Anachronism Stew: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

Strictly historically accurate writing, set and costume design, and dialogue is often counter-productive. Few audience members will have the historical knowledge to appreciate the differences between distant eras, and they often have [[Reality Is Unrealistic|muddled expectations]] of what they would be like. And in any case, for some eras genuine examples of or guides towards clothes, artifacts or items that they would have used in the time in question may be in short supply or sketchy at best, forcing props and costume designers to speculate or do the best with what they have. Thus, it is sometimes more effective to imply a general sense of 'the past' drawn in broad strokes rather than bog the story down with exposition and [[Shown Their Work|pedantry]]. More often, writers and producers are [[They Just Didn't Care|too lazy]] or have [[Did Not Do the Research|too little time to get the facts correct]], or they may actually believe they have the facts correct [[Dan Browned|when they don't]].

Note that this is [[Older Than They Think|not a strictly modern trope]]. Medieval artists, for example, routinely dressed Biblical figures in contemporary fashions, and the Greek myth of Theseus features similar confusion.

 

 

 

{{examples}}

* ''[[Samurai Champloo]]'' opens the series with a title card declaring that it is not a historical document. It then gleefully throws everything it can get its hands on (from hip-hop to baseball) into the Edo period of Japan. Doubly amusing because baseball is a ''hugely'' popular sport in modern Japan.

** One of the first villains seen in the show is a guy with dyed blond hair, several facial piercings, wearing a tracksuit. It goes down/uphill from there.

* ''[[Slayers]]'' has most of this in the form of the outfits some of the cast winds up wearing, mostly in the gag episodes. The most noteworthy example is in episode 16 of the second season, which involves the cast getting involved in a game similar to tennis; several wind up wearing sportswear that sticks out from the [[Medieval European Fantasy]] outfits like a sore thumb.

** There's also a vehicle that operates like a more modern train in the third season, but it looks like a giant...thing made of stone, so it might not count.

* Soul Society in ''[[Bleach]]'' appears to resemble Edo-period Japan in clothing and architecture. But the Shinigami use cell-phone like devices, have a highly advanced research division (complete with [[Mad Scientist]]), and several characters sport sunglasses or other modern attire.

*** An omake in the volume the chapter appears in has the author telling the character (Shinji) that, naturally, jazz didn't really exist at that time period in the real world, cue the comical bafflement of the jazz-loving character who must be wondering what on earth he's listening to if it doesn't exist. Of course, at that time period, modern jazz may not have existed, but its very early genesis was already beginning to flourish so... it kinda did exist, after all.

** General Cross dual-wields modern handguns that shoot magical homing bullets.

** And where exactly did Komui get his hands on modern clothes while everyone else wears 19th century clothing?

*** This is actually pretty much commonplace for the entire tech division. One can only wonder why a 19th century religious organization working under the Vatican would have a tech division in the first place...

** Also, Austria is wearing decidedly modern style glasses in the mid-18th century.

** [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] at one point when America is using a Modern Era computer during [[World War II]]. England tells him to stop showing off.

** Anime only: the holy roman empire gets woken up be an alarm clock in the 16th century.

* ''[[Samurai Gun]]''. Rebel samurai armed with automatic pistols fighting government forces armed with [[Steampunk]] devices and the inevitable [[Gatling Good|Gatling guns]].

** And there are cell phones used by people who look like they're in the mafia.

** And [[Video Game|video games]] existed.

* [[Osamu Tezuka]] loved to throw in gross anachronisms into his historical works. The first volume of ''[[Phoenix]]'', for instance, has an ancient Japanese general leave to read a [[James Bond]] novel (which may be a [[Woolseyism]] on the part of the translator), and things like televisions and refrigerators are worked into other volumes of the series via [[Bamboo Technology]].

** A phone conversation occurs in one volume set in Feudal Japan without even ''that'' [[Hand Wave]]. (It's worth noting that ''Phoenix'' works regardless, because [[Rule of Cool]], [[Rule of Funny]] and [[Rule of Drama]] are all somehow in effect.)

** [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] in ''[[Dororo]]''. The titular thief compares himself to Nezumi Kozō (a folk hero along the line of Robin Hood), then points out that Nezumi Kozō hasn't even been born yet. This is in addition to numerous straight usages.

* ''[[Samurai Pizza Cats]]'' cheerfully mixes modern technology & culture, along with futuristic [[Funny Animal]] cyborg things & [[Humongous Mecha]] into an Edo-period setting.

* ''[[Kurogane]]'' has what basically amounts to a steampunk cyborg for a protagonist. It's a [[Jidai Geki]].

* This appears to be deliberate in ''[[Princess Mononoke]]'': It's obviously set at a very early period in Japanese history, when the Yamato people are still displacing the Emishi/Ainu, but they have European-style arquebuses, which were not introduced until the 16th century.

* ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'' is essentially set in a [[Fantasy Counterpart Culture]] version of the early 20th century. Everyone wears modern clothing, though occasionally you'll see characters wearing time appropriate clothing (especially if they're older). Certain places are less technologically advanced than our early 20th century, but they are also more advanced than our counterpart years; for one they have "automail", which is even more advanced than our current mechanical prosthetics.

* ''[[Naruto]]'' is a weird example. They have legitimate ninjas and and have a society that's very reminiscent of older times in Japan, but they have more modern things like modern chain-link fences, sunglasses, the characters tend to wear more modern clothing, and at one point some characters use a VCR. They also seem to have much more modern-ish hospitals.

** Lampshaded in [[Naruto the Abridged Series|the abridged series]] when Naruto questions what time period they're in.

 

== Art ==

** Historians can and do judge when forks reached different parts of Europe by looking for them in paintings of the Last Supper. Judging military equipment is a little trickier, as you can never quite predict when someone's depicting the cutting edge and when he's depicting a suitably "old-fashioned" type of armor, but that tends to be well-attested elsewhere.

* [http://www.snopes.com/photos/architecture/salamanca.asp This astronaut on a cathedral built in 1102 is another example.]

 

== Comic Books ==

* The eponymous character of ''[[Leonard Le Genie]]'' is an inventor living in the 14th century. However, he has electricity, modern tools and a [[Cool Car]] available, and his inventions include computers and robots, among others. Somewhat justified by him being a genius inventor, but still...

** [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] at least once; Leonard invents a photo camera and, on having put the film in an envelope, realizes there's nowhere to mail it to. "Do I have to invent everything myself?"

* ''[[Asterix]]'' is a mixture of this and [[Purely Aesthetic Era]]. The albums set abroad in particular include lots of elements which the countries in question are famous for ''now'' ([[Bull Seeing Red|bullfighting]] and flamenco dancing in Hispania, [[Swiss Bank Account|anonymous bank vaults]] and fondue in Helvetia, [[Rugby Is Slaughter|rugby]] and [[Spot of Tea|afternoon tea]] in Britannia, etc.) Likewise the regional specialities from different parts of Gaul in ''Asterix and the Banquet'' are all based on modern French cusine.

