History Main / AnachronismStew

->"''Spare me your space-age {{technobabble}}, AttilaTheHun!''"

Stories often confuse two or more time periods. For example, Renaissance dress may appear with 12th-century crusaders in a story set in Charlemagne's empire. Imperial Roman troops might have guns. Cavemen might be fightings [[SomewhereAPalaeontologistIsCrying Dinosaurs]] to survive. This is [[OlderThanTheyThink not only a modern trope]]. Medieval artists, for example, routinely dressed Biblical figures in contemporary fashions, and the Greek myth of Theseus features similar confusion. Some critics think the very first writer to actually try to reconstruct past times as different from the current era was Sir Creator/WalterScott.

* SomewhereAPalaeontologistIsCrying: The biological version of this trope.

Stories often confuse two or more time periods. For example, Renaissance dress may appear with 12th-century crusaders in a story set in Charlemagne's empire. Imperial Roman troops might have guns. This is [[OlderThanTheyThink not only a modern trope]]. Medieval artists, for example, routinely dressed Biblical figures in contemporary fashions, and the Greek myth of Theseus features similar confusion. Some critics think the very first writer to actually try to reconstruct past times as different from the current era was Sir Creator/WalterScott.

* AnachronismStew/Roleplay

* RealityIsUnrealistic" The producers get the period right, but are criticized because it's not what the audience was expecting.

* SteamNeverDies.

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 [[RealityIsUnrealistic 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 been 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 [[ShownTheirWork pedantry]]. More often, writers and producers are [[TheyJustDidntCare too lazy]] or have too little time to get the facts correct, or they may actually believe they have the facts correct [[DanBrowned when they don't]].

As a result, historical (or [[DaysOfFuturePast futuristic]]) stories often confuse two or more time periods. For example, Renaissance dress may appear with 12th-century crusaders in a story set in Charlemagne's empire. Fortunately for the writers and designers, the viewers rarely notice this enough to affect the bottom line, which is all that matters.

In other words, this is TheThemeParkVersion of history.

Note that this is [[OlderThanTheyThink not merely a modern trope]]. Medieval artists, for example, routinely dressed Biblical figures in contemporary fashions, and the Greek myth of Theseus features similar confusion. Some critics think the very first writer to actually try to reconstruct past times as different from the current era was Sir Creator/WalterScott.

Compare PopularHistory, PurelyAestheticEra, and PresentDayPast. When it's the people of the future doing this with the present, it's FutureImperfect. If the era depicted comes off as ridiculously advanced sociologically rather than technologically, that's PoliticallyCorrectHistory. If it's not a specific "real" time and place but rather an invented [[TheVerse Verse]], you're looking at SchizoTech. Compare also RealityIsUnrealistic, when the producers get everything right... but because it's not what the audience was expecting, they're criticized for getting it ''wrong'' (which prompts them to not bother next time).

SomewhereAPalaeontologistIsCrying is a related {{trope}} on a much larger scale; SteamNeverDies is this trope on a very specific smaller scale[[note]] 4' 8.5", in most cases [[/note]]. Contrast LowCultureHighTech, where a similar anachronism happens with a low tech culture using far advanced technologies it doesn't understand.

!!Works with their own pages:

* ''AnachronismStew/{{Archer}}''
* ''AnachronismStew/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries''
* ''AnachronismStew/IndianaJones'':
* ''AnachronismStew/LANoire''
* ''AnachronismStew/{{Mash}}''
* ''AnachronismStew/PiratesOfTheCaribbean''
[[/index]]
----
!!Examples:
[[index]]

Compare PopularHistory, PurelyAestheticEra, and PresentDayPast. When it's the people of the future doing this with the present, it's FutureImperfect. If the era depicted comes off as ridiculously advanced sociologically rather than technologically, that's PoliticallyCorrectHistory. If it's not a specific "real" time and place but rather an invented [[TheVerse Verse]], you're looking at SchizoTech. Compare also RealityIsUnrealistic, when the producers get everything right... but because it's not what the audience was expecting, they're criticized for getting it ''wrong'' (which prompts them to not bother next time). {{Fantasy}} works set in secondary worlds are not examples of this, since their histories and geographies relate to those of the real world vaguely at best (through the use of {{Fantasy Counterpart Culture}}s).

If you have time, please take time to put examples in alphabetical order. This page Administrivia/HowToAlphabetizeThings should help you with that.

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 [[RealityIsUnrealistic 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 [[ShownTheirWork pedantry]]. More often, writers and producers are [[TheyJustDidntCare too lazy]] or have too little time to get the facts correct, or they may actually believe they have the facts correct [[DanBrowned when they don't]].

* ''AnachronismStew/Mash''

** ''AnachronismStew/RaidersOfTheLostArk''
** ''AnachronismStew/IndianaJonesAndTheTempleOfDoom''
** ''AnachronismStew/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade''
** ''AnachronismStew/IndianaJonesAndTheKingdomOfTheCrystalSkull''

* ''IndianaJones'':

** ''AnachronismStew/TempleOfDoom''
** ''AnachronismStew/IndianaJonesAndTheKingdomOfTheCrystalKull''

* ''AnachronismStew/RaidersOfTheLostArk''
* ''AnachronismStew/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade
* ''AnachronismStew/IndianaJonesAndTheKingdomOfTheCrystalKull''

* AnachronismStew/{{Archer}}
* AnachronismStew/PiratesOfTheCaribbean

!!Examples: