1979'' starts in a town low-lit in a grungy sepia, with peeling paint, flaking bricks, and warped, weathered, wet wood. The rim of the Zone is even grittier: collapsing, waterlogged factories. You don't get grittier without war or zombies. The Zone, though, is lushly green and shot in full color, though filled with broken buildings, leaning telephone poles, and rotting hulks of vehicles.
317	* The original ''Franchise/StarWars'' included both dirty UsedFuture 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 UsedFuture look to them, too.
318	** Compare and contrast the prequel series in the Shiny section.
319	* The ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}'' series is mostly gritty, but the T-1000s from ''[[Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay Judgment Day]]'' and ''[[Film/TerminatorGenisys Genisys]]'' and T-X from ''[[Film/Terminator3RiseOfTheMachines Rise of the Machines]]'' are quite shiny.
320	* ''Film/Underworld2003'' contrasts the shiny vampires and their shiny mansion and their shiny clothes with the gritty, concrete-plywood-and-brown-leather existence of the Lycans.
321	* ''Film/TheHost2013'' (based on the Creator/StephenieMeyer novel, not [[Film/TheHost2006 the Korean monster movie]]): the body-snatching but ultimately placid alien souls have coldly-lit shiny cities, sleek fashion, high technology, and CreativeSterility (they dislike conflict so their TV shows are free of drama); the human resistance have warmly-lit dusty desert hideouts and whatever scraps of clothing and junk they can scrape together, [[HumansAreSurvivors but they make do]].
322	* ''Film/JurassicWorld'' has a brand-new, futuristic visitors' center ([[http://www.geekrest.com/2014/03/first-jurassic-world-concept-art-reveals-futuristic-visitor-center/ concept art here]]) while the original, earthier ''Film/JurassicPark'' building is being reclaimed by nature.
323	[[/folder]]
324
325	[[folder:Literature]]
326	* Played up in ''Literature/TheHungerGames'' where a ''very'' gritty, dystopian Real World in the satellite states, where most people are 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.
327	* ''Literature/WickedLovely'' contrasts a RedLightDistrict known as Huntsdale (presumed to be in Pennsylvania) with the harsh beauty of the [[TheFairFolk fey]] world.
328	[[/folder]]
329
330	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
331	* In ''Series/{{Andromeda}}'' the titular ship is very shiny (and the remnant of a shinier age) while everything else is gritty.
332	* ''Series/BabylonFive'' does this a fair amount. Most areas on the station are crowded, but nice enough; the command staff quarters are nice, if sometimes a bit Spartan; the ambassadorial wing is VERY shiny (or its equivalent; it's implied that for Narns, at least, "shiny" still involves furniture of rough-hewn stone); and Downbelow is just a hell-hole.
333	* ''Series/OrphanBlack'' portrays a number of clones with vastly different lifestyles. Former criminal [[TheDrifter Sarah Manning]] and religious fundamentalist serial killer [[AxCrazy Helena]] fall on the ''gritty'' end of the scale, whereas wealthy suburban [[GirlyGirl Alison Hendrix]] and corporate mogul [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Rachel Duncan]] are ''shiny''. Beth's life is sort of in the middle, as her lifestyle is more or less upper middle class (shiny) but she's also often shown in her job as a detective (gritty). [[EruditeStoner Cosima's]] is neither, and [[TheFashionista Krystal's]] would be shiny if she appeared more often in the show.
334	* ''Series/BattlestarGalactica2003'': the eponymous ship is rather grubby and unglamorous even before the Cylons start shooting at it: it's 50 years old and obsolete when the Cylons wipe out the Colonies, and looks even more beaten-up after soaking up everything the Cylons have thrown at it during the course of the show. [[spoiler: It's beginning to fall apart, and its useful days are numbered]]. Contrast with the Cylon basestars, which are immaculate and extremely shiny both inside and out. [[spoiler: Even the battlestar Pegasus, which shows up half-way through Season 2, is rather clean and shiny - but then, it is a much more modern battlestar design]].
