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Anachronism Stew: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
[[File:tyrannosaur_in_f-14.jpg|link=Calvin and Hobbes|
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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.
Compare [[Popular History]], [[Purely Aesthetic Era]], and [[Present Day Past]]. When it's the people of the future doing this with the present, it's [[Future Imperfect]]. If the era depicted comes off as ridiculously advanced sociologically rather than technologically, that's [[Politically
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** 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.
** Near the end of the Buddha series, Buddha heals Prince Crystal by placing his finger on the tumor that is killing him. One of the prince's advisors said he heard of this power before, and asks Buddha if he's [[
* Occurs in both ''[[Fate Stay Night (Visual Novel)|Fate Stay Night]]'' and ''[[Fate Zero (Literature)|Fate Zero]]''. The servants tend to be anachronistic, with most being summoned wearing very modern-looking clothing and hairstyles, and Saber and {{spoiler|Gilgamesh}} wearing armour (and in the latter case, a lot of various weapon types) that did not exist at the time their legends occurred.
* ''[[Samurai Pizza Cats]]'' cheerfully mixes modern technology & culture, along with futuristic [[Funny Animal]] cyborg things & [[Humongous Mecha]] into an Edo-period setting.
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* 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?"
* ''[[Hellblazer (Comic Book)|Hellblazer]]'' occasionally falls into this, the most [[Egregious]] example being issue 186's [[Anvilicious]] portrayal of the [
* ''[[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.
* Hob Gadling, a character from ''[[The Sandman]]'', has been alive since the 13th Century and now [[Cursed With Awesome|will not die unless he chooses to]]. In the 20th Century, his girlfriend dresses up to visit a Ren Faire. He has several criticisms about the realism of the place (mostly that [[The Dung Ages|nothing is covered in shit]] the way it should be), and when he sees her in wench costume, she attempts to talk [[Ye Olde Butcherede Englishe]] to him. His response: "Thou lookst passing fair, milady. Save thou manglest the Queen's good English and thy tits are hanging out."
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** ''[[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.
* ''[[A
* Much like ''[[A
* Like ''[[A
* [[Walt Disney|Disney's]] ''[[The Emperor's New Groove (Disney)|The Emperors New Groove]]'' is another example of taking the "bones" of a historical milieu, in this case the ancient Inca empire of South America, and hanging a lot anachronistic (and very funny) jokes off them.
** The sudden presence of a floor buffer was particularly confusing. But then, it was so very [[Disney]].
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** 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.
* ''[[Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves]]'' managed to feature "Celts" hundreds of years after they existed as a distinct ethnic grouping. (The "Celts" are also ridiculously, even offensively, portrayed as mindless Orc-like barbarians, but [[Discredited Tropes|that's]] [[Hollywood History|another matter...]])
** 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.
* While most of the 1996 movie ''[[Twister]]'' took place in the modern-day (thus [[Averted Trope|avoiding]] this trope, for the most part), the beginning scenes, set in 1969, have some level of [[Anachronism Stew]] to them. In one scene, character Jo's father warns that the approaching tornado is "probably an F-5;" of course, the [
* ''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.
* ''[[Sin City]]'' is sometimes seen as fitting this trope due to having vintage cars but the stories take place in [[The Nineties]], the timeframe in which the comics were first published. This is evident by the Priest's 1990 Mercedes (described as being modern) and the 1980s Ferrari 348GTS driven by Yellow Bastard and if you [[Freeze Frame Bonus|pause the movie when it shows Marv's trial headline]], it shows the date.
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* ''Lymelife'' is set in 1979, yet contains a reference to ''[[The Empire Strikes Back]]'', released in 1980, and the Falklands War, from 1982.
* In the film version of ''[[Titus Andronicus (Theatre)|Titus Andronicus]]'' Julie Taymor deliberately uses anachronisms as a part of the stylistic choice. She's clearly making no effort to be historically accurate -- she's given lavishing care and attention to the ingredients of her anachronism stew. Even though it takes place in ancient Rome, we see 1950s era kitchens, Nazi symbolism, motorcycles, and designs from the 19th century, champagne bottles at an orgy, bound books, and 1920s-style microphones at a political rally. When you see Titus' severed hand delivered in a Zip-Loc bag, you know that the director's not going for historical accuracy.
