Line #1 Main/NeonCity


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4	[[quoteright:350:[[Film/EnterTheVoid https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/city_enter_the_void.png]]]]
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6	->''"Sinner's Row was a part of town that never slept. It's after midnight, but with all the lights, it's hard to tell. You can really see it all from up here.''"
7	-->-- '''Gunvolt''', ''VideoGame/AzureStrikerGunvolt''
8
9	Ever since they were invented, neon lights (or their more modern equivalents) have been associated with big cities. As such, an abundance of them is often used to characterise a place or help set a mood.
10
11	Bright, colourful lights and signs may serve to establish the city as one of the following (often with a good deal of overlap):
12	* '''Crowded, chaotic, and bewildering:''' Neon cities are generally full of people and noise, and a visiting CountryMouse may find them confusing, overwhelming, and [[WelcomeToTheBigCity possibly even dangerous]]. A street full of signs in [[MeltingPotNomenclature every language under the sun]] may indicate that the city is a crossroads of the world, or a melting pot of cultures.
13	* '''Hyper-capitalist:''' A riot of competing signs can be used to establish that commercialism and consumerism are dominant forces in society. No matter where you look, you [[AdvertOverloadedFuture can't escape ads]] trying to sell you something, and the skyline is crowded with giant MegaCorp logos. Despite the plentiful colour, this kind of neon city is often meant to feel cold and isolating, being designed for rich corporations rather than people.
14	* '''Hedonistic, glitzy, and/or sleazy:''' Neon signs are particularly associated with bars, casinos, motels, and other entertainment or tourist venues. As such, extravagant, flashing signage can be used to characterise a city as a place people go to have fun of the VivaLasVegas variety. Depending on the tone of the story, this might be good or bad -- perhaps the city is an AbsurdlyCoolCity full of genuine excitement and good times, or perhaps it's a [[CrapsaccharineWorld superficial]] [[WretchedHive sham]] just trying to part you from your money. If the venues being touted are cheap and tawdry, like [[RedLightDistrict strip clubs and dive bars]], it can establish a place as a WretchedHive or a ViceCity.
15	* '''Advanced:''' Filling a city with brightly coloured lights -- or better yet, video screens and {{hologram}}s -- is sometimes used to make it look high-tech or intensively developed. Your average {{Cyberpunk}} city is often drenched in neon-esque lights (which stand out all the more if you've got [[CyberpunkWithAChanceOfRain typical cyberpunk weather]] and it [[AlwaysNight always seems to be night-time]]). This use of neon may overlap with TronLines.
16	* '''Dated:''' In direct contrast to the previous, certain styles of neon are sometimes used to set a work in the past. For example, neon is sometimes associated with the vibrant colours of the TheEighties and the [[Main/NewWaveMusic New Wave era]]. If all the neon is golden-orange (the colour made by real, original neon), it can help set the work in the era before other colours became commonplace.
17
18	The neon city sometimes overlaps with CityNoir, although those may be too grey to admit very much neon (and what there is will probably be showing SignsOfDisrepair). See also ShiningCity (whose radiance is usually more metaphorical), CasinoPark, and CyberpunkWithAChanceOfRain. Compare ItsAlwaysMardiGrasInNewOrleans, where the characters arrive at a big city at the one time of year with lots of bright flickering lights around. Some neon cities will consciously echo real-world cities known for their abundant bright signage, like UsefulNotes/{{Tokyo}}, UsefulNotes/HongKong, and UsefulNotes/LasVegas.
19
20	(Note that, for the purposes of this trope, "neon" is defined broadly. Most "neon" lights don't actually use neon anymore, mostly being replaced by LED lights, but any bright city lights can be put to the same purpose.)
21	----
22	!!Examples:
23
24	[[foldercontrol]]
25
26	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
27	* ''Anime/HetaliaAxisPowers'': Briefly touched upon by Hong Kong in his image song "Hoi Sam☆Nice Guy", as he's the personification of one in real life; which variety of characterization he actually ''is'' is debatable, though his image songs hint that it's somewhere between hyper-capitalist, glitzy, and advanced.