** Delirium is this on legs. She turns up in Ancient Greece wearing a fishnet vest and miniskirt.

* The newspaper comic strip ''[[BC]]'' had lots of these. Despite supposedly taking place, um, in the years B.C. (specifically, in prehistoric times), there were often references to modern times, especially as the strip went on; at least one strip had a character refer to the United States. It turns out that {{spoiler|the series actually takes place [[After the End]], with mankind reduced to the same level of technology as was had in prehistoric times...}}

** Plus, especially in later years when Johnny Hart became more religious, ''they celebrated Christmas'' and made other Christian references. Which is kind of the definition of anachronistic in a strip named ''B.C.''

 

** Not that [[Fan Fiction]] set in the "modern" time period is any better. While granted it is easy to miss, a lot of writers forget that the series is set between 1991 and 1998, and a lot of the things they have the characters reference or possess shouldn't even exist yet.

** And let's not even get ''started'' on ''[[My Immortal]]'', much of which supposedly takes place in the 1990s. There is literally no noticeable difference between the "past" and "present" portions of the story, especially not where music history is concerned.

*** There was one in which Ravenclaw went into exile in America, which (unless she was a Viking, possibly) would have been impossible even if you discount that she apparently got there ''[[You Fail Geography Forever|on the train]]''.

*** And one where the founder era has showers, paper, tea and coffee, meetings at 15:25, springy metal net beds invented in the 1940s. The usual stuff. What's more, Hufflepuff is supposed to have been born and raised in a Finnish manor house. Tasty, as the area was then still in Iron Age, and entered history in the 1300s.

 

== Films using Rule of Funny ==

** ''[[Blazing Saddles]]'' is an even better example, as there are anachronisms in nearly ''every single scene'' (which is even more odd considering the period-appropriate racism was the basis of the [[Plot]]), and the [[Film]] ends with the characters in a modern theatre ''[[No Fourth Wall|watching the end of the film]]''.

* ''[[Muppet Treasure Island]]'' has a bit of this - most of it with the rat tourists on Rizzo's cruise, but Piggy claims she got her necklace from "the shopping channel". Later, after revealing to Long John Silver where the treasure is to save Kermit, Piggy charges $300 (bucks, not English pounds) for the tip-off.

** The sudden presence of a floor buffer was particularly confusing. But then, it was so very [[Disney]].

** In the category of "particularly confusing," the people in the diner singing "Happy happy birthday" to Yzma. And the existence of the diner itself...

* John Madden's ''[[Shakespeare in Love]]'', which sports 16th century theatre production riddled with movie-producing Hollywood stereotypes.

* Stephan Elliott's adaptation of ''Easy Virtue'' is set in the 1930s and includes songs such as "Sex Bomb" and "When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going".

** In regards to cartoon characters that debuted after 1947 appearing in the film, the filmmakers [[Hand Wave]] it as them "not having made it in films yet".

* [[Woody Allen]], who has stated his appreciation of Hope, played some period roles the same way, as in ''Love And Death'', and the segment of ''Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sex'', where his medieval court jester is trying to seduce the queen - he quips "I must hurry because soon it will be the Renaissance, and before you know it we'll all be painting!"

** Machine guns [[Older Than They Think|did exist back then]]. They were brand new tech, gigantic, and had to be moved around on carts because of their weight, but they did exist.

* ''[[Kung Pow]]: Enter the Fist'' does this intentionally and constantly, such as Betty using a cigarette lighter, or a medieval Chinese town having a Hooters, a Taco Bell, a Radio Shack, and a place that sells <s> [[No Indoor Voice|A LOTTA]] </s> nuts, and also apparently french fries. It is one of the saner things in a film that delights in taking [[Refuge in Audacity]] though, so they are often barely noticeable.

* At the end of ''[[A Christmas Carol|Scrooge]]'', during the reprise of "Thank You Very Much", Scrooge dons a red Santa Claus suit. This version of Father Christmas/Santa is American and didn't appear in Britain until much later (this version of the story is set in 1860, according to the Ghost of Christmas Present)

*** Also, ''poledancing'' during the "Topsy-Turvy" number.

** There's also the Sphinx being chiselled out of stone. Estimates of its age cover a huge range, but it's definitely much older than Islam.

** The Genie's gags are 90% anachronistic in all the movies as well as the [[Animated Series]]. But it can be [[Hand Wave|handwaved]] by "near omnipotency". [[Word of God]] (in the DVD commentary) is that the Genie can and ''has'' time-travelled.

** The female Genie in the series, on being let out of her lamp, asks if she's missed the Gold Rush (which happened in 1849). Apparently she's seen the far future too.

* ''[[The Land Before Time]]'' stars an Apatosaurus and a Stegosaurus, both of which existed in the Jurassic period, alongside a Triceratops, a Pteranodon, a Parasaurolophus, and with a Tyrannosaurus as a villain, all of which existed [[Somewhere a Palaeontologist Is Crying|many MILLIONS of years later]] in the Cretaceous period.

** Not to mention they meet a ''Dimetrodon'' from the Permian (The period BEFORE the dinosaur age) halfway through the movie.

** Actually, they do show Mulan in her underwear at one point: About halfway through the song "Honor To Us All", Mulan can be seen wearing a white dress underneath her iconic pink one, which can be seen completely (although she was sitting) when she is having her hair done. What appears to be her pajamas at the very beginning of the film may also serve as her undergarments as well.

* [[I Can Do Bad All By Myself]]: When Madea is trying to explain the account of Peter walking on the water, somehow Moses, Eve, Sigmund and Freud, and even Jonah end up in the mix. Yeah they all were in the New Testament apparently.

* Becomes extremely evident in [[Pixar]]'s ''[[Cars|Cars 2]]'' where all of the famous world landmarks are given car motifs to fit the fact that everyone in the ''Cars'' universe is a talking vehicle. The problem is, however, that most of these landmarks are actually more than a century old, long before ''any'' cars were even invented!

** Adding to this is that whenever either the ''Cars'' versions of the Earth and Moon are seen from space, parts of the Earth's continents resemble either small cars or car parts, while the maria on the Moon resemble the grille of a car.

* ''[[Plunkett and Macleane]]'' has two characters who are the embodiment of this trope, Dixon and Winterburn, despite being aristocrats from ~1750 are very fond of phrases such as "geezer" and "nicely" said in the fashion of parodies of 1980-90 northerners for laughs. This is semi-lampshaded by Rochester (who is much more of the era in tone, although not in behaviour!) when he describes them as eccentric and "dear". The fact that by the time the movie was made the terms and phrases used by Dixon and Winterburn are themselves anachronistic, must surely score extra points.

** The presence of Aztec generals is a major case of [[Newer Than They Think]], too. The Aztec empire was created in the fourteenth century, and the ethnic group first came into the area around 6th century AD at the earliest.

** Its worth noting that the appearance of the Pizza Planet truck is a recurring in-joke in Pixar films, arguably justifying this presence. It's supposed to be hidden in the Witch's hut somewhere.

** Also worth noting is that the exact time period was made intentionally unclear (between the 8th and 12th centuries). And they also have corsets, which weren't invented until centuries later.

* Whilst it wasn't using [[Rule of Funny]], the British film ''Caravaggio'', notable for an early appearance (and, in some ways, the [[Breakout Role]]) of [[Sean Bean]], is a deliberate anachronism stew, in homage to the [[Real Life]] Caravaggio's paintings, which depicted Biblical scenes in contemporary dress.

