History Main / DecadeDissonance

* In ''{{Terranigma}}'', there ''is'' in fact tech sharing, but if you don't grow certain towns, you can end up with strange situations, like having the American town Freedom as a bustling metropolis, while certain European towns remain as rural as they were the day you freed them from their oppressive king. In addition, certain towns begin extremely differently. Apparently, at the same time you were helping Thomas Edison discover electric power, Japan and parts of China have had ''television'' for quite some time.

[[folder:Fanfiction]]
* In ''FanFic/AeonNatumEngel'' due to many circumstances, the defenses and general technology level of the Order-controlled Iceland consists mostly from the stuff dating back to the first Arcanotech War, when the fic takes places during the Aeon War, which itself was formerly known as a Second Arcanotech War.
* Any fanfic which puts [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic Equestria]] in the modern era of the human world (such as TheConversionBureau). Equestria has AncientGrome-era military advances, a pre-industrial revolutionary (that is, agricultural) economy, and [[TheDungAges very medieval]] politics and governances (being essentially TheKingdom). This, in combination with its other HighFantasy traits like BlackAndWhiteMorality, usually causes interesting conflicts with the cosmopolitan, highly advanced and usually democratic countries, such as the US, and this usually pits both the extremes of [[RomanticismVsEnlightenment romanticism and enlightenment]] against each other, both technologically and morally.

[[folder:Film]]

* ''Film/BatmanBegins'' is almost a carbon copy of the Philippines example under Real Life - glittering modern skyscrapers coupled with dark and steamy shanty towns/dirty back alleys in the same city. [[Film/TheDarkKnight The sequel]] averts this somewhat [[spoiler:due to the slums being torn apart in throes of madness and essentially written off]].

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

* ''[[Series/BuckRogersInTheTwentyFifthCentury Buck Rogers]]'' is also a bit confused. In the pilot, New Chicago and other major cities were protected by domes, and a MadMax atmosphere reigned outside them. That seems to have been dropped later in the series.

[[folder:Multiple Media]]
* ''Franchise/{{Noob}}'' has its fictional MMORPG set in TheMagicVersusTechnologyWar. As a consequence, the futuristic-looking strongholds of the technology side are surrounded by the typical EuropeanMedievalFantasy landscapes. Renforced in the webseries, in which the capital is the only Empire stronghold ever shown.
[[/folder]]

* In ''KinosJourney'', cities are separated by great distances and form separate countries. Also, travel is dangerous and most people never leave their hometowns. Thus, there are vast differences in technology and culture between cities, which vary from medieval to futuristic in nature. This is made even stranger by the [[SchizoTech eclectic technology]].

* The ''VideoGame/{{Warcraft}}'' universe, in which the Orcs and Tauren live in huts made from animal hides, while the gnomes have fled their homes due to radiation poisoning from their ''nuclear reactor''. At least some of it seems to be by choice, however. The Tauren, for example, have access to gunpowder but otherwise prefer to live closer to nature.

* Arguably the Mushroom Kingdom in the 'SuperMarioBros'' series. You've got towns and villages like Toad Town set firmly in the middle ages equivalent, then shiny futuristic cities like Mushroom City, Twilight City and various cities from the Wario series games with modern technology equivalents.
* Also, ''VideoGame/WarioLand The Shake Dimension'' arguably does this. You've got the basic settlements shown in the first world and the intro cut scene that the Merfles lived in, then right in the middle of the wild west themed area, you've got Glittertown/Neon City which is basically some Las Vegas equivalent complete with modern technology, electricity and slot machines.

* The Casus Belli Republic from ''{{Lambda}}'' has PoweredArmour and HumongousMecha, while Soleil, the nearest up in the tech race, is still in the Age of Sail and muskets. This however, results from the fact that the Bellans as a race have low magical potential compared to the rest of the world, and so use what little they have to advance their technology to the top.