28	-->''Riding on a roofless bus, cruising through the neon streets''
29	* One episode of ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries'' ("[[Recap/PokemonS1E45TheSongOfJigglypuff The Song of Jigglypuff]]") introduces the Vegas-like Neon Town, where the lights are always on and nobody seems to sleep. The Officer Jenny there has a notably short temper from being overworked.
30	* ''Anime/YuGiOhARCV'': As the series takes place throughout four different dimensions, each of them has a different aesthetic to tell them apart, and create the proper atmosphere. The Synchro Dimension's "City" is a CrapsaccharineWorld, where 99% of the total wealth is controlled by only 1% of the population. The City has extremely high skyscrapers lit up so brightly that the night turns into day. It is even [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]].
31	-->'''Yugo:''' Beautiful, isn't it? How much wealth is in this skyline?
32	[[/folder]]
33
34	[[folder:Art]]
35	* [[https://www.thatsmags.com/guangzhou/post/20317/11-cyberpunk-inspired-images-of-shenzhen-and-hong-kong Ultraviolet Break of Day]] by Marcus Wendt showcases some of the real world neon cities that inspired many of the ones from {{cyberpunk}}.
36	[[/folder]]
37
38	[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
39	* ''WesternAnimation/RockADoodle'' has the villain send his ComicRelief nephew Hunch to thwart the heroes from contacting Chanticleer. Hunch is truculent, mentioning that the bright lights of the city will make him blind. The villain casually issues Hunch a pair of sunglasses. Truly, the big city is much brighter and busier than the rustic farmlands where the story originates. In fact, the heroes only found Chanticleer by noticing a huge neon likeness of him as an Elvis {{expy}} adorning Pinkie's nightclub.
40	* ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManIntoTheSpiderVerse'' uses this trope to good effect in the nighttime scenes.
41	* In ''WesternAnimation/TurningRed'', UsefulNotes/{{Toronto}} is portrayed like this at night.
42	[[/folder]]
43
44	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
45	* ''Film/BatmanFilmSeries'': Gotham City veered more towards such aesthetics in the Creator/JoelSchumacher films (''Film/BatmanForever'' and ''Film/BatmanAndRobin'') when compared to the city's dark part-gothic part-ArtDeco aesthetics in the Creator/TimBurton films.
46	* ''Film/BladeRunner'' is often credited with [[TropeCodifier establishing]] plentiful neon (preferably in [[AlwaysNight the dark]] and [[CyberpunkWithAChanceOfRain the rain]]) as a central part of the {{Cyberpunk}} aesthetic.
47	* In ''Film/HiroshimaMonAmour'', the bright lights of the new and rebuilt Hiroshima are used in a ContrastMontage with the female lead's hometown in France, which is full of old stone buildings.
48	* ''Film/OnlyGodForgives'' was noted for going to town with neon. (One critic described it as an incoherent "neon-dunked nightmare", which was apparently meant as praise). The city in this case is Bangkok, which (at least for the main characters) is depicted as depraved and brutal.
49	* ''Film/TaxiDriver'' uses the bright neon of Manhattan (including the famous Times Square) as a backdrop. It helps make Travis Bickle, who is almost completely disconnected from the world around him, seem even more of a [[LonersAreFreaks sad loner]].
50	* Osaka in ''Film/BlackRain'' is full of neon lights; even the trucks driving around the city are covered in them. This makes Osaka look menacing and alien to the two NYPD detectives while they are in the city.
51	* ''Film/GodzillaVsKong'': The showdown between Godzilla and Kong takes place in Hong Kong, at night, amid skyscrapers bathed top to bottom in bright and colorful neon lights. Compared to the dreary, smoke-filled cityscapes featured in the [[Film/Godzilla2014 previous]] [[Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019 two]] ''Godzilla'' movies, it comes across looking much more like a primetime wrestling match than a desperate battle for the fate of the planet.