* The latest ''[[Robin Hood 2010]]'' movie has taken a lot of flak for featuring what essentially looks like the medieval [
** 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.
** Troop transports with lowerable ramps at the front were in use in this period -- the ramp even allowed horsemen to charge directly off the deck. They were used for exactly this purpose at the battle of the Tower of Galata (1203) during the siege of Constantinople in the fourth crusade. (Also, the French did actually invade England during the reign of King John, as part of the First Barons' War. It wasn't much like in the film, though).
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** 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]]).
* ''[[Batman (Film)|Batman]]'' (1989) and ''[[Batman Returns (Film)|Batman Returns]]'' are practically crammed with anachronisms -- although it's understandable, since both films were directed by [[Tim Burton]], who is fond of this trope. The original movie is clearly meant to be set either in 1989 or [[Twenty Minutes Into the Future]], but the organized-crime characters and some of the reporters at the Gotham Globe dress as if it's some point between the 1920s and the 1940s. ''Batman Returns'' is a ''little'' more justified, since it's set at Christmastime and so gets to employ various elements of Norman Rockwell/Frank Capra imagery - though that still doesn't explain why a newspaper being hawked in the early 1990s (and by an [[Extra! Extra! Read All About It!]] paperboy, no less!) would cost less than half a dollar.
* 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.
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== 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.]]
** Happens again in "The Wedding Of River Song". This taking place in a 'modern day' London where [[Charles Dickens (Creator)|Charles Dickens]] shows up on morning talk shows, pterodactyls are the equivalent of pigeons, Roman soldiers ride the tube, and everyone takes balloon cars to work. In this case, all of time collapsed into a specific fixed point; all of history was now occurring at once but all the clocks stood still.
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* One episode of ''[[The Big Bang Theory]]'' is bookended by the gang coming from/going to a Renaissance Faire, with Sheldon commenting in the intro: "Worst. Renaissance. Faire. Ever." and then listing all the common anachronisms relevant to Faires... and, on the outtro, the gang returns to a Faire, Sheldon now wearing Spock's uniform (including ears), holding a tricorder, and commenting as if he were on ''[[Star Trek (Franchise)|Star Trek]]'', [[Lampshade Hanging|visiting another planet]]. (Could be a reference to a mid-nineties UK national [[LARP]] meetup, where one of the players spent a day playing just such a character.)
* 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.
* ''[[Merlin (TV)|Merlin]]'' - based on the legend of [[King Arthur]] a supposed king of dark age Britain - has [[Politically
* ''[[Wonder Woman (TV)|Wonder Woman]]'' was filmed in the 70s. The first season was set in the 1940s. The anachronisms are abundant, but subtle:
** A black Marine corporal is seen in Washington DC before there were any black Marine corporals.
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* 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".
* Not even Satan is immune to this trope. The [[Rolling Stones]]' ''Sympathy For The Devil'' includes the boast "I laid traps for troubadoures/Who get killed before they reach Bombay" [presumably in a [[Doctor Who
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== 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.
** ''Pendragon'' is not above [[Shout
* Parodied in the [[Tabletop Games]] ''Diana Warrior Princess'' and ''Elvis The Legendary Tours'', which take the [[Anachronism Stew]] approach to modern-day pop-culture.
* 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.
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== Video Games ==
* ''[[Super Robot Wars]]'' gets pretty insane with the sheer weirdness of how they reconcile most of [[Schizo
* 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.
* ''[[Return to Castle Wolfenstein]]'' features cyborg monsters, futuristic heavy weapons (even by today's technology) such as the Venom (a hand-held minigun) and Tesla Cannon (which appears to cast [[Dungeons and Dragons|Level 6 Chain Lightning]]), and Helga von Bulow's female [[Elite Mooks]], who wear [[Stripperiffic]] or [[Spy Catsuit]]-type outfits.
