History Main / AsceticAesthetic

* On Sound Transit's Link light rail line in the Seattle area, the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel, formerly used by Metro buses, has an aesthetic similar to the aforementioned Washington Metro, while the newer underground stations primarily use a stainless steel cladding motif, and the aboveground stations echo the aforementioned International style.

-->-- '''Antoine de Saint Exupéry'''

* ''WesternAnimation/DespicableMe'' shows Gru as a down-to-earth, but homey-in-a-kind-of-way villain, whereas Vector is shown as being a villain that looks like he purchased all his furniture from Steve Jobs. He also plays a UsefulNotes/NintendoWii, which features the same aesthetic.

Compare and contrast with DesignStudentsOrgasm. Closely related to WhiteVoidRoom.

** TheEmpire used a clean, dark and minimalist aesthetic, which is why the stormtroopers are stark white in spite of the general aesthetic that DarkIsEvil.

* This was the standard design aesthetic for science fiction until ''Franchise/StarWars'' hit the scene. Chronologically, it is likely the first aversion in film with ''Star Wars: Film/ANewHope'', which debuted in 1977. Two years later, ''Film/{{Alien}}'' averted the trope yet further, as the starships were gritty and grimy, just as you should expect a giant long-haul vehicle that is its own repair garage would be ''in space''. Less "sports car," more "Australian outback 4WD".
** Interestingly, the ''Nostromo'' still shows signs of this trope: the galley, messroom and bunks clearly started out as a CassetteFuturism version of this look when the ship was new, with lots of minimalist furniture and everything being painted white or beige. But after a few years of living and working in there the crew have added a few personal touches like sticking some pin-ups to the wall of their bunk or decorating the table in the centre of the room with a cheap nodding woodpecker desk toy, and discarded magazines, coffee cups and other detritus have started to accumulate. Averted totally in the cargo holds and engineering spaces, which are UsedFuture all the way.
** ''Franchise/StarWars'' actually uses it to good effect to contrast the clean, dark and minimalist [[TheEmpire Imperial]] [[TheBattlestar Star Destroyers]] with the dirty and homey Millennium Falcon, and the shiny and regal Naboo royal cruiser. Also subverted via AllThereInTheManual in Episode 2 with the Kaminoan homeworld: the Kaminoan buildings look like they have a white minimalistic appearance, but [[AllThereInTheManual the Kaminoans' vision is mostly in a spectrum that humans can't see, so all their artwork and painting is in ultraviolet]].

** Another example is given in the ''Literature/XWingSeries'' of Expanded Universe novels. When we are introduced to Ysanne Isard, director of Imperial Intelligence (basically running the Empire at this point), we are shown her huge office with nothing in it but a non-descript (though large) desk. The viewpoint character even comments over how luxurious it is to waste that much space on a crowded planet like Coruscant.
** This trope isn't limited to bad guys by any stretch in the Original Trilogy. Princess Leia's starship in ''Film/ANewHope'', the ''Tantine IV'', has mostly white and chrome interiors, befitting a diplomatic starship belonging to the Imperial senator from the very wealthy world of Alderaan, although we see a few darker interior spaces when Leia is trying to hide from the Imperial Stormtroopers. Meanwhile, the Rebel flagship, ''Home One'', is shown in ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'' and ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'' to share the clean regal asthetics of the ''Tantine IV''.
** The spin-off series ''Series/{{Andor}}'' prominently features minimalist white interior design in the Imperial Security Bureau on Coruscant and the Imperial Prison Complex on Narkina 5.

%%ZCE* The Heart of Gold in ''Film/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy2005''.

[[EnvironmentalSymbolism Locations set the mood]] of a scene just as much as the characters in it, and few locations say so much with so little as those with the '''Ascetic Aesthetic'''. A setting built with an Ascetic Aesthetic is "decorated" in a modern, minimalist and exceedingly clean style. Walls will likely be plain, featureless gray or white, perhaps with a light blue accent. Buildings will have either no curves at all, favouring a blocky and efficient feel, or have oddly sterile "organic" curves. Furniture will likely be plain and industrial, favoring function and comfort over style.