335	** The grittiness of the series is highlighted every time the "modern", shiny city of Caprica is shown in flashback, and the ''Series/{{Caprica}}'' highlights that further, showing futuristic technology from ''fifty years ago'' that no one uses in ''Galactica'', such as electronic touch screen paper and holograms.
336	*** 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)?
337	* The TARDIS interior from ''Series/DoctorWho'', 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.
338	* ''{{Series/Firefly}}'' varies quite a bit. By dint of being a [[SpaceWestern 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.
339	* In ''Series/GoodOmens2019'', Heaven is depicted as pristine to the point of CreepyCleanliness -- the polar opposite of Hell's grimy SceneryGorn. This visual contrast highlights the OrderVersusChaos struggle at the heart of the conflict between the angels and demons.
340	* ''Series/LifeOnMars2006'': 2006 is portrayed as a dull, sterile environment, while 1973 is more gritty but shot in warmer tones.
341	* ''Series/{{CSINY}}'''s VerySpecialEpisode "Indelible" aired on Sept 23, 2011 as a 10th anniversary tribute to the victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The present-day scenes are filmed as usual, whereas the many flashbacks to that fateful day are shown in dark, gritty hues, complete with all the dust and debris that were everywhere in reality. Writers and crewmembers who were living in NYC at the time described the end product as eerily real; writer John Dove, who had been an NYPD officer then, even said "too real."
342	[[/folder]]
343
344
345	[[folder:Sports]]
346	* Many modern sports, like boxing, rugby, and even association football. Filled with drama, fouls, and controversial calls... all held in perfectly manicured, shiny stadia.
347	** American football, and specially the Super Bowl. Shiny pre-game and halftime shows, loaded with cheerleading, celebrities... in stark contrast with the gritty roughness of the game.
348	[[/folder]]
349
350	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
351	* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' runs the entire spectrum, with the [[TheFairFolk Eldar]] at the shiny end, [[TheCorruption Chaos]] at the gritty end & everybody else somewhere in the middle.
352	** Slaanesh worshipers thrive on being shiny.
353	*** The Dark Eldar are shiny. However, they strive to be gritty in order to express their love of inflicting ColdBloodedTorture. So they [[ScaryImpracticalArmor put blades all over their armor]], although they just end up looking [[{{Narm}} ridiculous]].
354	** Nurgle worshippers thrive on being [[ThePigPen dirty]].
355	** Khorne worshippers thrive on {{gorn}}.
356	** Imperial power armor often show both at once. It's usually decked out with [[CostumePorn cool emblems, medallions, gold trim]] and BlingOfWar, but is also frequently adorned with [[NothingButSkulls skulls.]]
357	** [[BenevolentAlienInvasion The Tau]] rival the Eldar in shininess, but their two most common auxiliaries, the Kroot and the Vespid, are decidedly not shiny.
358	** Necrons are ''very'' shiny.
359	** Orks tend towards the gritty appearance wise, but take a look at [[http://www.games-workshop.com/MEDIA_CustomProductCatalog/m2110120_99060103130_CaptBadrukk1_873x627.jpg Kaptin Badrukk]]. [[CostumePorn He can show off with the best of them.]]
360	* In a related hobby, a perennial source of debate among military modellers concerns exactly how far the artist should go in representing wear and tear and everyday attrition on their completed model. Warhammer 40K fans don't seem to go in for this very much and leave their tanks and kit pristine; [=WW2=] purists, especially in tanks and vehicles, tend to go for the really battered look. See '''[[http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2014/3/8/591619_sm-Flames%20Of%20War,%20Military%20Modelling,%20Panther%20F,%20Russians,%20T-55,%20Tiger,%20World%20War%202.jpg here]]'''.
361	[[/folder]]
362
363	[[folder:Theatre]]
364	* The musical ''Theatre/{{Wicked}}'' manages to combine both aspects with Shiz and the Emerald City being fairly shiny, but the Witchunters and Kiamo Ko being pretty gritty.