 

== Films with no good excuse ==

* ''[[The Brothers Bloom]]'' features costumes and props ranging from the 1930's to modern times, giving the world a charmingly timeless look and feel. People dress like it's the 1930's, dance like it's the 60's, but then use cell-phones and perform gangster rap.

* ''[[Schindler's List]]'', a film about the Holocaust, features the famous "Jerusalem of Gold" by Naomi Shemer...Which wasn't written until the 60s in modern Israel.

** Also, England is apparently ruled by [[The Empire]], based in Rome and run by ''the Church.''

** Meanwhile, Tristan's carrying a Chinese dao(maybe it was meant to be a falchion?) but wields it kenjutsu-style.

** The same could be said for the costumes worn for the 1940 adaptation of ''[[Pride and Prejudice]]''. Check out the inch-long false eyelashes on Elizabeth!

** Some of the anachronisms are justified by the fact that the movie is based on an idea that some [[Atlantis]]-styled civilization invented various technologies that were then forgotten because of the events of the movie, but all animal-related anachronisms still stand firm.

** It was a homage to ''[[One Million BC|1,000,000 BC]]'', also anachronism stew.

** This is actually just one of the things they ripped off from ''[[Robin of Sherwood]]'' and bastardized. In ''Robin of Sherwood'', the "barbaric" Celts are Welsh tribesmen (and aren't referred to as Celts). But that's Hollywood (see [[Britain Is Only London]]).

** It also had an anachronistically advanced and accurate clock, and obviously medical care even better than the present day, to judge by the ultra-quick recovery from a Caesarian childbirth.

* ''[[Rent]]'': the film adaptation is based in the late 80s/early 90s when AIDS was much closer to home for the types of people featured (not that it's anything to sneeze at today). However, Benny must have been some kind of prophet to conceive of a cyber studio when the Internet wasn't mainstream yet, and the references to ''[[Thelma and Louise]]'', the Oklahoma City bombing, and the gentrification of the East Village are anachronisms.

** Considering the original stage play was also conceived and written before the Internet became mainstream, the cyber studio was likely an oblique reference to how [[Rule of Cool|awesome]] Benny is.

* ''The Other Side Of Midnight'', which is set in the time frame just before [[World War II]], has a scene where Catherine is taking a taxi from Union Station in [[Washington DC]]. She mentions in conversation with the cabbie that if the taxi meter goes over a dollar she's in trouble. But no cab in Washington DC would have had a meter at the time; the city cabs worked exclusively on a zone-fare system.

* ''The Cider House Rules'' is surprisingly careful, taking advantage of the fact that the drive-in theater was invented in the 1930's and thus, around in the 1940's. It never explicitly states that drive-in has become a huge phenomenon, which ''would'' be anachronistic as that did not happen until the 1950s. However, its depiction of widespread favorable attitudes about abortion and choice of haircuts and characterizations of female protagonists bears a strong 1970s air to it that seems out of place for 1940s Maine. Supposedly justified in that it was part of [[Author Tract|Lasse Hallström and John Irving's visions]].

* In [[Whoopi Goldberg]]'s movie ''A Knight in Camelot'' the main character gets sent back in time to the Middle Ages. Ok. She takes her boom box and laptop with her. She then [[The Web Always Existed|checks the internet]] for information on how to build an electrical generator using a waterwheel...

* ''Lymelife'' is set in 1979, yet contains a reference to ''[[The Empire Strikes Back]]'', released in 1980, and the Falklands War, from 1982.

** The main character in the final battle using a war hammer about 100 years before it was invented or even needed. The war hammer was invented to deal with plate armour, especially full plate armour, that became prevalent in Europe after the invention of the firearm, seeing as it was the only form of amour that offered a modicum of protection against them. The anachronistic war hammer even appeared on several posters, that featured still from the final battle.

** {{spoiler|Sir Walter Locksley}} is given a funeral pyre by the peasants, even though in the UK you couldn't legally dispose of your dead by burning them until Welsh physician William Price successfully challenged corpse disposal laws after being arrested for trying to burn his deceased infant son; thus, until the late 19th century you rarely, if ever, saw a dead Brit on fire (the most notable being Percy Shelley, whose ashes were buried with his heart, which was quickly salvaged from his funeral pyre, after his decomposing remains were recovered on the shore of Italy by close friends).

* ''[[The Scorpion King]]''. It supposedly takes place "before the pyramids", but, yeah. For example, a merchant in Gomorrah sells "swords made by the monks in Pompeii". And then we have the gunpowder...

* ''[[Pirates of the Caribbean]]'' was full of them. Supposedly set around 1660-68, it features:

** Weapons and uniforms that wouldn't come into use until around the American War of Independence (the British Royal Navy didn't have proper uniforms at all until 1748).

** One of the few 'real' people we meet appears to be King George II (allegedly...), putting the timeframe between 1727 and 1760 (so bringing a few artefacts into relevance, but not many, as well as anachron-ising many others. Also makes the economic/political conditions of the Golden Age of Piracy totally out of date.

** Captain Edmund 'Blackbeard' Teach- c.1680-1718 is also present, though his given date of death is conveniently easy to Handwave....

** It should be noted that the kind of people that are commonly described as "hippies" (meaning, young people who reject contemporary values and lifestyles) [[Older Than They Think|have existed in practically every era]], going back at least to the first few centuries before Christ. The fact that it was not "cool" to be a hippie until about 1967 should not rule out the existence of hippies before then. That said, a particular ''[[New Age Retro Hippie|kind]]'' of hippie can be anachronistic.

** Actually he's more of a [[Cloudcuckoolander]] than anything. I think fighting in a war and enjoying it goes against the [[Buffy-Speak|tenants of hippie-dom.]]

* ''[[Braveheart]]'' depicts the medieval Scots as wearing both blue woad face paint (which was characteristic of the ancient Picts and is seen in general use no later than the Roman occupation) and kilts (which [[Newer Than They Think|didn't come into fashion in Scotland until the 1500's]]).

* Many films of ''[[A Christmas Carol]]'' inaccurately depict period clothing during Scrooge's childhood flashbacks, which would logically be set in the late 18th century, but the people are dressed 1840's style. Also, there's a jarring revealing mistake in ''Scrooge'', where a car can be seen driving by in the background during young Scrooge and Isabel's romance sequence.

* ''[[The Hairy Bird]]'': The cherry-picker truck used by the Flat Critters to get to Tinka's window was a Ford C-Series cab-over. While this truck was manufactured between 1957 and 1990, the cowl insignia combined with reflectors indicates this is a model made after 1968, five years after the movie takes place.

* The ''[[Clash of the Titans]]'' remake from 2010 features the Greek gods wearing medieval European suits of armor. Curiously, the goddesses are wearing classic Grecian attire. Also, Zeus' totem is a bald eagle- which lives in North America and thus was unknown in Ancient Greece. Wonder how many subjects were failed.

** Justified both in the movie's own logic (the man owning the coelacanths is a millionaire with access to technology far superior to anything seen in the 1910's and in some ways even superior to modern technology and a team of treasure hunters/explorers who are hired for the purpose of finding artifacts not thought to still exist) and thematically (at the time the continued existence of coelacanths was thought as fictional as Atlantis itself).

