History Main / DirtForcefield

* Sort of {{lampshade|Hanging}}d in ''Film/LastActionHero'' after Arnold's character falls into a tar pit and all it takes to clean himself completely is a few wipes with a tissue, prompting his kid sidekick to comment, "Tar actually sticks to some people."

[[caption-width-right:350:A superintendent of the [Royal Canadian Mounted Police does not get "muddy"!]]

[[caption-width-right:350:A superintendent of the [[CanadaEh Royal Canadian Mounted Police]] does not get "muddy"!]]

* In the pages of C''omicbook/XMen'', ComicBook/EmmaFrost's costumes are always a pristine white no matter what she goes through on a mission. It's possible she may be using her psychic powers to merely APPEAR pristine in the minds of those around her. Similar to how she [[spoiler: hid her aged appearance]] in the Old Man Logan comics.

* ZigZaggingTrope in ''VideoGame/Warhammer40000SpaceMarine: One of the game's major mechanics is that you regain health from slaughtering your enemies in as bloody and messy a way as possible (with {{chains|awGood}}words and power axes and [[DropTheHammer thunder hammers]]), so at the end of a battle your character's armor and [[HelmetsAreHardlyHeroic face]] is completely splattered in blood. However, it will all have faded away within thirty seconds.

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[[folder:Anime and Manga ]]

* In ''Anime/DragonBallZ'', one of the defining features of the planet-shattering fights in the series is that the terrain around the fighters is often torn to pieces by the force of their blows, and energy blasts regularly kick up huge clouds of dust (often from which the intended target emerges unscathed). Despite this, whilst characters often suffer wounds and battle damage, they almost never get dirty.

* In the pages of Comicbook/XMen, ComicBook/EmmaFrost's costumes are always a pristine white no matter what she goes through on a mission. It's possible she may be using her psychic powers to merely APPEAR pristine in the minds of those around her. Similar to how she [[spoiler: hid her aged appearance]] in the Old Man Logan comics.
* Superintendent Sam Steele from ''Comicbook/TheLifeAndTimesOfScroogeMcDuck'''s "Hearts of Yukon" chapter. [[TheAce A superintendent of the North-Western Mounted Police]] does not get... 'Muddy'. Nor, for that matter, does he get '[[BulletproofFashionPlate blown up]]' or say "Yowch!". And yes, it ''does'' protect against [[CoveredInGunge being thrown into chest-high mud]].

* The titular character of ''FanFic/HopeComesToBrocktonBay'' explicitly has a minor superpower that prevents anything from sticking to her. It has all sorts of interesting interactions, including making her one of the very few people who can't be held by containement foam and allowing her to perform surgery without needing gloves or having to wash her hands.

[[folder:Films -- Animated]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* Creator/PeterJackson's ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'' films subtly obey this trope.
** The peasant characters are always dirty, whereas a King like Aragorn is at least ''less'' dirty. However, it is only in the coronation scene near the end of the [[Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheReturnOfTheKing third movie]] that Aragorn's head is no longer a mop of stringy, oily hair.
** Gandalf the White's whiter-than-white robes but [[OurAngelsAreDifferent his case is justified and]] even then the edges that touch the ground are dirty; as Gandalf the Grey Pilgrim he is quite disheveled and wayworn.
** As an elf, Legolas is always far better and cleaner looking than the men. However, when a lot of other elves show up at Helm's Deep in ''[[Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheTwoTowers The Two Towers]]'', Legolas notably looks a lot worse than them.
* Every [[TheWestern Western]] prior to [[SpaghettiWestern Spaghetti]]; TheHero was always immaculate and wore a dust-free white hat across the desert. No longer used in any Western made after ''Savage Guns''.

* Horror movies usually avert this trope, with their stars (particularly the FinalGirl) being absolutely covered in grime and blood (some of it their own) by the time the credits roll.

