History Main / DecadeDissonance

* This is very much present in RealLife. In many developing countries, farming is still done with bulls, and muscle-powered rickshaws are still very much in use. Millions still die from diseases whose vaccines were invented decades ago; there are millions in the corners of Africa and Asia who are still not connected with the electrical grid; there are tribes in dank jungles of the Amazon, Indonesia and Andaman Islands who still live as hunter gatherers.

* The ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' series suffers from this. In ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure2'' the main city is clearly based on San Francisco with modern buildings and ordinary vehicles. Meanwhile in ''VideoGame/SonicHeroes'' and ''VideoGame/SonicRiders'' there are extremely futuristic locales with flying cars, anti-gravity transporters, and buildings that'd look at home on [[Franchise/StarWars Coruscant]]. And there's even tribal villages too. Whether the series is supposed to be set in the twentieth, twenty-first, or twenty-second century is a matter for debate, given that building a city-sized space station wasn't an obstacle 50 years before the series' present. ''VideoGame/SonicForces'' has this trope within the same game: You have the location simply known as "City," which looks like a traditional Latin American town from the early 20th century, and then you have the bright, shiny CrystalSpiresAndTogas looking Metropolis.

* ''[[VideoGame/FinalFantasyX FFX]]'' has an example fitting the page quote: You have one group of people, the Al Bhed, who take pride in salvaging and making use of the local LostTechnology, while the rest of the world lives in small villages who actively shun such technology. Of course, this one's justified - the Al Bhed are the only ones who don't worship Yevon, and the Yevonite religion condemns technology [[spoiler:because Yu Yevon, the extremely angry entity who runs it, saw his country destroyed by it]]. After Yevon is dealt with, the sequel shows technology becoming increasingly wider-spread.
** Yu Yevon doesn't run anything, moreover Zanarkand - his home - was extremely technologically advanced except in it's military, where it relied more on summoners.
** The idea behind the condemnation of technology comes from the fact that Sin would destroy all major cities and the superstition of Sin being punishment for technological hubris came from there. Note that this doesn't stop the Yevon religion itself from hoarding technology, including rifles and giant killbots of doom.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'' has Esthar. The rest of the world is slightly behind the real world in most respects, with cars, machinery and television, but Esthar (besides ''looking'' very futuristic is much more technologically advanced, with floating public transit, advanced spaceflight, and the ability to cloak the whole city from the rest of the world... which helps explain why this technology never spread.

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' has the {{Cyberpunk}} dystopia of Midgar brimming with neon signs and robots, bordered by Kalm, which looks exactly like a stereotypical JRPG town down to having a city wall and pretty wattle-and-daub buildings. In the Nibelheim of Cloud's childhood there's only a single truck in the whole town and people still draw their water from a communal well. However, everyone has access to the same level of technology - it's just unevenly distributed.

* ''VideoGame/{{WolfensteinTheNewOrder}}'' takes place in an alternate universe where the Nazis discovered a cache of precursor technology and used it to conquer the world. Problem is, instead of bribing the people they conquer with bread and circuses made from their reverse-engineered toys, they continue to use fear and genocide to keep the masses cheering for them. End result? The Nazis are using 24th century technology but the people on the streets are stuck ''using 1950's technology in 1961''. They're pissed off.

** Drakov's stagnation is actually justified by Drakov's immense arrogance and psychosis; convinced that magic and guns are "coward's weapons", he stubbornly refuses to adopt them and instead insists on doing things the way he always has. No, it's not sane, but then, [[CaptainObvious sane people don't impale people each night as dinner entertainment]]. Drakov's lack of sanity should never be in doubt.

* 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.]]

* ''VideoGame/{{ELEX}}'' takes place on a world similar to present day Earth called Magalan. However, a asteroid struck the planet and caused the old nations to collapse. Said asteroid brought with it the element Elex which can be used to power advanced technology or give people special, magical powers when consumed. The part of the world you explore is divided between four factions and they all have a very different aesthetic and tech-level. The Albs and Clerics of Calaan are both high-tech factions with troops equipped with PoweredArmor and wielding[[PlasmaCannon plasma weapons]] and have mechs in their armies. The Outlaws are a ''Film/MadMax'' inspired faction and have modern day weapons and equipment. Then you have the Berserkers who are a group of warriors who have renounced modern technology, embraced a medieval life-style and purify Elex into Mana to wield magic and restore life to nature on one side.