** Guns from the late 1930s in the mid 1930s, and guns from the 1940s throughout the 1930s.

** ''Many'' vehicles out of place in time. Planes, automobiles, boats/ships, a train, and a motorcycle.

** Indy is shown to have been a Life Scout before he could possibly have been one.

* ''[[Sucker Punch]]'' appears to take place in the 20s or 30s but all the music in the brothel is modern. And that's ignoring the fantasy adventure sequences that have [[Steampunk]] Germans mixing it up with [[Humongous Mecha]], or medieval orcs fighting a helicopter. The ending justifies many of these strange anachronisms, though.

* ''Deuces Wild'' has a violent gang rumble in a park set to heavy metal music. We hear the rock music on the soundtrack rather than within the movie's universe, but it's still jarring to hear guitars that loud and growly in a film set in 1958.

* ''Moneyball'' has several. The movie (based on a true story) is set in 2001 and 2002. One of the characters sings a song that wasn't released until 2008. Another character wears Nike+ (Nike Plus) shoes, which also weren't out yet. Some of the team logos and a stadium name are also out of place.

* [[The Asylum]] film ''Halloween Night'' is set 1992. Absolutely no attempt is made to make it look like it is.

** Not surprising, given that it's [[The Asylum]]. They make absolutely no attempt to make anything look like anything.

* ''[[Chicago]]'' (2002):

* The direct-to-video animated film ''Easter Egg Adventure'' appears to take place in the 1800s or so (there are many scenes depicting characters riding in carriages pulled by horses, and there are many places that look old-fashioned), but yet there are boomboxes and rap music.

 

** Arthur (if he existed) was most likely a late-Roman era Celt or Roman Briton.

** The historical [[Merlin]] was a mad 6th century Scottish druid (and [[Merlin]] was also conflated with Ambrosius, a second-century boy prophet).

*** Which makes Gwenhwyfar's portrayal as a fanatically anti-pagan Christian in the [[Feminist Fantasy|feminist retelling of the King Arthur legend]] ''[[The Mists of Avalon]]'' pretty funny.

* The majority of the anachronisms in the Arthurian mythos came from French poets reading the works of Geoffrey, changing society/technology to coincide with medieval French society/technology, along with hammering in tales not even related to either the Welsh legend or Geoffrey's work and epic attempts at forming this mishmash into a coherent story.

** Arthur meets [[Insistent Terminology|Robin Wood]] as a child ([[Blatant Lies|totally different guy]]).

** The narrator tells the readers at the beginning that some of the anachronisms are done [[Translation Convention|just to give them the general feel for what is going on]]. For example, the first chapter tells of Sir Ector and his friend drinking Port. White explains that it's not really Port that they're drinking, but he uses that name because readers would be familiar with it.

* The all-time champion of Arthurian anachronism was Wolfram von Eschenbach, greatest of the medieval German poets. ''Parzival'', his version of the [[MacGuffin|Grail]] Quest, adds sixth century Africans who worship Jupiter and Juno while practicing high medieval courtly love. Furthermore, they're associated with Arab wealth and philosophy, meaning Wolfram understood them as Muslims.

* [[Peter David]]'s ''Knight Life'' series of Arthur in the modern era. Percival, who gained immortality by drinking from the Grail cup while healthy, is portrayed as a Moor.

* Justified and [[Lampshaded]] in ''[[Nightside|A Hard Day's Knight]]'', in which the shiny armor worn by Arthur and his vassals was forged by armorers acting under the explicit instructions of [[Merlin]], who'd peeked into the future to see how later generations of warriors were kitted out. This also explains ''why'' Arthur could kick ass on every other military force in 6th century Britain: his guys were more or less invulnerable to the weapons of his rivals.

 

== Other ==

** Cú Chulainn's 'warped man' status didn't need any help from the berserkir. In the Classical Age, the gestatae of both the old Germanic and Celtic tribes were renowned for freaking right out in battle and thus going OFF.

* Chris Elliot's novel, ''The Shroud of the Thwacker'', set in the 1890s, features [[Steampunk|gas-powered cellphones]], among other things.

* Gene Wolfe's ''New Sun'' series of novels take place a ''looong'' way in the future (the techno-fantasy "post-historical" era where Stone-Age Man, the Modern Era, and the Galaxy-Spanning Imperial Era are all lumped together as the "Age of Myth"). The basic technology and society is late medieval. But at some point time travel had been commonplace, so remnants of all eras of history are common - military energy weapons right along with swords, antigravity craft and ox-drawn wagons, sabretooth tigers and starships, electricians organized like a medieval craft guild, medical men just as likely to use genetic engineering as an herbal infusion, etc. One of the appendices even points out that there are three separate levels of technology: the "smith" level (basically medieval), the "Urth" level (roughly 20th century plus some genetic engineering) and the "stellar" level (highly powerful artifacts that can only be obtained from extraterrestrials.) It's all justified by the fact that [[Scavenger World|the planet has been exhausted of most resources]] and can no longer sustain a technological society or educate most of its inhabitants, but the old knowledge remains in a few places.

** Understandable as the whole thing was pretty much literate propaganda. Also, the Cyclops and things did better in Hellenic Greece when a lot of the Mediterranean was still only vaguely known, as compared to the 'salty lake' of Roman times.

* The ''[[Mistborn]]'' series is built on this. While at first glance it appears to be your standard medieval setting, it turns out there are working pocket watches, gunpowder (though it isn't used), and a knowledge of metallurgy and medicine that rivals our own. Turns out this was intentional: What do you think happens when the world is ruled for a thousand years by an immortal god-emperor who doesn't like change? Said god-emperor, while deliberately stagnating many technological developments, also develops the canning process (metal cans were invented in 1810) and other advancements but keeps them strictly under his own control.

** As well, the knowledge of metallurgy is a [[Justified Trope]] given that the magic used by the world's nobles is run on specifically mixed metals.

* Andrzej Sapkowski (''Witcher'') intentionally includes some elements of that in his medieval-esque settings, like "genocide" when that word wouldn't have existed yet (to make a point that wars don't really change) or various orders reminiscent of those by Nazi generals to derive the war of any mysticism and allegory and show how seemingly senseless cruelty is justified by tactics.

* ''The Pirates! In An Adventure With Scientists'' by Gideon Defoe, is set in the 1800's and yet there are things like tap water onboard a ''pirate ship'', crazy golf, after eight mints, and Coco-Pops. It's not as a jarring as other examples though, as it's [[Rule of Funny|all played for laughs]].

 

 

== Live-Action TV ==

** The Doctor likes to [[Enforced Trope]] this trope himself sometimes, in order to impress people. Why would you have Roman Centurions and Victorian Reptile Women battling [[In Space|space-monks]] armed with lightning swords? Because its [[Rule of Cool|cool.]]

* [[Xena: Warrior Princess]] and [[Hercules: The Legendary Journeys]], in their Universal TV series, live in a world where not only are [[All Myths Are True|all myths and legends true]], but are also all happening within a few seasons of each other. The Argonauts sailed just a few years before Julius Caesar ruled, and Hercules was old friends with [[Dracula|Vlad Tepes]].

** The producers explained early on that they were perfectly aware of this and did it simply to add to the [[Camp]] value, further explaining the one rule they had was that anything BC was fair game, and AD was off limits. They missed the boat on that rule a lot: Boudica's rebellion in England (60AD), and Vlad Tepes/Dracula, who was a ''medieval'' ruler, Genghis Khan and his three sons, and the episodes in the modern world. [[King Arthur]] manages to get around the rule thanks to [[Merlin]] using magical [[Time Travel]].