365	[[/folder]]
366
367	[[folder:Video Games]]
368	* In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'', 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 possessions, her kingdom is in ruins, and she has been on the run for seven years, [[spoiler: posing as a Sheikah]].
369	* ''VideoGame/{{Portal 1}}'' is shiny in the test chambers of the game's first half (and there are broken parts) and gritty after the [[WhamEpisode Wham Level]] partway through. The sequel varies even more, starting in deteriorating and reclaimed chambers, getting shinier as [=GLaDOS=] repairs the facility, going back to gritty after [[spoiler: Wheatley takes control]] and drops you into the now-ancient original test chambers of the 50's, and finally strikes a balance back in the modern chambers, which are shiny, but being torn apart and smashed back together.
370	* ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'': Compare the CrystalSpiresAndTogas kingdom of Zeal to the run-down, AfterTheEnd scenario of 2300 A.D.
371	* ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' - The Covenant is all shiny purple, and everything is sleek and rounded. UNSC equipment is blocky and gray/tan/dull green. The Forerunner creations are shiny metallic silver-gray, and everything is angular and/or ornately segmented.
372	* ''VideoGame/{{Eversion}}'' - [[spoiler: Visits the both ends of the scale and everything in between,]] though it's more like [[spoiler:the Sliding Scale of SugarWiki/SweetDreamsFuel and NightmareFuel]]. And that is ''some'' sliding scale.
373	* ''VideoGame/BioShock1'' is an interesting example: [[UnderwaterCity Rapture]] was once ''very'' shiny, but it was made gritty by a civil war, and even afterwards there's still a few vaguely-glitzy areas. Places like the blood-streaked Medical Pavilion, the run-down docklands area of Port Poseidon and Hephaestus' grimy geothermal power-plant are ultimately contrasted with places like Fort Frolic, Rapture's neon-lit entertainment district - which is actually still pretty ritzy despite the disrepair.
374	** ''VideoGame/BioShock2'' continues this, with a major influence on gritty: as it's set at least eight years after the events of the first game, it's in a much greater state of disrepair than before, and most of the game takes place in abandoned facilities or slums. Over the course of the story, you visit a ruined luxury resort, a defunct train station, a shantytown on the WrongSideOfTheTracks, a RedLightDistrict, a sunken art gallery, a secret lab overgrown with sea life, and a penal colony dangling over the edge of an undersea trench. At first, it seems like the old Fontaine Futuristics building is the only place that looks even vaguely shiny, given that it still sports some of the old corporate glitz... [[spoiler: and then you get to see what Rapture looks like through the eyes of a Little Sister. CrapsaccharineWorld doesn't even ''begin'' to describe it.]]
375	* ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehogCD'' 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/Eggman), 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.
376	* ''VideoGame/StarCraft'' features a war between the shiny Protoss, the gritty Terrans, and the {{meat\|Moss}}y Zerg.
377	* ''VideoGame/DeusEx'' aggregates nice and tidy accommodations of Versalife corporation and UNATCO headquarters and the rather unpleasant urban neighborhoods (barring Paris that will look gorgeous even the world comes rolling to the doors of Hell).
378	* Ditto for ''VideoGame/VampireTheMasqueradeBloodlines''. The [=LaCroix=] Tower explicitly stands out of the generally bleak and tarnished surroundings. As a matter of fact, the Downtown LA map where the Tower is situated features this in spades: the western half of the map features an AbandonedHospital, an awful lot of dingy-looking buildings and houses, a crackhouse, the Last Round bar, a derelict warehouse, and an underpass used by the local vagrants as shelter. The eastern half of the map, while still somewhat gritty, features the Confession Club (which used to be a cathedral), the Skyline Apartment Building, and the decidedly upmarket Empire Hotel.
379	* 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 Orcs (in ''VideoGame/DawnOfWar'' 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.