** Another example is given in the Literature/XWingSeries of Expanded Universe novels. When we are introduced to Ysanne Isard, director of Imperial Intelligence (basically running the Empire at this point), we are shown her huge office with nothing in it but a non-descript (though large) desk. The viewpoint character even comments over how luxurious it is to waste that much space on a crowded planet like Coruscant.

* The Heart of Gold in ''Film/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' Film.

* The TV adaptation of ''Radio/TheHitchHikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' uses this trope: of the various spacecraft encountered, the ''Heart of Gold'' manages to combine the clean white aesthetic with a sense of everything being cheap, tacky, plasticky and somewhat scuffed at the edges.

* ''Franchise/{{Kingdom Hearts}}'' locations The Castle That Never Was as well as Castle Oblivion utilize this aesthetic, as does Naminé's room in the Twilight Town mansion, accordingly. These are all associated with the "empty" / "incomplete" Nobodies.
* In ''Videogame/FinalFantasyXIII'', the final part of [[TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon Orphan's Cradle]], immediately prior to the FinalBoss, is a stylish, clean white room that looks eerily like a lobby or waiting room (in fact, it is called "Narthex", a term used for the lobby area of Byzantine church buildings). Unsettling, especially considering the surreal alternate dimension previously traversed to get to that point.
* The entirety of the world in the indie game [[http://www.againstthewallgame.com/ Against The Wall]], which is "set on the side of an infinite brick wall". [[AbsurdAltitude Don't look down.]]
* The [[LostSuperweapon Yi-Lono-Mordel]] Control Room of the InteractiveFiction game ''Videogame/TheWeapon'' is described as this.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands 2}}'', most areas controlled by [[MegaCorp Hyperion]] fit this design philosophy. All of the Hyperion areas have a very modern, clean, white/yellow paint job and look neat and orderly, especially the interior of Hyperion buildings and the yet-to-be-occupied city of Opportunity. [[BigBad Handsome Jack]] actually deliberately enforces this, as he has essentially declared the act of littering to be [[DisproportionateRetribution punishable by death]].

* Detroit Deluxe in ''{{WesternAnimation/MotorCity}}'' is all white and glass and rounded corners, but the sleek environment belies the {{BigBad}}'s iron grip on the people.

* In ''Literature/TheLongDarkTeatimeOfTheSoul'' by Creator/DouglasAdams, the eccentric psychologist Mr Standish works in an unadorned white offic, with a bare black desk, a bare glass coffee table, and an empty black picture frame. He is so dedicated to this that he keeps his phone in a drawer when he's not using it. Kate asks him why he doesn't have any ornaments, and he says of ''course'' he has ornaments, they're an essential part of a healthy psyche. He then takes one out of another drawer, looks at it for a moment, and then puts it back.

** The spin-off series ''Series/{{Andor}}'' prominently features minimalist white interior design in the Imperial Security Bureau on Coruscant and the prison on Narkina 5.

* ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry1'': At the end of the first game, you plunge into the Underworld itself. It has much of the tropes you might expect, such as FireAndBrimstoneHell and EvilIsVisceral, complete with a giant beating heart and the implication the whole place is a living organism. You then pass through the final door to confront [[BigBad Mundus]]. You are greeted with a bright, clean, stark hallway, lined with pillars and looking like a copy of some ancient Greek temple, leading up to a stunningly crafted statue that is, in fact, Mundus. The sheer beauty and deliberate, skilled architecture of the area may surprise players after trudging through blood and lava. But it also hints that this place is more eldritch than what came before.