** Nothing quite compared to the episode where Xena and Gabrielle are joined by a teenage Greek bard named Homer, who proceeds to tell them the story of... Spartacus.

** Almost as bad was the episode featuring Hippocrates and Galen, with Galen being the older of the two. (Galen was born in 129 CE, about 500 years after Hippocrates died.)

* ''[[Highlander the Series]]'', with its historical flashbacks practically every episode, contains too many examples to list.

* ''[[The Tudors]]'' consistently featured women wearing long, billowy sleeves that covered their hands. While this technically was Tudor-era fashion, these sleeves did not come into fashion until Queen Anne Boleyn wore them. Therefore, episodes that take place before Anne ascended the throne are historically questionable.

** Said [[Season Finale]] also features a mention of ''The Prince and the Pauper''. The author wasn't even '''''born''''' until five years after the character mentioning the story died in real life. William Pitt the Younger died in 1806, yet features in the first episode. The Duke of Wellington features - he didn't become Duke until 1814, and only met Nelson in 1805, when he was major-general at the age of 36. The battle of Trafalgar (1805) hasn't happened yet. The battle of Waterloo was ten years after Trafalgar. And the Peninsula war, which was 1808-1814. Wellington didn't become duke until said war was over.

** In-universe examples also turn up, as in series 1's "The Archbishop". Among the relics ostensibly crafted by Jesus during his early life as a carpenter are a cigar stand and a ''crucifix''.

* ''[[The Adventures of Brisco County Jr]]''. The entire series. For a series taking place in 1893 we have such things as rockets and rocket powered rail cars, functional tanks, and in one instance a Zeppelin. This show also provides an interesting explanation for the acronym U.F.O. as an Unearthed Foreign Object.

* The producers of ''[[Hogan's Heroes]]'' blew their entire costume budget on reproduction Nazi uniforms, so minor cast members had to bring their own gear. This means that anyone not a P.O.W. or in Nazi uniform will be dressed in contemporary fashions of the late 1960s and early 1970s.

* ''[[Kings]]'', being a modern retelling of the story of the Biblical David (who is believed to have lived c. 11th century BCE) is already loaded with kinda-sorta anachronisms, but a particularly interesting one takes place in the fifth episode (sixth if you count the two-hour pilot as two eps), ''Judgement Day'', wherein Jack (King Silas's son) makes reference to "cutting babies in half" (i.e. Solomonic wisdom to decide disputes). Solomon was David's ''son''.

* ''[[The New Adventures of Robin Hood]]'' featured all of the historical accuracy of ''[[Hercules: The Legendary Journeys]]'' or ''[[Xena: Warrior Princess]]'' (but without the same quality of acting). A particularly fun gadget is the dart launcher mounted in Robin's bracer.

* ''[[Rome]]'' is generally very, very good in its depiction of Ancient Roman life. However, many of the suits of armor the characters wear would have been bleeding-edge technology in the year the film is set (assuming any examples existed at all).

* ''[[Kamen no Ninja Akakage]]'' is set in Warring States Japan, the main characters use high-tech weaponry like flying machines and guns to fight kaiju.

* Justified in ''[[Stargate SG-1]]''. A lot of the planets that they travel to, especially in the early seasons, are based off Earth civilizations (which, naturally, have not evolved at all in the centuries or sometimes even millennia that have passed, and all of which inexplicably speak English). Some, though, have changed a little bit, so we often see medieval-like cities with spaceships and teleporters. This always makes sense in context, but is still noticeable.

** As Mitchell points out in one episode, referring to an Arthurian stash of gold with a clearly alien device hidden in it: "Which one of these things is not like the others?"

** Possibly the best example is the entire episode ''Camelot'' from the end of the 9th season. Within about 10 minutes we go from Mitchell having a sword fight with a knight in armour to one of the most epic space battles in the entire franchise.

* The episode "Atomic Shakespeare" from ''[[Moonlighting]]'', while set at a semi-Shakespearean, Semi-European time & place, had Bruce Willis as David as Petruchio on a horse with the BMW logos on its saddle blanket. Oh, and it also had Ninjas.

** A black Marine corporal is seen in Washington DC before there were any black Marine corporals.

** Steve Trevor wears military ribbons on his uniform before they've been issued and before he would have had a chance to earn them. Later in the first season, after he would have had time to earn them, he stops wearing them.

** A pinball machine in the officer's club that wasn't produced until the 1970s.

** Pictures of the UH-1 Huey in the officer's club. The Huey began devlopment in 1952, and did not see active service until after the Korean War.

** One examples teeters precariously on the borderline between averting this trope and being another [[Egregious]] example. In one scene, Charles brags to Hawkeye and BJ that he once had dinner with [[Audrey Hepburn]]. Hawkeye and BJ scoff at the idea that such a famous beauty would have anything to do with Charles...untill he shows off a photograph of the two of them teogehter. The problem is that Hepburn didn't become a truly major star untill the release of ''[[Roman Holiday]]'', a film that came out exactly one month after the Korean War ended. However, she did have some measure of fame during the War. She starred in the original Broadway production of ''[[Gigi]]'' from 1951-52. So it's at least possible that Hawkeye and BJ had heard of her druing the War, but given where they're from (Hawkeye's from Crabapple Cove, Maine, while BJ's from Mill Valley, California) it's extremely unlikely.

*** Within that same scene, Charles states he's never seen any of her movies. She had been in some movies by that time, but mostly in bit roles...with one big exception, where she had a major supporting role in the 1952 Brittish film, ''The Secret People''. Once again, possilbe but unlikely someone during the war would refer to her movies.

* ''[[Happy Days]]'' ended up like this. The first two seasons tried fairly hard to stay true to the '50s setting, but as the show became more popular, the producers started putting in references to trends of the '70s and '80s, and the actors started letting their hair and clothes look more contemporary.

 

 

== Music ==

* P.D.Q. Bach pretty much ignores the fact that what we think of today as "classical" music actually happened over several centuries and is divided into distinct stylistic periods. Peter Schickele is quite aware of this, but [[Rule of Funny|ignores it]] in favor of [[Affectionate Parody|parodying]] as many different things as possible, and [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshades]] the eclecticism of PDQ's style many times. Then there are the anachronisms which are more obvious to the layperson, such as "Iphigenia in Brooklyn" or the "Bluegrass Cantata" or "Classical Rap" (though Schickele claimed to have altered the original lyrics of that one).

* The video for [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8txk6EhYZKA ''Glukoza's Schweine''] is all over the place. The Pig Army (clearly a nazi parody) is armed with G43's, [[MP 40]]'s, [[MG 34 s]], Zeppelins, Triplanes, Sd.kfz 250's, and Renault FT's. Meanwhile the Rebel Army Leaders use a G36, a Kalashnikov, an RPG-7, 2 MPL's, a Vickers MG, giant War Elephants, and Pterodactyls. The Rebel Army itself is comprised mainly of Samurai with some Ninjas using swords and pistols respectively.

