Invoking Deliberate Values Dissonance

I thoroughly enjoy a good work that showcases Deliberate Values Dissonance. It's something I've tried to do myself, with a lot of research into Medieval Japanese culture and life to try and portray the setting accurately (regardless of how I feel about some of it). Various history and mythology resources, along with works like Memoirs Of A Geisha (which I plan on diving into over the summer - its portrayal of geisha life should be useful, even though it doesn't apply strictly to my chosen time period), Shogun, and Lady Snowblood have also given me some excellent thoughts; thisoriginally came about when I decided I wanted to write an Inuyasha fanfiction that developed the rest of the setting in addition to the characters - I've been working on it for a few years, and honestly, I have not wanted to stop researching. Then again, I'm a nerd who values cultural diversity, and I love learning any and everything about different cultures. Japan just caught my eye because it's so vastly different from the U.S. - and, really, has a lot of room to play around with things. I've also enjoyed playing with and twisting Good Traits Bad Traits a lot, especially in regards to alcoholism, prostitution, and violence.

Who else likes to invoke Deliberate Values Dissonance? If you've done it before, for what culture/phenomena/time period have you decided upon? If you haven't, what would you be interested in taking a stab at? Also, for those of us who like this sort of thing, how have you fellow writers and Tropers shown your work?

eeeeeeheeeeeeeee.

:3

I do this fairly regularly, though in a speculative fiction form. No nonhuman culture in my works ever matches exactly with humans in their cultural values. This does involve a lot of research, though, as one thing that can be annoying about "alien moral values" in some works is that they're only alien to the West. I try to avoid having my aliens match up with any Earth culture.

Flat "What".

edited 29th Apr '11 6:52:58 PM by nrjxll

Ttthhh...depends. The Japan-counterpart in my fantasy story is often criticised for its treatment of the Burakumin-equivalent (a main character is a Burakumin), but it's implied that so many homeless people, actors and prostitutes and the like become Wanderers (the China-counterpart's group of supernatural-beastie-fighters) because they don't have much in the way of legal status.

The culture in Under World is loosely based on an Earth group, but for marketing purposes, I decided not to have them run around naked and fling poop at each other. Maybe it would get more attention if they did....