52	* ''Film/LastClearChance'', (a ScareEmStraight driving safety film from 1959) warns about how distracting the neon signs of a big city can be to drivers. This includes a few shots demonstrating how easy it is to miss traffic lights or railroad crossing lights against a background of equally bright signage.
53	* ''Film/EnterTheVoid'' takes place almost entirely at night in Tokyo, the ever-present neon lighting adding to the film's disorienting and hallucinogenic themes.
54	* The Canadian film noir ''Film/DisappearanceAtCliftonHill'' shows Niagara Falls, ON - especially the casino and the Clifton Hill neighbourhood, which is where a lot of the tourist traps are - to be this, definitely leaning more into the sleazy and dated aspects of this trope. Niagara Falls comes across as a tacky, seedy place.
55	* The opening sequence of ''Film/{{The Howling\|1981}}'' has the heroine stalked through the neon-lit streets of early '80s L.A. by a SerialKiller. The rest of the film, however, is set in rural California and has a more DontGoInTheWoods aesthetic.
56	[[/folder]]
57
58	[[folder:Literature]]
59	* This is the fate of Los Angeles after the Eruption and Long Winter in ''Literature/AgentG'' by Creator/CTPhipps. The city is rebuilt as an arcology with holograms, neon lights, and a Las Vegas meets Tokyo feel. It's such a dramatic change that the locals name it New Los Angeles after a few years.
60	** It continues in {{Sequel}}, ''Literature/TheCyberDragonsTrilogy'', as New Los Angeles becomes even more an enormous {{Arcology}} of holographic billboards, neon signs, augmented reality projections, and lights on fashion as the world continues its slow recovery from the Eruption. Kei says she sometimes has to shut off her feed lest she suffer sensory overload.
61	* In ''Literature/BehindBlueEyes'', Olympias City is a massive city covering most of Western North America that is absolutely deluged in light based advertisements, glowing lights to keep it running twenty-four seven, and augmented reality. Since everything is owned by the Olympias Corporation, it is dedicated to keeping the public distracted by BreadAndCircuses versus actual profit.
62	* ''Literature/BubblesInSpace'' has [=HoloCity=] that, as its name implies, is a place utterly deluged in advertisements and holograms that sell a bright materialist culture while distracting from the utterly miserable conditions the majority of the public live in. Pure water is, for example, an expensive luxury while brothels as well as purchase aps on your cybernetics are an eveyrday part of life.
63	* In ''Literature/{{Easytown}}'', this is especially the case for the titular district of New Orleans. Being the RedLightDistrict, it is full of holographic and neon signs advertising robot brothels, pornography dens, and specialized drug dens.
64	[[/folder]]
65
66	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
67	* In Episode 3 of ''Series/Loki2021'', our main characters attempt to hijack a rocketship that is situated in the middle of a sprawling, crowded, futuristic city, with neon lights and paint decorating it.
68	[[/folder]]
69
70	[[folder:Music]]
71	* Music/SimonAndGarfunkel's "The Sound of Silence" uses neon imagery, although exactly what it means is probably subject to debate.
72	-->''When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light\
73	That split the night''\
74	[...]\
75	''And the people bowed and prayed\
76	To the neon god they made''
77	* A common aesthetic in the retrowave genres {{Vaporwave}} and UsefulNotes/{{Synthwave}} where cities at night with neon lights are used as part of the art-style as they were in TheEighties and TheNineties.