* The Italian progressive rock group Jacula has one weird example - in the mid 1980's they re-released their debut album In Cauda Semper Stat Venenum, supposedly originally released in 1969. The audio production however is very consistent with that of mid 80's Doom metal, and the album also includes the use of samplers (which did exist in the 60's, but their use certainly was not widespread), most notoriously a loop of flowing water that was also used in former band member Doris Norton's 1984 album "Personal Computer".

 

 

== Tabletop Games ==

* ''[[King Arthur]] Pendragon'' takes a mix of all the main Arthurian myths, mostly Malory, and sets it in sub-Roman Britain. The appearance of medieval technology later in Arthur's reign is [[A Wizard Did It|explained by magic]] and it all fades away after the Battle of Camlann with history re-asserting itself.

* Quirkily [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]] by the [[Sourcebook]] ''[[GURPS]] Middle Ages''. Its opening chapter includes a sidebar that actually explains the concept of Anachronism Stew by pointing out all the historical mismatches in its own cover art.

** Also acknowledged in ''[[GURPS]] Camelot'', the Arthurian sourcebook. There are ''three'' Arthurian settings mentioned - the Mythic one (Geoffry of Monmouth style, with plenty of anachronism), a Realistic one (as close as research can get us), and the Cinematic one (based on movies, with chrome armor and French castles and all the other goodies - not so much Anachronism Stew as an Anachronism Smoothie).

* ''Mythic Russia'' has a few that are [[Lampshade Hanging|pointed out]] and [[Justified Trope]] in the book. The Russians drink vodka even though it hadn't yet become popular historically, because "what is a game in Russia without vodka?" The Mongols are Tengrist pagans even though the Golden Horde had converted to Islam by the time it was set, partly because it's easier to handle in the game's [[Religion Is Magic]] system and partly because of plain old [[Rule of Cool]].

** Sea Monsters/Titans

** Cursed pirates

** Submarines (based off [[Jules Verne]])

** Bombardiers (Ships with long-range and ''flame cannons'' attached to their decks)

** Turtle ships (which at least existed around the time)

** "Switchblades" (metal ships with giant pincers attached to the sides)

 

== Theater ==

* Anachronism Stew is common in the works of [[William Shakespeare]], because theatre of that time took a completely different approach to historical drama. Regardless of when or where a play was set, costumes and patterns of speech from the (then) present day were used, and there was never any attempt at historic realism as we understand it today. Some examples:

** Also of note, ''Julius Ceasar'' makes reference to a doublet, a close fitting jacket that wasn't around in Roman times.

*** [[Lampshaded]] by the [[The Jester|Fool]], who speaks a mock prophecy that he claims [[Merlin]] ''will'' make, since "I live before his time."

*** This is the result of massive Latinization or Hellenification of the past names, and obsessive attempts to match pantheons of other countries to the Greco-Roman one in the Middle Ages, result of the ideas of the superiority of the Latin language - scholars even made attempts to change English grammar to match Latin! Of course the same process had been going on even back when the Roman Empire and Greek nations still thrived.

**** There's an essay on ''Hamlet'' that points out that his religion is actually key to interpreting his actions. If he is a Protestant then he believes the virtuous dead go straight to heaven, and therefore his father's ghost must be damned (and, presumably, completely unreliable). If, on the other hand, he's a Catholic, then he'd expect his father's soul to be in purgatory, and therefore a credible witness to Claudius's misdeeds.

* Probably played with a lot in Japanese Kabuki theater due to government restrictions on content, costumes, and even ''hair styles'': a play that referenced a current issue would claim to be set in another era, except the characters might ''just happen'' to be wearing contemporary clothes.

* The musical adaptation of ''[[Spring Awakening]]'' is based around this trope. While taking place in a provincial German town in 1890, in moments of emotional intensity, the characters whip out microphones to deliver interior monologues in rock music fashion, complete with concert lighting. These songs make no attempt at being time period appropriate: the characters sing in modern slang and the lyrics mention telephones and stereos, among other things.

* In one production of ''[[Jesus Christ Superstar]]'', Pilate whipped Christ with his microphone cord.

** One filmed version had a scene in which Judas was chased by helicopters and tanks.

* Although it's set in 1587, the male (and one female) characters of ''Mary Stuart'' wear relatively modern outfits (e.g. business suits), as well as speaking in contemporary [[British Accents]].

 

== Video Games ==

* In ''[[Out Run]] 2006'', one of the last tracks is located in some ancient Mexican ruins. However, these ruins are more of [[Mayincatec|a mishmash of all the ancient ruins in Mexico]]. In this track, you can see the big Olmec stone heads from when Egypt was still ruled by the pharaohs; the big Pyramid of the Sun from when the Roman Empire was about to conquer pretty much all Europe; human-sized columns, known as ''atlantes'', built by the Toltecs when Europe was waging the Crusades; and big Aztec and Mayan temples made shortly before the Spanish conquistadores came to kick some butt. However, since the ruins do look like ancient Mexican ruins, a trained eye might as well not care much about that, maybe finding it rather amusing.

* ''[[Shadow Hearts]]: From The New World'' causes problems with its attempt to jump on the "What really happened in Roswell" bandwagon... as the game is set in 1929, 18 years before the Roswell incident. Not that this is anything ''new'' for ''[[Shadow Hearts]]'', or that the series has ever tried for historical accuracy in the first place. Let us put it this way: one of the people in the crashed vehicle is a [[Magical Girl]] vampire.

** ''[[Shadow Hearts]]'' IS this trope. We've got the heroes zipping around in a giant nuclear-powered flying ship which can circle the globe in no time flat. We've got Anastasia (yes, [[Anastasia|THAT Anastasia]]) running around taking Polaroids. We've got Johnny wielding a cellphone (whereas Mata Hari's was a clunky 80's model, his is a modern fliptop phone with viewscreen). We've got people going into outer space. We've got supercomputers popping up everywhere. We've got genetically enhanced apes with human intelligence and laser guns. All before 1930. [[MST3K Mantra|Not that any of this is a problem.]]

* The ''[[Monkey Island]]'' series has this in spades, cheerfully throwing vending machines, electric devices and Elvis pins into the 17th century [[Welcome to The Caribbean Luv|Caribbean]]. Of course, given the tone of the series, this is often cheerfully [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]], as when Guybrush complains about the shoddy, 17th century electrical wiring.

** One of the other characters marries Queen Victoria, who wasn't even born until 1819.

* Koei's ''[[Dynasty Warriors]]'' series is full of this, including ancient Chinese girls in shorts and Emperors-in-the-making who use modern slang.

** Although what the game calls "Chihuahuas" are much larger and resemble an entirely different breed of dog, and when mummified they turn into something resembling a pug.

* ''[[Lionheart]]'', while set in an [[Alternate Earth]], is still an example because the ages (and locations) of several historical figures were fudged to get them into the game.

* The second half of ''[[Mafia II]]'' took place in 1951, and yet most of the songs that you'll hear during the 1950s portions of the game weren't released yet.

** And so do the vehicles. Even the 1940s chapters had some anachronisms, like with Al Hirt's "Java" being played on the radio despite the song being released in 1964.

* [[Sierra]]'s ''[[Quest for Glory]]'' series is a mixture of different mythologies and technologies making up different regions of the game world, ranging from the medieval pseudo-germanic Speilburg to the almost victorian-era Mordavia, as well as random pop-culture references, x-ray glasses, and junk dealers trying to sell you used World War 1 gas masks.