380	* ''VideoGame/EveOnline'' has shiny Amarr ships versus "flying junkyard" Minmatar ships. Conversely, Gallente ships have shiny, smooth, almost organic curves while Caldari ships are angular and much more utilitarian.
381	* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' contrasts the shininess of the Vaults and Brotherhood of Steel-related locations with the ultra-gritty Wasteland. In [[VideoGame/{{Fallout1}} the first game]] it is worth noting that the shinier a location, the more likely it was to be ultimately evil, while the gritter-looking places and people were usually mostly harmless. ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 2}}'' is ''much'' shinier than the original, with far more built-up cities and far more slick gangsters in the form of mafia-style families and a porn cinema, while ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'' is more gritty, like the first game. ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 4}}'' mostly maintains a level of grittiness slightly lower than that of ''Fallout 3'', but the Institute is [[EverythingIsAnIPodInTheFuture so far on the shiny end]] that it makes the Brotherhood of Steel and the Vaults look dirty in comparison.
382	* ''Franchise/AssassinsCreed'' series varies its locales quite a bit, from [[ShownTheirWork 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 TheDungAges by investing in renovations and [[FisherKing art]]. However, the shiniest and prettiest parts are invariably the "temples" and vaults of [[{{Precursors}} Those Who Came Before.]]
383	* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI''. Oddly, the towns are just as shiny after the Apocalypse as before. Except for Tzen and Mobliz.
384	* Taken to extremes in ''VideoGame/{{Dystopia}}'' where {{Cyberspace}} lies on the extreme end of shiny, and meatspace is on the medium-high part of gritty. This is especially noticeable in areas where cyberspace is shaped the same as meatspace. Punk architecture is usually more gritty than Corp architecture.
385	* Administrative and scientific areas in ''VideoGame/{{Doom}} 3'' are usually of a silvery tone, and polished metal prevails. Rust-orange colors and rougher materials are characteristic of maintenance sections.
386	* Most of ''VideoGame/TheJourneymanProject'' is shiny, except for the UnderwaterBase, Sinclair's lab, and the underground part of the Mars colony.
387	* The settings in ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' run the gamut of shininess, ranging from the vibrant Eversong Woods to the gray and gritty Blackwing Lair. Some places combine both, like Deepholm and the recovering Western Plaguelands.
388	* ''Franchise/MassEffect'', being an extremely developed [[TheVerse 'verse]], has both ends of the spectrum. [[CoolStarship The Normandy]], Ilium, Noveria and rich, developed worlds tend toward the shiny, while Tuchanka, Feros, [[WretchedHive Omega]] and poorer colonies get pretty gritty. The Citadel itself is fairly shiny as a rule, but it has its share of contrast between the uber-shiny Presidium and the grittier Wards.
389	* The ''VideoGame/{{Simcity}}'' expansion ''Cities of Tomorrow'' allows the player to develop cities according to either an optimistic or pessimistic view of the future, or some combination of the two. The optimistic structures are [[EverythingIsAnIPodInTheFuture sleek, curvy and white]], while the pessimistic ones are dirty, rectangular and prone to emit pollution.
390	* ''VideoGame/TheSecretWorld'' demonstrates quite a lot of this, particularly when it comes to the faction hubs: London has the polished marble halls and richly-decorated offices of Temple Hall deliberately contrasted by the dingy pubs and shops of Eldwyck and [[BazaarOfTheBizarre the monster-infested markets of Darkside]]; Brooklyn is predominantly gritty, with gloomy streets, filthy laundromats, sewer labyrinths and a BackAlleyDoctor's shop situated in an abandoned abattoir, and even the Illuminati HQ's concourse looks pretty grungy - all contrasted with the gleaming Illuminati command center and Kirsten Geary's modern-art office; Seoul starts you off in the shiny, chintzy Kumiho Hotel, before sending you into the dark, rainy streets to the Dragon's HQ.
