History Main / PurelyAestheticEra

* The ''{{Manga/Naruto}}'' universe's society is based on feudal Japan and its most industrial village is essentially SteamPunk, yet Konoha has things like fluorescent signs, live-streaming video chat ([[BambooTechnology though stylized to look somewhat primitive]]), and all the conveniences of modern day when it's convenient. WordOfGod is that they have access all aspects of modern technology outside of weapons and transportation.

* The mobile game ''VideoGame/PocketGod'' is set during prehistoric times, specifically during the time of Pangea. In addition to a great deal of ArtisticLicensePaleontology, the game also features a lot of things that wouldn’t have been invented until far into written history. Some of the more ridiculous ones include electric guitars and a disco.

* The mobile game ''VideoGame/PocketGod'' is set during prehistoric times yet features a lot of things that wouldn’t have been invented until far into written history. Some of the more ridiculous ones include electric guitars and a disco.

* ''WesternAnimation/CrossingSwords'' takes place during Medieval times, and not only features a lot of modern day anachronisms but also throws in stuff from other time periods, such as cowboys and pirates.

* The ''Franchise/{{Shrek}}'' movies are set in a MedievalEuropeanFantasy setting, yet there is photography (the Duloc information booth), television broadcasts (seen through magic mirror, but still...), and modern day-style high schools complete with cheerleaders and pep rallies. Donkey sings '90s era pop tunes and references Music/ShirleyBassey, and Shrek himself occasionally says anachronistic phrases like "Hold the phone," and "Oh, no you didn't!" It's all part of the whole DeconstructiveParody thing the series is known for.

* ComicBook/{{Asterix}}. The series is less AnachronismStew than an Anachronism ''Steak''. The comics largely use Roman-era cultures with modern day cultural stereotypes, characters have [[PunnyName names]] like Fulliautomatix (a blacksmith) and Timandahaf (a viking chieftain) and there are 1st-century equivalents of modern day things, including sports chariots, text-messenger pigeons, [[HonestJohnsDealership dishonest chariot salesmen]] and mail wagons with [[http://laposte.fr/ La Poste's]] logo. Oddly enough combined with ShownTheirWork, as the artists are usually making up a modern connection half the time and accurately depicting something modern that [[OlderThanTheyThink actually existed at the time]] for the other half.

* Webcomic/BrunoTheBandit is chock full of this. Roughly medieval setting, with phones (cellular and otherwise), computers, TV, modern-style advertising agencies (or parodies thereof, anyway)...

* Any time ''WesternAnimation/TheBackyardigans'' are put in a particular time period, it tends to be this. A particularly notable example is in "Match on Mt. Olympus", in which Pablo and Tyrone become Ancient Greek ''newscasters''. {{Justified}} as they're really just kids imagining themselves in the time period.

* The ''WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}}'' movies are set in a MedievalEuropeanFantasy setting, yet there is photography (the Duloc information booth), television broadcasts (seen through magic mirror, but still...), and modern day-style high schools complete with cheerleaders and pep rallies. Donkey sings '90s era pop tunes and references Music/ShirleyBassey, and Shrek himself occasionally says anachronistic phrases like "Hold the phone," and "Oh, no you didn't!" It's all part of the whole DeconstructiveParody thing the series is known for.

* The French movie ''Deux heures moins le quart avant Jésus-Christ'' is a comedy set in AncientRome (well, a Roman colony in North Africa) but with plenty trappings of the present day (well, of TheEighties) like radio and television (with modern {{Newscaster Cameo}}s in Roman clothes), advertising everywhere in the coliseum, gay underground bars, as well as civilians, gladiators or legionaries making union protests.

* This is arguably the point of the ''VideoGame/ShadowHearts'' series. While its actually averted in its prequel ''VideoGame/{{Koudelka}}'', it gets worse and worse as the series goes on, and by the time we reach From the New World, we have South American Ninja, aliens, a giant talking cat who is a gangster, and the main character dressed like a teenager from the 90s... in what is supposed to be the 1920s.