78	* Music/{{Kraftwerk}}: "Neon Lights" from the album ''Music/TheManMachine'' is mostly instrumental, with the few lyrics being a tribute to the city's neon lights:
79	-->''Neon lights\
80	Shimmering neon lights\
81	And at the edge of night\
82	This city's made of light''
83	* The Music/{{Eagles}}: "In the City" has the depressing sort:
84	-->''Somewhere out on that horizon\
85	Out beyond the neon lights\
86	I know there must be somethin' better\
87	but there's nowhere else in sight''
88	* Music/DannyElfman's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kb7OUCTu-g "Cool City"]] from his 1984 album ''So-Lo'' never explicitly mentions neon, but definitely has the hedonism and hypercapitalism down:
89	-->''Icy steel shoots through the concrete, Cool City\
90	Mountains of glass reflect the sky, oh-oh-oh-oh-oh\
91	Everybody feels real good in Cool City\
92	Each day brings a new surprise, oh-oh-oh-oh-oh!\
93	\
94	Johnny came two thousand miles to Cool City\
95	He came to see what makes things tick, oh-oh-oh-oh-oh\
96	He cut his hair and bought new clothes in Cool City\
97	Finally found his life's ambition, oh-oh-oh-oh-oh!\
98	How to do nothing perfectly\
99	To do it with style so gracefully\
100	'Cause life is so delicious here in Cool City...''\
101	\
102	[...]\
103	\
104	''If you're high you're in the right place, Cool City\
105	Animals seek out their own kind, oh-oh-oh-oh-oh\
106	Shake some hands and take a lunch in Cool City\
107	Someone's going to try and tempt you, oh-oh-oh-oh-oh!\
108	Listen to all the brilliant plans in Cool City\
109	It's all free now, but you'll pay later with your soul''
110	[[/folder]]
111
112	[[folder:Video Games]]
113	* ''VideoGame/ANNOMutationem'': Noctis City is an {{americasia}} of several influences, with idols (live and virtual) and glowing neon signs in Western and Eastern languages, futuristic cars, and a disperse of [[AdvertOverloadedFuture adverts]] on many buildings.
114	* ''VideoGame/{{Apocalypse}}'' is set in one that's supposed to be New York in the future. The first two levels are both indoors (respectively a prison and sewers) but the third stage, where you escape into the big city, allow you to witness the city in all it's glory while battling enemies left and right.
115	* ''VideoGame/LANoire'' makes a certain amount of use of neon to help establish its time period -- of particular note being its logo, which resembles a big, rooftop neon sign in traditional golden-orange.
116	* Dragon City in ''VideoGame/{{Loopmancer}}'', supposedly a futuristic version of Hong Kong after two decades of non-stop technological growth and development. It has neon signs on buildings, rooftops, and even in the tunnels, and the cover art displays the city proudly in the foreground.
117	* ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoViceCity'' goes for neon, including in its logo, as part of its 1980s Miami aesthetic.
118	* ''VideoGame/SatelliteReign'' goes heavily for the traditional {{Cyberpunk}} aesthetic, which means that it's a challenge to find parts of the city that ''aren't'' soaked in neon.
119	* ''VideoGame/{{Ruiner}}'' is set in the decidedly unpleasant city of Rengkok, where glaring red neon lights seem to be one of the main sources of illumination.
120	* Certain areas of ''Franchise/MassEffect'' have a more than a touch of neon to them, in keeping with the inspiration the series takes from 1980s-ish science fiction (which presumably includes a bit of cyberpunk, although the game as a whole doesn't fit that genre). On the Citadel, all the signage helps establish the place as a galactic crossroads; on Omega, it helps establish the place as a den of vice. The [[https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4510/37609939841_bbc4eca675.jpg Silversun Strip]] in the ''Citadel'' DLC is a wild riot of neon and holographic lights, immediately setting the tone that this is where everyone in the galaxy can come to ''party''.
121	* ''VideoGame/MarioKart'':
122	** ''VideoGame/MarioKart7'': One track in Star Cup, Neo Bowser City, has a futuristic theme which involves a lot of neon lights and bright displays (many of which serve to glorify Bowser). It was later added to ''VideoGame/MarioKart8'' as DLC.
123	** ''VideoGame/MarioKartTour'': Singapore Speedway portrays the eponymous capital of UsefulNotes/{{Singapore}} in this fashion, being raced on during a bright-sky night when all buildings show multi-colored lights and there's a more lively atmosphere. As with the other city-based tracks, it has three versions, each one taking place within a different part of the city. It was later added to ''VideoGame/MarioKart8 Deluxe'' as DLC, where all versions are combined into a multi-layered circuit.
