History Main / TransparentTech

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[[AC:Films - Live-Action]]

[[quoteright:350:[[Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/iron_man_movie_prologue_hologram_2.jpg]]]] [[caption-width-right:350:When Tony Stark reads TV Tropes.]]

* ''{{WebAnimation/RWBY}}'': Everyone has collapsible, smartphone-like devices called "scrolls" which have transparent screens. In addition to typical smartphone functions, during combat scrolls also display the strength of the user's aura, as well as those of their teammates. They can be used to call one's weapon locker, and on one occasion are even seen serving as game controllers.

* This was a fad in the '90s. No matter what it was, from telephones to toothbrushes to portable game systems, you could find a version made out of translucent fluorescent plastic.

* ''Franchise/MassEffect'': One of the class abilities is Tech Armor, which manifests as holographic armor plates on the user's body to increase defense. Notable as an example of Transparent Tech that isn't some kind of display screen.

* ''Series/AlteredCarbon'': The series uses transparent screens to show that it takes place in 2019, two years after its release.

From a cinematography standpoint, Transparent Tech is great because you can [[ViewerFriendlyInterface more easily show what the person sees on the screen and their reaction to it simultaneously]], and because, well, [[RuleOfCool it looks cool]]. However, in real life they can be impractical due to insufficient contrast between the display and what's behind it. Also, it may not be desirable for people on the other side of the screen to be able to see what's being displayed.

To put the work a little further into the future, writers may use the HolographicTerminal or ForceFieldDoor subtropes. Overlaps with UnusualUserInterface. Compare EverythingIsAnIpodInTheFuture, where the future setting is communicated through making things look like they were designed by Apple. More likely to be found on the shiny end of the SlidingScaleOfShinyVersusGritty (though they can exist in gritty settings), and where the AsceticAesthetic is present. Almost always a display of some kind, but anything where its transparency demonstrates that it's higher tech than what was available in the real world at the time would count.

* ''Series/TheExpanse'': People have transparent mobile devices. [[https://www.forbes.com/sites/kevinmurnane/2017/03/08/science-and-tech-in-syfys-the-expanse-it-may-look-like-a-cell-phone-but-its-a-hand-terminal/?sh=692cf142752d The show runners refer to them as "hand terminals,"]] in that rather than being powerful mobile computers themselves, they are relatively dumb interfaces to more powerful devices nearby.

* ''Series/OddSquad'': Played with. It's not entirely clear whether the show takes place in the future or not, with the ''Literature/OddSquadAgentsHandbook'' only suggesting it takes place sometime in the 2010s. However, the titular organization is very futuristic when it comes to its headquarters' designs as well as its gadgetry, some of which surpasses the inventions of RealLife, with Orpita claiming it is "at the leading edge of technology" in "Welcome to Odd Squad". The episode "Happily Ever Odd" in particular has Otis attempting to activate his smartwatch for help solving an equation, only for Oona to stop him by telling him that she doesn't want any of "that old-fashioned stuff in here" and project a transparent computer screen by shooting a beam into the air. Once the equation is solved, she blows on the screen, causing it to disappear.

* This was a fad in the 90s. No matter what it was, from telephones to tooth brushes to portable game systems, you could find a version made out of translucent fluorescent plastic.

From a cinematography standpoint, Transparent Tech is great because you can [[ViewerFriendlyInterface more easily show what the person sees on the screen and their reaction to it simultaneously]], and because, well, [[RuleOfCool it looks cool]]. However, in real life they can be impractical due of insufficient contrast between the display and what's behind it. Also, it may not be desirable for people on the other side of the screen to be able to see what's being displayed.

* ''Webcomic/{{Widdershins}}'': When Alexa exploits a PlaceBeyondTime to send a video message to her 2013-era phone from 2032, her [[https://www.widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/april-28th-2017 new phone]] is a piece of folding glass, matching what's seen of that era's aesthetic.

From a cinematography standpoint, Transparent Tech is great because you can more easily show what the person sees on the screen and their reaction to it simultaneously, and because, well, [[RuleOfCool it looks cool]]. However, in real life they can be impractical due of insufficient contrast between the display and what's behind it. Also, it may not be desirable for people on the other side of the screen to be able to see what's being displayed.

To put the work a little further into the future, writers may use the HolographicTerminal or ForceFieldDoor subtropes. Overlaps with UnusualUserInterface. Compare EverythingIsAnIPodInTheFuture, where the future setting is communicated through making things look like they were designed by Apple. More likely to be found on the shiny end of the SlidingScaleOfShinyVersusGritty (though they can exist in gritty settings), and where the AsceticAesthetic is present. Almost always a display of some kind, but anything where its transparency demonstrates that it's higher tech than what was available in the real world at the time would count.