* A similar RunningGag is used in ''Film/EvilDead2'', in which Ash and everything around him would get drenched with ichor in one scene, then show no trace of goo (or at least, that particular ''color'' of goo) in the next. He does suffer lasting wounds and wardrobe-damage, however.
* Humorously done at the end of ''Film/{{Ghostbusters 1984}}'', when Venkman (the "coolest" Ghostbuster) has only a dob of marshmallow in his hair, while the rest of the cast is completely covered. Apparently Bill Murray was not enthusiastic about being covered in goo again (after getting slimed earlier in the film) and convinced the others that having Venkman unscathed in this scene would be funnier.

* Considering the amount of time that the characters of ''Film/ResidentEvilExtinction'' have spent on the road on a refugee convoy they all seem to have dirt forcefields, especially the women.
* The Great Leslie in ''Film/TheGreatRace'', up through most of the pie fight [[spoiler: when he gets hit with a white pie]].
* A strange version appears in Creator/KennethBranagh's ''Theatre/HenryV''. The film gave a good deal of attention to historical accuracy (as much as was possible given that the play itself is Tudor propaganda) and realism. Accordingly, the cast spend much of the film dirty, bloody, and generally pretty realistic. Henry's [[WhiteStallion white horse]], however, remains remarkably clean. This is particularly noticeable during the Siege of Harfleur, when a very soiled and bloody Henry comes racing out from the city gates on his horse, which looks like it's just been carefully bathed for Grand Prix dressage. Someone apparently forgot to tell the wranglers about the "realism" thing.
* In ''Film/ANewHope'', Princess Leia and the others end up in the trash compactor on the Death Star, yet none of them get remotely dirty. While Han and Luke at least have the excuse of changing out of their disguises, Chewie is naked and Leia is wearing a white dress, yet neither has a spot on them. Creator/MarkHamill tells an amusing anecdote about this: as they were filming one of these scenes, he piped up saying "I was just underwater, shouldn't my hair be all mucky and dirty?" To which Creator/HarrisonFord replied "It ain't that kind of a movie, kid. If anyone's looking at your hair we're all in a lot of trouble."

* ''Literature/TheDiamondAge'': {{Nano|Machines}}technology is so common that almost all fabric is a self-cleaning nanotech construction. Children can play in the dirt in their best clothing and be still largely presentable afterwards.
* {{Justified|Trope}} in ''Literature/TheRavenTower'': Perks of being appointed Raven's Lease by the eponymous PhysicalGod include rule over the nation, PurposeDrivenImmortality, and robes of office that always stay spotless white.

* ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' generally plays this straight, as might be expected by the offspring of Creator/{{Disney}} and ''Franchise/FinalFantasy''. The secret movie "Birth by sleep" is an interesting exception - not only does it throw the impossibly-clean aesthetic out the window, it also manages to ''introduce'' a female lead in the middle of battle, covered in a mixture of dirt, grime, and her own sweat.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Illbleed}}'', the main female protagonist's appearance isn't affected by the environments, but it gets more and more torn, blood-soaked and muddy as she fails to save friends (i.e. completing a level without rescuing the friend there). In order to get the true ending, you have to lose everyone, at which point she is completely naked with only a few mudsmears to cover her bits.
* ''VideoGame/TotalWarWarhammer'': Sigvald The Magnificent is a champion of Chaos who floats over the battlefield. Canonically blood and dirt don't ever stain his armor. This is reinforced in the game proper; if you have the Blood for the Blood God DLC activated, blood splatter will NEVER land on Sigvald despite everyone around him being painted red from head to toe.
* A number of endings in the ''VideoGame/MegaManX'' series have the heroes spotless, despite being in a series of violent battles.