124	* In ''VideoGame/SpeedKills'', the final races are set on a capital planet which is full of bright, colourful signs, signalling that you've graduated from the various hell-holes you started on and are now in the big league.
125	* ''VideoGame/CrashBandicoot3Warped'': The "future" levels take place in a futuristic city full of neon signs of Neo Cortex and his associates.
126	* ''VideoGame/AzureStrikerGunvolt'': One level, Sinner's Row, is a RedLightDistrict filled with tall buildings and neon signs.
127	* ''Videogame/FalloutNewVegas'': Deliberately invoked by the titular city, New Vegas -- a [[AfterTheEnd post-apocalyptic remnant]] of UsefulNotes/LasVegas, Nevada. In the story, Vegas was left relatively untouched by nuclear bombardment during [[WorldWarIII The Great War]] thanks to measures taken by billionaire Robert House. House has [[HumanPopsicle slept in cryogenic suspension]] for two centuries since then, until scouts from a new government called the New California Republic are spotted by House's robots. House awakens, immediately sends the robots out onto the Vegas strip to tame and force the roving savage tribes into helping rebuild the city in the spitting image of Vegas at its peak. By the time the NCR soldiers reach Vegas, they are entranced by the shimmering lights of a functioning city within the Mojave Wasteland and soon the city becomes a tourist attraction for NCR citizens, bringing House wealth and influence as part of his plans to rebuild civilization.
128	* Inkopolis from the ''VideoGame/{{Splatoon}}'' series is one of these (especially Inkopolis Plaza from the first game and Inkopolis Square from the second) in keeping with the series' emphasis on and the Inklings' and Octolings' loves of color, fashion, and pop-culture, and it gets even brighter and more colorful during a Splatfest. Downplayed with Splatsville from ''VideoGame/Splatoon3'' due to that installment's DesertPunk aesthetic, but there's still a fair amount of neon there, the player can switch between Splatsville and Inkopolis Plaza through DLC, and, as always, things get even more colorful than usual during a Splatfest.
129	* ''VideoGame/Cyberpunk2077'': Night City is littered with neon and holographic advertisements, as seen in the opening shots of the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIcTM8WXFjk&feature=youtu.be E3 2019 trailer]].
130	* Araenu from ''VideoGame/CosmicStarHeroine'' is a planet with aesthetics inspired by CyberPunk, including city alleys full of neon lights.
131	* The dank streets of ''VideoGame/{{Anachronox}}'''s eponymous planet are lit up by numerous neon lights, frequently advertisements.
132	* You'll be hard pressed to find a ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' game that doesn't have have a Neon City-like level. And even the rare few that don't tend to hold a neon light motif in at least one of their levels. Most have overlap with CasinoPark--which itself was named after a stage in ''VideoGame/SonicHeroes''--but occasionally the concept is taken in another direction, such as Tropical Resort in ''VideoGame/SonicColors'', which is one very large hotel area with no casino motifs whatsoever; and Mystic Jungle in ''VideoGame/SonicForces'', which instead has neons combined with RuinsForRuinsSake.
133	* The BonusDungeon of ''VideoGame/{{Miitopia}}'', New Lumos, is a neon-lit, perpetually rainy cyberpunk city populated by deadly monsters. Its name in the Japanese version is ''literally'' "Neon City".
134	* ''VideoGame/Battlezone2016'' takes place across various futuristic cityscapes with glowing neon light sources.
135	* Delight City in ''VideoGame/NiGHTSJourneyOfDreams'' manages to achieve this visual effect in the daytime by having most of its buildings and roads in nonreflective dark shades to contrast the bright glowing lights further.
136	* ''[[VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite Pokémon Black]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/PokemonBlack2AndWhite2 Pokémon Black 2]]'' have Black City, which is full of tall buildings with TronLines on the floor and buildings. These games' version of Opelucid City have a similar look to them, though with smaller buildings and a more explicitly futuristic look. They're both part of the technology motif behind ''Black'' and ''Black 2'', whereas ''White'' and ''White 2'' have a nature motif.