* The ''[[Resistance]]'' series of games, despite being set in the 1950s, feature futuristic weapons and machinery. However, this can be explained with the fact that they are all Chimera inventions rather than human.

** ''Resistance'' also occurs in an alternate timeline that diverged right before the Spanish-American War, Nikola Tesla got lucky with his inventions, and the Chimera technology helped later.

** Also, there's enemies who use GUNS, or [[Dem Bones|skeletons]] riding MOTORCYCLES. (The ones in ''[[So TN]]'' used Muskets, which were around back then. The Gatling Guns in Bloodlines make sense too, as it takes place right before World War II anyways.)

** Arguably averted in the ''[[Chronicles of Sorrow]]'' games, which are set [[Twenty Minutes Into the Future]].

*** Not that those things are any more advanced than Frankenstein's Monster, which fits right in with the setting despite showing up as many as 400 years before the events of ''[[Frankenstein]]''.

** In ''[[Harmony of Dissonance]]'', you can find an "Old Radio" as a decoration for your room. Despite the fact that it takes place in 1748.

* The ''[[Sengoku Basara]]'' games and anime takes several [[Samurai]] warlords, some of which lived decades apart, places them in the [[Jidai Geki|late Sengoku era]], and throws in such anachronistic elements as [[Sawn Off Shotgun|shotguns]], [[Gatling Good|miniguns]], [[BFG|rocket launchers]], [[Cool Horse|a horse with Harley Davidson exhaust pipes]], [[Humongous Mecha]] and more.

** Not to mention Date Masamune's [[Gratuitous English]]. And the 15th century [[Power of Rock]].

** If you focus on developing science, you may find your mechanised infantry assaults are facing pikemen and musketeers.

** In ''Civ: Revolutions'', there's a goody hut that can grant an advanced unit. Getting a tank in the Bronze Age is a happy event that allows one to steamroll the rest of the world in extremely short order.

** An even more fun example: finding Christianity well before the switch from BC to AD.

** A car that ''[[Rule of Cool|shoots bullets]]'' and can level entire cities. That and tricycle-riding babies with bazookas in the first game.

** The first game also had cheat codes to get astronauts armed with laser guns or ''miniature nukes''.

** The third game had a monster truck that runs ''everything'' over. Yes, even buildings.

* The ''[[Backyard Sports]]'' series take place in the late 1970s-early 1980s, judging by the appearance of pro players in the games, yet many characters talk of 1980s events (such as Italy winning the World Cup) as being long before their time. [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] by Barry Bonds in the 2001 edition, where he says that his father played in the majors a long time before he was a kid, and then realizing time doesn't go that slowly.

* ''[[Ganbare Goemon]]'' has this to an extent. The American and French film industries hadn't started up when Japan was in the Edo period. Also, [[Ridiculously Human Robot]] and [[Super Robot]] that is also ridiculously human.

* ''[[Bloodline Champions]]'' has a general "tribal" theme for the characters, but the Gunner bloodline fires two weapons that resemble flintlock carbines, as well as a mortar and rockets. The Engineer bloodline uses a 'boomstick', flamethrower, a jet pack, a tractor beam, shrink/enlarge device and can deploy an "EMP Pulse" where there are no implications of electronics in the setting otherwise whatsoever. With pretty much everything but the jet pack [[Swiss Army Weapon|firing out of one weapon]].

* The ''[[Elder Scrolls]]'' series. One of the Daedra wears a pocket watch, and Sotha Sil has an entire clockwork city, despite the fact that there is not a single clock to be found anywhere in Tamriel. There are also robots, airships, newspapers, a stock market, and the easy availability of books suggests some equivalent of a printing press (nothing like this is seen in-game, but there is a publishing company in Tribunal).

** The said Daedra with the pocketwatch is Sheogorath so it's excusable.

** All advanced machinery is the product/legacy of the Dwemer and gets the "[[Our Dwarves Are All the Same|high-technology Dwarf]]" excuse or Sotha Sil and gets the [[A Wizard Did It]] excuse. Vvardenfell researchers point out that Dwemer technology suffers number of reconstruction hurdles beyond their racial extinction (so there's no one to explain anything...) such as complicated enchantments and metallurgy and the lack of standardized part construction in modern society. They're more like puzzle golems than conventional machines.

** This is to say nothing of the ''appearance'': lightsabers, starships and clothing looked far more primitive in the ''Tales of the Old Republic'' comics, yet in ''KotOR'', they are indistinguishable from "modern" times.

** All of this pales in comparison to the state of the galaxy during the Sith Wars and following dark ages, which took place between the aforementioned MMO and the Ruusan reformation 1,000 years before ''[[The Phantom Menace]]''. Records of the era are extremely spotty both in-universe and in real life, but there are reports of platemail-and-swords being the primary implements of war... ''while starships are still the primary mode of transportation''.

** Relg's TV and Bridge repair. He can fix anything, as long as it's a TV or a bridge! (He doesn't repair dental bridges, though)

** Teflo<s>n</s>r Slope

*** He knows about tootsie-pops

** McLoki's Restaurant

** Woody's Tool Chest sells you an electric saw. It's needed to win the game. [[Crowning Moment of Funny|There are no places to plug it in.]]

** There's also the mysteriously unexplained high-tech computers and modern English warning signs in DeGroot Keep, a 10th century battlement.

*** Not entirely unexplained, as one of the unused textures for the stage is a ticket booth, implying that the two teams are just fighting in a tourist attraction. That also explains the Demoman's family portrait being inside the castle and the announcer and sirens still being around.

*** And let's not forget [[A Wizard Did It|the Soldier's roommate]].

* ''[[Swords and Soldiers]]'' has the Vikings, the Aztecs, and the Chinese fight over {{spoiler|a giant pepper}}.

** This isn't entirely new to the series. Some missions in earlier ''[[Call of Duty]]'' games feature the STG-44 chronologically before it was actually produced. ''[[Modern Warfare|Call of Duty 4]]'' also had one section where Russian mercenaries in 1996 had frequent access to the G36, which hadn't even entered service anywhere yet at that point.

* ''[[Prince of Persia|Sands of Time]]'' is supposed to take place around the ninth century. But the capital city, Babylon, has the famous Hanging Gardens... which were destroyed around a thousand years before that point. Must be all that time travel.

* The first mission of ''[[Medal of Honor]]: Allied Assault'' is set before the commencement of Operation Torch in Africa, but Grillo somehow acquires an American jeep.

* ''[[Harvest Moon]]'' often has modern items like TVs, but never has the farming industry face any amount of industrialization.

* [[Phantasy Star]] runs on this trope since it follows events in a solar system that routinely experiences catastrophic events. This leads to a combination of current people with varying levels of technology dealing with cyborgs and genetically engineered creatures from previous eras.

** [[The Other Wiki]] also mentions that aside from the purely sci-fi gadgets like the Tesla Cannon, the spraycan he uses with a zippo lighter as a makeshift flamethrower will only be invented a few decades after the game is set.