** The [[http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/830/464/1600/Hartnell%20console.jpg original 1960s incarnation]] of the TARDIS interior. Attempts by some designers to update the look of the TARDIS to make it look consciously futuristic (most infamously [[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/0d/TARDIS_console_1983.jpg in the 1980s]]) look, by today's standard, more dated. From 1996 onwards, the TARDIS set design has moved away from asceticism to embrace [[http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/gallery/tvmovie/images/1024/dw50.html steampunk]] and [[http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/medialibrary/s1/images/1024/s1_01_wal_17.jpg?size=1024&promo=/doctorwho/medialibrary/s1/images/main-promo/s1_01_wal_17.jpg&purpose=Computer%20wallpaper&summary=At%20the%20controls%20of%20his%20TARDIS.&info=&tag_file_id=s1_01_wal_17 clapped-out organo-gothic]].

** Cloud City follows this trope to a 'T' with its interior decoration dominated by the use of white, though underneath the shiny veneer of the public spaces most of the place is actually dark and industrial. Further, the clean and neat appearance of the place neatly foreshadows that [[spoiler: it is not a safe haven for Han, Leia, Chewie, and C-3PO, but has been secretly seized by Darth Vader and The Empire.]]
** Another example is given in the X-Wing series of Expanded Universe novels. When we are introduced to Ysanne Isard, director of Imperial Intelligence (basically running the Empire at this point), we are shown her huge office with nothing in it but a non-descript (though large) desk. The viewpoint character even comments over how luxurious it is to waste that much space on a crowded planet like Coruscant.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

--> '''Larry:''' Ttttthe ''future!''

* The TV adaptation of ''Literature/GoodOmens'' uses this trope in its depiction of Heaven - clean, spacious, lots of light - and manages to make Heaven look like the headquarters of an opressive impersonal multinational or the nerve centre of a totalitarian dictatorship, purely by [[ExaggeratedTrope exaggerating]] absolutely everything about this aesthetic. Clinically clean and with too much brilliant harsh white light.

* The TV adaptation of ''Literature/GoodOmens'' uses this trope in its depiction of Heaven - clean, spacious, lots of light - and manages to make Heaven look like the headquarters of an opressive impersonal multinational or the nerve centre of a totalitarian dictatorship, purely by pushing everything about this trope UpToEleven. Clinically clean and with too much brilliant harsh white light.

** The Citadel was presented this way at first. [[VideoGame/MassEffect2 ME2]] worked a lot to subvert this trope. The Wards (parts of the Citadel where normal people live) are much more crowded and dirty than the pristine Embassy section. Omega takes it UpToEleven, practically passing for a Film/BladeRunner set, all to make the sequel DarkerAndEdgier.

* ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry:'' At the end of the first game, you plunge into the Underworld itself. It has much of the tropes you might expect, such as FireAndBrimstoneHell and EvilIsVisceral, complete with a giant beating heart and the implication the whole place is a living organism. You then pass through the final door to confront [[BigBad Mundus]]. You are greeted with a bright, clean, stark hallway, lined with pillars and looking like a copy of some ancient Greek temple, leading up to a stunningly crafted statue that is, in fact, Mundus. The sheer beauty and deliberate, skilled architecture of the area may surprise players after trudging through blood and lava. But it also hints that this place is more eldritch than what came before.

* In ''Podcast/WithinTheWires'', TheNarrator of a set of Relaxation Cassettes distributed to a patient at the Institute drops her calm façade to opinionate that the Institute is "white and sterile."

* The TV adaptation of ''Literature/GoodOmens'' uses this trope in its depiction of Heaven - clean, spacious, lots of light - and manages to make Heaven look like the headquarters of an opressive impersonal multinational or the nerve centre of a totalitarian dicatorship, purely by pushing everything about this trope UpToEleven. Clinically clean and with too much brilliant harsh white light.

* In ''Videogame/FinalFantasyXIII'', [[spoiler:the final part of [[TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon Orphan's Cradle]], immediately prior to the FinalBoss, is a stylish, clean white room that looks eerily like a lobby or waiting room.]] Unsettling, especially considering the surreal alternate dimension previously traversed to get to that point.