137	** Levincia in ''VideoGame/PokemonScarletAndViolet '' is one of these, and fittingly enough, it's where the Electric Gym is located.
138	* ''VideoGame/Hitman3's'' ''End of An Era'' level takes place during a rainy night against the backdrop of a futuristic city, in the Yuzhong District of Chongqing. The neon lights here are positively brilliant.
139	* ''{{VideoGame/Ghostrunner}}'s'' Dharma City is a shining example of this, being a massive skyscraper tower housing all of the remaining humans on Earth after a mysterious cataclysm known as The Burst. Jack, the player character, must ascend the city using elevators, and frequently wallruns on the sides of neon signs and screens.
140	* ''{{VideoGame/Cloudpunk}}'' is set in Nivalis, the last city on earth. It was built above an ocean by artificial intelligence which is now breaking down, leading to widespread urban decay and eclectic construction on all levels of the city. The whole game takes place over the course of one rainy night, nailing the {{Cyberpunk}} aesthetic with voxels.
141	* The majority of levels introduced in Season 4 of ''VideoGame/FallGuysUltimateKnockout'' takes place in an area surrounded by tall skyscrapers and sprawling railways in the background, all lit up by bright neon lights.
142	* ''VideoGame/TheAscent'' is set in the city-planet of Veles, a gritty and extremely detailed {{Cyberpunk}} arcology.
143	* ''[[VideoGame/SagaFrontier [=SaGa=] Frontier]]'' Koorong features giant neon signs in the commercial area and functions as the closest thing the game has to a HubCity as its port is the only one that connects to most regions. The city has the undeniable atmosphere of a lawless, ungoverned place and posses amenities such a BlackMarket located in the sewers where you can buy goods that range from illegal drugs to military-grade equipment and a back alley clinic run by an extremely shady doctor.
144	* Some of the more urban stages in ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}'' are like this, in particular the Busan stage.
145	* Mirroria City in ''VideoGame/TowerOfFantasy'' is a thriving cyberpunk city full of bright neon signs floating on top of an apocalyptic desert populated with dangerous monsters. It used to be on the ground, but the harsh environment and invading Grayspace Entities wrecked their plans to repair the environment around the city and forced the people to make the city float in the sky.
146	* Paradise City from ''VIdeoGame/TurboOverkill'' is filled with neon signs and colourful lights in every corner, but it's also loaded with [[MechaMook synthetics]] out to KillAllHumans. Your player hero, Johnny Overkill, spends the whole game scaling through the city's walls and roofs, with a few moments where you hop on the signs, and chase scenes within the game can get ''really'' colorful.
147	* Chapter 4, Season 2 of ''VideoGame/{{Fortnite}}'' introduced Mega City, a PostCyberpunk location with giant holograms in addition to more conventional neon.
148	* ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert3'': Imperial cities tend towards lots of neon signs and Japanese billboards due to their advanced technology.
149	* VideoGame/{{Foamstars}} takes place in the fictional city of Bath Vegas, which is filled with neon lights on buildings at night.
150	[[/folder]]
151
152	[[folder:Western Animation]]
153	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Arcane}}'': The streets of [[WretchedHive Zaun]] are almost entirely bathed in neon light, mostly green or purple.
154	* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS26E9IWontBeHomeForChristmas I Won't Be Home For Christmas]]", Homer gets kicked out of the house, but Marge and the kids then go looking for him. There's a montage which appears to show the neon signs of all the places they search: a bar; an all-night diner; a strip club; the big-and-tall morgue. Then Marge reveals where they really are: "Well, he's not in the neon sign store."
155	* The titular ''WesternAnimation/MoonbeamCity'' is a {{retro\|Universe}}futuristic WretchedHive, all bathed in shades of purple and pink, where everyone dresses like it's TheEighties but advanced enough to have rotating hotels, people with ArtificialLimbs, and an [[Film/RoboCop1987 ED-209]] {{Expy}}. They also mine lasers, which [[ArtisticLicensePhysics somehow]] gush from the ground like oil.
156	[[/folder]]

Context Main / NeonCity