** Interestingly, however, cell phones are literally ''everywhere''; portable technologies have lesser infrastructure requirements, leading to cases of farmers riding donkeys to the rice paddy while chatting on their cell phones. Phones and mobile internet are also used for bill payment and tracking crops in developing nations.

* ''{{Ravenloft}}'' can be bad for this, with domains ranging from the Stone Age to a Psuedo-Victorian era. Granted it makes more sense when you realize each domain is snatched up from a different world, and some of the {{Dark Lord}}s tend to isolate their populations from the influence for multiple reasons. Also, the [[PowersThatBe Dark Powers]] are explicitly stated as inducing LaserGuidedAmnesia in the populations of various domains so that they do not question their surroundings and certain peculiar aspects thereof. For example, many darklords have lived for centuries and yet the general populace does not notice, much less connect it to the supernatural. The Dark Powers also apply PhlebotinumInducedStupidity in order to maintain the [[StatusQuoIsGod status quo]]. For example, Medieval warlord Vlad Drakov will always fight using weapons and tactics appropriate to his culture. Even though some nearby domains have things like firearms, [[WhyDontYouJustShootHim he will never adopt them]].

* Malaysia as a whole is like this--its location at the intersection of the South China Sea, the Java Sea, and the Malacca Strait means that some of its cities are quite wealthy and wouldn't look out of place in Korea or Japan, especially their shopping malls. However, most of these large, expensive, shiny shopping districts are not far from residential areas that are substantially more humble and run-down; some sections don't even have paved roads, instead having to make do with gravel and sand. Some houses are little more than clapboard squatter arrangements built in the shadows of high-rise condos, but due to Malaysia's location, the slums usually suffer more during the seasonal torrential rains and typhoons. Due to the income gap of the nation, it isn't unheard of to see expensive, modern luxury sedans next to sputtering old motorcycles from the 70's side by side on the street.

* ''{{Ravenloft}}'' can be bad for this, with domains ranging from the Classical Era to Psuedo-Victorian era. Granted it makes more sense when you realize each domain is snatched up from a different world, and some of the {{Dark Lord}}s tend to isolate their populations from the influence for multiple reasons.

* The movie version of ''Film/SweeneyToddTheDemonBarberOfFleetStreet'' does this (kind of) with ''style''. Most of the film is set in TimBurton's dark and bleak VictorianLondon, but when Sweeney has a flashback, the atmosphere becomes a bright and sunny 19th century version, and when Mrs. Lovett fantasizes about going to the sea with him, they are dressed in [[TheEdwardianEra Edwardian]] outfits and stroll along a sunny beach.

* During the Middle Ages, Constantinople embodied this trope (and to a lesser extent, the rest of the Byzantine Empire) with regards to Europe. At a time when Western Europe was still recovering from the fall of Rome and the resulting collapse of infrastructure, they had a teeming cosmopolitan city that maintained and improved on most of the old Roman building traditions. Add in fairly high literacy rates, a university system, a mature legal system, and a stable bureaucracy, and then compare it to just about any other European country at the time. Europe got better ''eventually'' - i.e. the mid-to-late late nineteenth century. By then, of course, Constantinople had long-since been raided by marauding crusaders and taken over by the Ottomans, under whom it continued to be rather well-kept relative to Europe until the 'Great Divergence'.

* In ThePendragonAdventures, the Milago and Bedoowan live within spitting distance of each other: the Milago live in small huts and shit in holes in the ground, while the Bedoowan castle has running water and uses naturally glowing stones to provide artificial light.

* ''MassEffect'' brings this up in the codex entry for Earth in ''MassEffect3''. It brings up that the planet is entering a golden age due to the wealth its colonies are bringing in, though many developing countries are still at a 20th century technology level.

* [[InvertedTrope Inversion]] along the US-Mexico border; the US side is mostly barren while the Mexican side will have development. Played straight in some places, outright averted in others. [[http://www.hispanicallyspeakingnews.com/notitas-de-noticias/details/a-view-of-the-us-mexican-border/13612/ In this picture, right side is Mexico.]]