391	** More of this crops up once you head out into the field, where the giant biotech WorldTree and vivid golden light of [[HollowEarth Agartha]] form a contrast to literally [[PortalNetwork all the areas it allows you to visit]]: a New England fishing village beset by a ZombieApocalypse and Lovecraftian FishMen; a dusty Egyptian hamlet and the nearby Atenist ruins, all overrun by corpse-burning cultists and putrid ghouls; a stretch of Transylvanian countryside polluted by wrecked cars, [[FesteringFungus giant fungi]], dilapidated serial-killer homesteads, and the war machines of the invading vampire army; and of course, Kaidan District Tokyo, which is currently infested by [[TheCorruption the]] [[MysticalPlague Filth]].
392	* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' series tends to switch between the two from game to game, and even between expansions/[=DLCs=] within the same game. To note:
393	** ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind Morrowind]]'':
394	*** ''Morrowind'' falls on the Gritty end of the scale. It takes place in the most backwater district (Vvardenfell) of the most backwater province (Morrowind) in the Empire, which is also the province with the least direct Imperial oversight as part of the terms of its VoluntaryVassal status. A good 2/3 of the island is covered by [[RealIsBrown dark, ashy]] [[LethalLavaLand lava scathes]] which emanate from Red Mountain, the island's central volcano, which has been enveloped for centuries in a constant blight storm. Vvardenfell is also dotted with ancient Daedric ruins, bronzy {{Steampunk}} [[OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame Dwemer]] ruins, Chimeri strongholds, and Dunmeri [[AncientTomb ancestral tombs]]. Until about 20 years before the game takes place, Vvardenfell was a [[CorruptChurch Tribunal Temple]] preserve, open only to Temple servants and pilgrims. It remains sparsely populated and even it's largest cities feel small in comparison to those found in the rest of the series. The "alienness" of the setting also gives the game a very NewWeird feel.
395	*** The ''Tribunal'' expansion is set in Mournhold, the mainland capital city of Morrowind, which is also known as the "city of light, city of ''magic''". It shifts toward the "Shiny" end of the spectrum, with grander buildings, more greenery, and a greater color palette in general. That is, at least on the surface... Beneath the city are the ruins of "Old Mournhold" which serve as the new city's sewers, and, as discovered part way through the expansion's main quest, [[spoiler:a massive Dwemer city with numerous "gritty" secrets within]]...
396	*** The ''Bloodmoon'' expansion takes place on the [[GrimUpNorth snowy and grim]] island of Solstheim, populated by [[EverythingIsTryingToKillYou numerous types of deadly critter]], the NobleSavage Skaal people, and little else. It shifts back toward the Gritty end of the spectrum.
397	** ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion Oblivion]]'':
398	*** ''Oblivion'' falls very much into the Shiny spectrum of this trope, with its vibrant HighFantasy setting. Both the architecture and fashion suggest this game takes place at the heart of a mighty empire not yet in decline.
399	*** The ''Shivering Isles'' expansion takes place in the [[EldritchLocation Daedric realm]] of the MadGod Sheogorath. It intentionally invokes this trope. This realm is split into two major areas, named Mania and Dementia, who fall into the Shiny and Gritty ends of this trope, respectively. Mania is filled with vibrant colors and nice weather, while the architecture and fashion is really neat and inviting. Dementia is filled with subdued earthly colors, has a very dreary climate and it's settlements more or less look like slums. This is done to represent the dual nature of Sheogorath's madness.
400	** ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'':
401	*** ''Skyrim'' generally falls on the Gritty end spectrum. This is in no small part due to the fact that half of Skyrim is a [[GrimUpNorth frigid, barren wasteland]] and the primary culture resembling that of HornyVikings. The game taking place 35 years after the highly destructive [[GreatOffscreenWar Great War]] and during a CivilWar also plays a big part.
402	*** The ''Dragonborn'' DLC returns to the aforementioned island of Solstheim, which has managed to get even grittier. The [[ChekhovsVolcano eruption of Red Mountain]] has blasted the southern coast of the island with ash, while its small settlements have been flooded with Dunmer refugees eking out an existence in the wake of the [[TraumaCongaLine Red Year and subsequent Argonian invasion of Morrowind]].