* Most games in the ''Franchise/TombRaider'' franchise play this straight, except ''VideoGame/TombRaider2013''. [[/folder]]

* ''Film/{{Transformers}}'' series:
** Every Transformer with a GM-licensed vehicle mode, thanks to the ProductPlacement agreements. However, in robot-mode you can see the paint scuffs and dents. [[note]] This isn't just to make the cars look good, but because all cars were on lease from GM, so they had to remain factory perfect (meaning dents and scratches required the entire panel to need to be replaced rather than simple smoothed out) to be returned after filming. And to make things worse all the cars were either at the moment unreleased prototypes (Bee, Sideswipe, Twins) or custom made (Ironhide Ratchet), meaning there were no spare parts available that wouldn't require a special order from GM. As a result the crew were very paranoid about delicate handing (Shia mentioned that anyone driving the Bumblebee car was ordered to touch nothing inside but the wheel, shifter and pedals.) and intentionally causing minor damage was not feasible.[[/note]]
** Mikaela's white pants in [[Film/TransformersRevengeOfTheFallen the second movie]], which stay totally clean even after she's been laying in dirt.
** [[Film/TransformersDarkOfTheMoon In the third movie]] Carly somehow gets through a firefight between Autobots and Decepticons, wanton collateral damage left and right, and a collapsing building with shards of ''concrete and glass'' raining down from all sides without a ''single'' scratch. As for Sam... he looks like he ran into a bus... and a wood chipper... and a wild bear.

* TotalWar:Warhammer: Sigvald The Magnificent is a champion of Chaos who floats over the battlefield. Canonically blood and dirt don't ever stain his armor. This is reinforced in the game proper; if you have the Blood for the Blood God DLC activated, blood splatter will NEVER land on Sigvald despite everyone around him being painted red from head to toe.

* ZigZaggingTrope in ''VideoGame/Warhammer40000SpaceMarine'': One of the game's major mechanics is that you regain health from slaughtering your enemies in as bloody and messy a way as possible (with {{chains|awGood}}words and power axes and [[DropTheHammer thunder hammers]]), so at the end of a battle your character's armor and [[HelmetsAreHardlyHeroic face]] is completely splattered in blood. However, it will all have faded away within thirty seconds.

* TotalWarWarhammer: Sigvald The Magnificent is a champion of Chaos who floats over the battlefield. Canonically blood and dirt don't ever stain his armor. This is reinforced in the game proper; if you have the Blood for the Blood God DLC activated, blood splatter will NEVER land on Sigvald despite everyone around him being painted red from head to toe.

* Creator/{{Michelangelo}}'s ''[[PietaPlagiarism Pieta]]'' is one of the more famous examples in art. UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}}' lovingly-detailed, well-toned muscles and polished-smooth skin don't look much like someone who's spent three days dying of thirst and blood loss. Mary also invokes this, with a face completely absent of the lines or blemishes that would have been typical on a woman who was in her late forties at least. Michelangelo largely gets away with it, because the anatomy is so good that it easily overshadows the inaccuracy, and because Jesus seems like a good candidate for someone with an actual version. This hasn't stopped some artists from [[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c7/Pieta_z_Lubiaza.jpg/751px-Pieta_z_Lubiaza.jpg trying]], though.

* ZigZaggingTrope in ''VideoGame/Warhammer40000SpaceMarine'': One of the game's major mechanics is that you regain health from slaughtering your enemies in as bloody and messy a way as possible (with {{chains|awGood}}words and [[AnAxeToGrind power axes]] and [[DropTheHammer thunder hammers]]), so at the end of a battle your character's armor and [[HelmetsAreHardlyHeroic face]] is completely splattered in blood. However, it will all have faded away within thirty seconds.

See also BeautyIsNeverTarnished and BulletProofFashionPlate. May not protect against [[CoveredInGunge Gunge]].

** [[Film/TransformersDarkOfTheMoon The third movie]] takes it UpToEleven: Carly somehow gets through a firefight between Autobots and Decepticons, wanton collateral damage left and right, and a collapsing building with shards of ''concrete and glass'' raining down from all sides without a ''single'' scratch. As for Sam... he looks like he ran into a bus... and a wood chipper... and a wild bear.