* During the Middle Ages, Constantinople embodied this trope (and to a lesser extent, the rest of the Byzantine Empire) with regards to Europe. At a time when Western Europe was still recovering from the fall of Rome and the resulting collapse of infrastructure, they had a teeming cosmopolitan city that maintained and improved on most of the old Roman building traditions. Add in fairly high literacy rates, a university system, a mature legal system, and a stable bureaucracy, and then compare it to just about any other European country at the time. Europe got better ''eventually'' - i.e. the mid-to-late late nineteenth century. By then, of course, Constantinople had long-since been raided by marauding crusaders and taken over by the Ottomans, under whom it continued to be rather well-kept relative to Europe until the 'Great Divergence' we mentioned earlier.

* The Casus Belli Republic from ''{{Lambda}}'' has PoweredArmour and HumongousMecha, while Soleil, the nearest up in the tech race, is still in the Age of Sail and muskets. This however, results from the fact that the Bellans as a race have low magical potential compared to the rest of the world, and so use what little they have to advance their technology to the top.
* ''Series/{{Noob}}'' has the futuristic city of Centralis, the Empire's capital, in what seems to be otherwise a fantasy MMORPG. Neogicians (TheEngineer, TheGunslinger and BioAugmentation wrapped together), Ivy's class, seem to originate from it.

** In ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' different planets within the Imperium can have massively different technology levels and cultural views. Examples range from "feral worlds" with mostly medieval technology (save what's imported from other planets), to planets with fairly modern-looking cites (except with more skulls and statues) to dystopian hive worlds where the entire populace lives inside enormous plasteel towers surrounded by uninhabitable wasteland.
*** They actually stated in one ''White Dwarf'' that they'd created a fictional universe where you can have rock-waving barbarians and antigravity tanks on the same battlefield.

* Ringworld, justified by the fact the rimgworld is so large that there simply hasn't been enough time since the collapse of last really advanced ring world society, for tech like gun powder to spread very far.

->'''Not Invented Here:''' ''Trade of technology will not exist. One place in the world will have all the techno-gadgets while all the others will be harvesting dirt.''
-->-- ''TheGrandListOfConsoleRolePlayingGameCliches''

* In ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'' the earthbound live in caves and look as though they're just a step or two above actual cavemen. Whereas in the same time period the Kingdom of Zeal is a FloatingContinent powered by magic where there exists modern philosophy, advanced architecture and MagiTech on a CrystalSpiresAndTogas level.

The reason, if any is given, is that there's no technology trade between the countries, so any discoveries a country makes (from Agriculture to Zoology) never leave it. Other times it's a question of societal values, where the "savage" village has chosen not to develop technology in favor of peaceful agrarian lives; however you can expect them to have copious and advanced magic if it's a MagicVersusScience setting. It's almost never purely stylistic, like [[{{Batman}} Gotham City]] and [[{{Superman}} Metropolis]]. Both exist in the same year and country, but one is firmly entrenched in 1920's Gothic and Noir style, while the other is an Art Deco optimistic future.

* Gotham city and Metropolis both reflect the style of their hero: Dark for Comicbook/{{Batman}} and shiny and optimistic for Comicbook/{{Superman}}. A common saying about the two cities within DC was that Metropolis was [[BigApplesauce New York City]] in the daytime, while Gotham was New York at night. The Animated Series for both [[WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries these]] [[WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries shows]] even cross over, however Superman ended up visiting Batman at night (and Bats usually took the night with him to Metropolis).
** Mind you, there is some overlap. For instance, Metropolis has a rough area called Suicide Slum where a few street level superheroes keep themselves busy with small time crooks.
** Gotham also contains DecadeDissonance within ''itself'' - there are TV studios, computers and modern guns (right alongside Tommy Guns, mind), but everyone drives 1930s cars and TV shows from maybe 10-15 years ago are in black and white.