** This is more of an example of [[Schizo
* ''[[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.
** The historical inaccuracies start in the first game, with Mata Hari's bikini and cell phone. Not to mention my history textbooks have all failed to mention Japan had combat robots during WWI.
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** An even more fun example: finding Christianity well before the switch from BC to AD.
* ''[[The Legend of Zelda (Franchise)|The Legend of Zelda]]'' is ostensibly set in a world in [[Medieval Stasis]]. It also happens to have boomerangs, telephones, photographs, electric switches, crane games, complex mechanical mechanisms in a simple clock tower, [[Grappling Hook Pistol|grappling hook pistols]], pipelines, 17th-18th Century pirates, modern-looking mines (for mining), combination operated safes, sumo, steam-ships and motorboats. [[The Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks (Video Game)|One of the newer titles]] added trains, steam-powered tanks, turrets, and throwaway jokes about films and electric bills.
** And [[The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (Video Game)|a neon sign and jukebox]].
** Link also gets a robot buddy in one game. [[The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (Video Game)|This same game]] also has a mechanic character who's building a washing machine, and where the robots come from, there is hover technology (complete with [[Tron Lines]]) and cloaking devices. Making this really hilarious is that this is supposed to be the ''earliest'' game in the timeline. Granted, though, the robots, hover tech, cloaking devices and whatnot are implied to be from a [[Precursor]] civilization that has long since been wiped out.
* The normal gameplay in the ''[[Age of Empires (Video Game)|Age of Empires]]'' series is fairly accurate. However, one anachronism has been introduced for combined [[Rule of Funny]] and [[Rule of Cool]]: you can get a car in [[Age of Empires II (Video Game)|the second game]] by entering the cheat code "how do you turn this on." Try it.
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* 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.
* ''[[Yo Jin Bo]]'' has a bunch of 1850's ronin who like to [[Shout
* Though ''[[Assassin's Creed I (Video Game)|Assassin's Creed I]]'' [[Shown Their Work|shows a surprising amount of research]] (for a video game), they made many mistakes that do not agree with the history and architecture of Ancient Jerusalem at all. This includes Ottoman flags for the Turks (100 years too soon), the Lions' Gate (300 years too soon), and a golden dome on the Dome of the Rock (750 years too soon!), and many others. However, this ''is'' explained in-game, with most of history being either deliberately distorted by the Templars or the Pieces of Eden; the history shown in-game is supposed to be the setting's "actual" history, taken directly from the memories of those who were actually there.
** Similar issues abound in ''[[Assassin's Creed II (Video Game)|Assassin's Creed II]]'', such as the circumstances surrounding Caterina Sforza's husband (who was supposed to have died in the incident with the Orsi, not by her hand), and some of the paintings you can buy (for instance, Titian's "Venus Anadyomene" wasn't painted until 1520, quite some time after the end of the game). There are also issues with some of the armors you can buy, and weapons you acquire being a tad ahead of their time, just like in the first game.
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** 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.]]
* ''[[Team Fortress 2 (Video Game)|Team Fortress 2]]'' has a trailer for the game's debut on the Mac in which a few classes are seen wearing earbuds. Even though the game is set in the 60s and earbuds wouldn't appear until at least 30 years later.
** Considering that the game exists in an alternate universe where Shakespearicles (Shakespeare with muscles) invented the two-story building, America, and the rocket launcher, and where teleporters and cloaking devices are advanced enough to be used in battle, this should actually be classified as [[Schizo
** 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.
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* ''[[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.
* Caleb, the protagonist of ''[[Blood]]'', makes [[Shout
** [[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.
* ''[[Kid Icarus Uprising]]'' takes place in ancient Greece, and among Pit's arsenal are gun-blades, [[Magitech]] lasers, and cannons. Health recovery items include hamburgers, sushi, and chocolate. Never mind that Pit can't seem to stop [[No Fourth Wall|referring to the story as a game]].
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[[Category:Older Than Feudalism]]
[[Category:Anachronism Stew]]
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