* In ''Anime/YuGiOh5Ds'', Neo Domino City is technological city where the rich and power reside, it is connected to Satellite a derelict city where Neo Domino throws its trash.

* Used deliberately in ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption'', which is set in TheWildWest - in TheEdwardianEra. The final taming of the West and the death of the culture it supported are the game's primary theme.

* This can be said of China in comparison to the rest of the world especially after the fall of the Roman Empire. Until the Industrial Revolution, China boasted the world's largest cities, largest population, largest global GDP and the only blue-water navy in the world. Even during the Industrial Revolution, the Chinese economy remained viable, until a combination of natural & man-made catastrophes destroyed much of China's economy.

* ''Series/BuckRogersInTheTwentyFifthCentury'' 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.

* ''VideoGame/SuperMarioOdyssey'' has the Cascade Kingdom ([[{{Prehistoria}} a Stone Age chop-suey]]) existing on the same planet as the Sand Kingdom (roughly 19th-century Mexico), the Metro Kingdom (21st-century contemporary), the Wooded Kingdom (sometime in the distant future), several kingdoms which could be anywhere from medieval to modern, and, of course, the Mushroom Kingdom, which is as prone to SchizoTech as ever.

* ''Fanfic/TheConversionBureau'' gives Equestria 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.

* Russia, for that matter. Just compare Moscow and St. Petersberg to the hunters of the Far North - or sometimes even to plain Russian villages devoid of sanitation.

** And then Mario travels around the world in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioOdyssey'', where different countries have vastly different technological levels. [[BigApplesauce New Donk City]] in the Metro Kingdom has modern highrise skyscrapers and Steam Gardens in the Wooded Kingdom has extremely advanced robots, but then you have Lake Lamode in the Lake Kingdom in which the inhabitants live around the ruins of a presumably earlier society and have only adapted minimally and Shiveria in the Snow Kingdom whose town infrastructure is mostly made of wood and they live by candlelight. That being said, it may be closer to an AnachronismStew, as an inhabitant of the traditional-looking town of [[SouthOfTheBorder Tostarena]] talks to Mario about NFC technology, Shiveria's famous Bound Bowl Grand Prix is broadcast within the town on a humongous flat-screen TV, and space travel is so common that it's considered trivial all around the world.

* The ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' series suffers from this. In ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure2'' the main city is clearly based on San Francisco with modern buildings and ordinary vehicles. Meanwhile in ''VideoGame/SonicHeroes'' and ''VideoGame/SonicRiders'' there are extremely futuristic locales with flying cars, anti-gravity transporters, and buildings that'd look at home on [[Franchise/StarWars Coruscant]]. And there's even tribal villages too. Whether the series is supposed to be set in the twentieth, twenty-first, or twenty-second century is a matter for debate, given that building a city-sized space station wasn't an obstacle 50 years before the series' present.

* This is very much present in RealLife. In many developing countries, farming is still done with bulls, and muscle-powered rickshaws are still very much in use. Millions still die from diseases whose vaccines were invented a decades ago; there are millions in the corners of Africa and Asia who are still not connected with the electrical grid; there are tribes in dank jungles of the Amazon, Indonesia and Andaman Islands who still live as hunter gatherers.

* Any fanfic which puts [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic Equestria]] in the modern era of the human world (such as ''Fanfic/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.

See also: CrystalSpiresAndTogas, AdvancedAncientAcropolis and LuddWasRight. Compare LowCultureHighTech, where a backwards culture uses technology it doesn't understand.

** One group of Andaman natives, the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sentinelese_people Sentinelese]], actively ''refuse'' any contact with the outside world, even resorting to violence sometimes. Nowadays Indian authorities just leave them alone and look around so that everyone else does the same. That's actually putting it pretty mildly; they attack anyone nearing their island, even helicopters, on sight except for one incident where the visitors threw them some fish.