 

 

== Web Comics ==

* ''[http://www.noneedforbushido.com No Need For Bushido]'', while technically set in imperial Japan, cheerfully features a hodgepodge of ninjas, Taoist monks, an order of scantily clad female assassins, giant anime-style swords (well, ok, one giant sword), Hong Kong kung-fu action movie fighting styles, and modern-day references. And TWO blind kick-ass fighters. Also, ''birdfish''. Don't forget the birdfish. (The NNFB fanmixes take this anachronism with modern day references even further, to absurd but often hilarious extremes)

* ''[http://www.arthurkingoftimeandspace.com/ Arthur, King of Time and Space]'' gleefully throws the anachronisms into the "fairy tale" arc (the standard Arthurian romance with the standard medieval trappings) with two justifications: the author (and to a lesser extent, the characters) ''knows'' the sources are flawed and anachronistic in and of themselves, and half the anachronisms are [[A Wizard Did It|Merlin's fault]], since he has the gift of foresight (at one point, for example, using a fly swatter to kill a fairy spy).

** There's anachronisms in ''every'' strip: The third panel has T-Rex about to step on a house that's next to a car, and the fourth panel has T-Rex about to step on a person.

** And in Cliffport, there's a ''municipal park''. Amid ''high-rise buildings''.

'''Vaarsuvius''': Point taken. }}

*** And is then played straighter by Redcloak [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0543.html here].

** It's subtle, but look at [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0692.html this comic.] Where did Hayley get a metal detector? And more importantly, where the hell was she keeping it? (Same questions apply to Roy and his [[Newer Than They Think|sextant]]...)

** Although she said that in regards to an indistinct glow, represented as such because they didn't know what it was. And present was also the man who designed robots. Maybe the others just liked to dress that way.

** And again [http://xkcd.com/771/ here.]

* ''[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=139 Hark, A Vagrant!]'' is all about this.

* ''[[Blade Bunny]]'' takes place in a historical mashup of feudal Japan and ancient China, with {{spoiler|robots}} one of which has {{spoiler|futuristic guns}} and a [[Bunny Girl]] in a microskirt.

 

== Web Original ==

* [[Geoffrey Chaucer Hath a Blog]] has this baked into its very concept, and that's not even getting into all the pop culture references...

* The''[[Epic Rap Battles of History]]''. A lot of times, this explains how the contestants know each other, period.

 

== Western Animation ==

** And then there's ''[[King Arthur And The Square Knights Of The Round Table]]'', a British animated series that takes this trope and wry it dry. Seriously, Merlin invented the movie camera and film projector?

* ''[[Dino Riders]]'' also had wildly anachronistic dinosaurs living next to one another (''T. rex'' is closer to us in time than to ''Apatosaurus''), and threw in a ''Dimetrodon'' for good measure.

'''Bart:''' Quiet, here come the ninjas! }}

*** And [[Credits Gag|the credits]] mention Robot Zorro, among other strange characters. With [[James Earl Jones]] as the voice of the Magic Taco.

** In "Lisa's Substitute", Mr. Bergstrom asks the class to identify three things wrong with his cowboy outfit. Lisa points out his belt says state of Texas despite Texas not being a state yet, he has a revolver before it was invented, and there weren't Jewish cowboys. He says he was also wearing a digital watch and [[I Take Exception To That Last One|notes for the record that there were a few Jewish cowboys]].

** When the kids play [[Cowboys and Indians]], Nelson fires with a "Killmatic 3000". Bart tells him they didn't have that back then and Nelson retorts "records from that era are spotty at best."

*** Also, consider the fact that the movie is set in 1939, a time when Biblical epics were not in vogue. DeMille stopped making them shortly after the [[Hays Code]] went in effect, and would not revive them until the aforementioned ''Samson and Delilah'' about eight years later.

** VCR's and video games are also common, yet all TV is broadcast in black and white.

** Justified, since the series seems to make nods to the time period in which Batman was invented (the 30s)..

** Except the sequel, [[Somewhere a Palaeontologist Is Crying|which has dinosaurs]] (including the aforementioned T. Rex) that survived the KT Extinction Event (when the last of the dinosaurs died off). They suggest that there is only a small population, but the movie still takes place less than 2 million years ago, meaning that they're about ''63 million years'' out of place.

* ''[[The Flintstones]]'', for the simple fact that humans and dinosaurs couldn't possibly coexist... of course, this is due to [[Rule of Funny]].

** They also have a lot of modern-day technology, albeit in more primitive form.

** They also speak modern English, even though Old English was first spoken in the Middle Ages.

** In yet another, Melissa once portrays Susan B. Anthony as a gun-nut. The 'B' stands for 'Bitchin''.

** Most of this is [[Lampshaded]] in the character commentary.

** Though considering all the audience saw was a very select group of very, very eccentric people, it could just be their oddities. Ego especially seems like a character who'd dislike a computer.

* Every episode of ''Dino Babies'' had the characters retelling a famous story set millions of years in the future.

* Extremely evident in [[Transformers Generation 1|the original ''Transformers'' cartoon]] where the robot modes of ''all'' the Transformers (especially those of Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Starscream, and Soundwave) resemble their eventual Earth modes even in the distant past and on planet Cybertron.

* ''[[Kingpin Life of Crime]]'' takes place in "a past that never happened". The game features, among other anachronisms, 90's rap music by Cypress Hill, people with cyborg-style body modifications, cars from the 30's and 40's and Guns from the 20's.

 

== Real Life ==

* Just about any event of the [[Society for Creative Anachronism]], where you can see examples of everything from sixteenth-century German armor to Moors to Vikings to Romans to Samurai all competing in the same tournament, or a Viking chatting with an Elizabethan lady over a display of Catholic prayer beads. Not a result of [[Did Not Do the Research]] so much as the basic structure of the organization; anything before 1600 AD is fair game for re-enactment. ''Individuals'' will generally be faithful to a period in their dress, though this also varies.

** Then again, they do give you fair warning. It wouldn't be a [[Society for Creative Anachronism]] if they weren't creatively anachronistic, now would it?

*** The unofficial motto of the SCA is: "The Middle Ages... as they should have been."

** Renaissance festivals in general are often actually more of a pastiche of Middle Ages, Renaissance, and even Fantasy (including fairies, etc.).

**** Or the obligatory Imperial Stormtrooper in a kilt, with a sword on his hip.

** Hoover did appear on an early television broadcast, though. (And yes, this was either while or just before he was President, not at some point before he died in 1964.)

* Modern printings of Old English works gleefully use the letter 'W', which would not be created for a few hundred years; [[Tropes Are Not Bad|however]], the only other option would be to use the contemporary letter wynn ('Ƿ'), which was abandoned due to constant confusion of it and 'P'.

* People taken in by this [[Trope]] often turn up at antiques markets or pawnshops, honestly believing that some dusty old item they found in the attic is ''much'' older (or occasionally much newer) than it actually is.

* People's memories can be this way. Some people being interviewed about their experiences surviving the great Johnstown Flood of 1889 years after it happened mentioned that they checked their wristwatch - even though wristwatches didn't become popular until the 1920's, 30 years later.

* As mentioned on the [[Real Life]] page, most people's lives invoke this to some extent as different people have different incomes and priorities, and the service life of much modern technology reaches deep into obsolescence. So, any given person might own the very latest desktop computer but still be using a Nokia "Brick", or they might have an iPhone 4S and a '92 Civic, for example.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Did Not Do the Research]]

[[Category:Hollywood History]]

[[Category:Older Than Feudalism]]