403	* Orre in ''VideoGame/PokemonColosseum'' is a DesertPunk world, where Phenac City, the Shadow Pokémon Lab, and Realgam Tower are shiny, while everywhere else is very gritty. Its somewhat LighterAndSofter sequel ''VideoGame/PokemonXDGaleOfDarkness'' adds more shiny areas like the Pokémon HQ Lab and Gateon Port, and replaces the AbandonedWarehouse used by Miror B. in ''Colosseum'' with the shiny new ONBS news station headquarters.
404	[[/folder]]
405
406	[[folder:Webcomics]]
407	* ''Webcomic/{{morphE}}'' is a horror story which contrasts between the terror of the dark caverns the seedlings escaped from and the rich, plush manor that they become captive within.
408	[[/folder]]
409
410	[[folder:Western Animation]]
411	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Insektors}}'' is about a war between Gritty and Shiny.
412	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Motorcity}}'' has the very shiny Detroit Deluxe versus the very gritty Motorcity (which is below the former).
413	* ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' takes place [[AfterTheEnd After the End]], but it also has a location literally called the Candy Kingdom.
414	[[/folder]]
415
416	[[folder:Real Life]]
417	* This is most definitely TruthInTelevision. The more concentrated the wealth and power, the shinier, newer, and better maintained the buildings, clothes, and people will be.
418	** The BigApplesauce in RealLife. Everything more than ten feet above the ground is shiny. Everything less than ten feet above the ground is gritty.
419	** UsefulNotes/{{Japan}}, or at least the major cities, is mostly shiny in the center with some dilapidated areas being dingy.
420	** UsefulNotes/LasVegas is ''very'' shiny on the surface, but quickly becomes gritty the farther you get from The Strip, or if you just go around the wrong corner.
421	** Like UsefulNotes/NewOrleans; it seems such a shiny happy place that people mistake it for a theme park, and mistake all the inhabitants for tour guides. That annoys many who actually live there. And it's so patchy that there isn't a 'good' and 'bad' side, but anyone without common sense, strolling through like the whole place is a theme park, is likely to get robbed at best or killed and rolled at worst.
422	*** Well, minus the shiny. While folks do tend to mistake us for an adult theme park, it's still pretty clear that we're one of the older cities in America, and a rough blue-collar one at that. The nicer areas tend to be more genteel than shiny, if you follow me.
423	** Palm Beach County, Florida. It's best known for the town of Palm Beach proper, home to Donald Trump's mansion, the five-star Breakers resort, and the upscale Worth Avenue shopping district. Delray Beach and the downtown area of West Palm Beach are known for their trendy restaurants and bars, and Boca Raton for its suburban affluence. But the county also contains the extremely impoverished rural towns of Belle Glade and Pahokee, and has very high crime rates in parts of Lake Worth, Riviera Beach, and some areas of West Palm. It's estimated the county is [[GangsterLand home to over a hundred gangs.]]
424	** Mexico tends to be shiny near the beaches in the tourist cities, but very rapidly becomes gritty as one moves away from the resorts.
425	** UsefulNotes/{{Dubai}}. The [[StarScraper world's biggest tower]] with "migrant worker areas" at its feet.
426	** UsefulNotes/{{London}} and UsefulNotes/{{Paris}}, on the other hand, while they have areas at the end of both scales, the most famous parts tend to be both magnificent ''and'' filthy at the same time.
427	* Unlike other natural disasters, tornadoes can cut a path through a town while leaving the surrounding area untouched. This leads to something that looks like a post-apocalyptic wasteland next to a perfectly normal area.
428	* Rio de Janeiro is perhaps the poster city for this trope. Very shiny waterfront and tourist attractions, often a block away from the Favelas (slums).
429	* Buenos Aires too. Once is amazing, but if you go to Liniers, and moreso, near the Train station, er...
430	[[/folder]]

Context Main / SlidingScaleOfShinyVersusGritty