History Main / NeonCity

* '''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 characterize 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.
* '''Advanced:''' Filling a city with brightly colored 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.
* '''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 colors of the TheEighties and the [[Main/NewWaveMusic New Wave era]]. If all the neon is golden-orange (the color made by real, original neon), it can help set the work in the era before other colors became commonplace.

* '''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.
* '''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.
* '''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.

** Levincia in ''VideoGame/PokemonScarletAndViolet is one of these'', and fittingly enough, it's where the Electric Gym is located.

* The opening sequence of ''Film/TheHowling'' 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.

* You'll be hard pressed to find a ''VideoGame/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.

* ''VideoGame.RedAlert3'': Imperial cities tend towards lots of neon signs and Japanese billboards due to their advanced technology.

--> When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light\\
That split the night\\

And the people bowed and prayed\\
To the neon god they made

* Music/DannyElfman's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kb7OUCTu-g "Cool City"]] from his 1984 ''So-Lo'' album never explicitly mentions neon, but definitely has the hedonism and hypercapitalism down:

Johnny came two-thousand miles to Cool City\\

'Cause life is so delicious here in Cool City...\\
...\\
If you're high, you're in the right place, Cool City\\

Someone's going to try and tempt you, oh-oh-oh-oh-oh!

* Music/DannyElfman's "Cool City" from his 1984 ''So-Lo'' album never explicitly mentions neon, but definitely has the hedonism and hypercapitalism down:

* 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 Octoling's 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.

* Inkopolis from ''VideoGame/{{Splatoon}}'' (including Inkopolis Square from ''VideoGame/Splatoon2'') is one of these, in keeping with the series' emphasis on and the Inklings' and Octoling's 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.