* ''Theatre/TheSkinOfOurTeeth'', at least the first act, is set in {{Suburbia}} sometime around OneMillionBC (complete with talking baby dinosaur). The audience is told not to take this seriously.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones'' may not have done it first, but they definitely did it most visibly. It had cavemen ''celebrating Christmas''. They have to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ[[FlintstoneTheming rock]], of course. A mid-'90s TV movie ''[[YetAnotherChristmasCarol A Flintstones Christmas Carol]]'' shows the gang putting on a (rather faithful) adaption of [[Literature/AChristmasCarol the Dickens novel]] as a community play -- or Charles ''Brickens'', in their case.

* ''Pinball/MedievalMadness'' features, among other things, a castle lord who talks like a New York gangster and wishes someone would invent the gun, a jousting match commentated like a modern-day sports game, peasants complaining that "they took our pinball machines", trolls who like "human burgers" with fries on the side, and a DistressedDamsel with a "Valley Girl" accent.

However, sometimes, [[TheoryOfNarrativeCausality telling a story]] ([[RuleOfFunny or just being funny]]) is more important than being historically accurate. So while a story may theoretically be set in, say, [[WesternAnimation/TheEmperorsNewGroove ancient Peru]], you'll find [[GreasySpoon truck stops]], [[HumiliationConga people slipping on over-waxed floors]], {{Lawyer Friendly|Cameo}} [[ScoutOut Boy Scouts]], [[ForeignLookingFont period-appropriate signage]], and who knows what else. A bit like PresentDayPast, only applied to the whole of history-- liberally and without remorse for all those [[ArtisticLicenseHistory poor history majors.]] While an AnachronismStew can be pretty subtle if you don't pay attention in history class-- "Hey! They didn't [[Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean call it the Caribbean]] during the 1600s!"-- a Purely Aesthetic Era is ''blatant'' and intentional. It may be {{Hand Wave}}d with an AlternateHistory, but most folks don't even try to explain it; any attempt at it would likely [[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext not make sense in context anyway.]]

When writers attempt to set a story in a vaguely historical time period, but [[CriticalResearchFailure don't do their homework]], an AnachronismStew can arise--cities, people, inventions, and terms get thrown around in places they're entirely inappropriate. While an ordinary person won't notice them, someone interested in history will have their WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief shattered to pieces.

* ''Perils of the Lady Gamer'' by Shaenon Garrity of ''Webcomic/{{Narbonic}}'' and ''Webcomic/SkinHorse'' is a satire of misogyny in the modern VideoGame industry, set in the 19th century BoardGame industry.

When writers attempt to set a story in a vaguely historical time period, but don't do their homework, an AnachronismStew can arise--cities, people, inventions, and terms get thrown around in places they're entirely inappropriate. While an ordinary person won't notice them, someone interested in history will have their WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief shattered to pieces.

* This is arguably the point of the ''VideoGame/ShadowHearts'' series. While its very subdued in its prequel ''VideoGame/{{Koudelka}}'', it gets worse and worse as the games come out, and by the time we reach From the New World, we have South American Ninja, aliens, a giant talking cat who is a gangster, and the main character dressed like a teenager from the 90s... in what is supposed to be the 1920s.

* Due to a {{Retcon}}, ''Film/TheFastAndTheFuriousTokyoDrift'' has become this. It came out in 2006 and the technology and cars were appropriate. However, the inclusion of the character Han in several sequels until they caught up with his fate, it means it took place around 2014, where iPods and flip phones wouldn't be as common.

* Because the first arc of ''Podcast/TheAdventureZoneBalance'' was a (loose) adaptation of the ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' module ''The Lost Mines of Fandelver'', it was set in the ostensibly medieval realm of Neverwinter (although the heroes make some references to modern items, like Taako's quest to make tacos and Merle's fondness of Music/KennyChesney, and there's a character named [[AerithAndBob Barry Bluejeans]]). This ''extremely'' quickly goes off the rails; the first intermediary arc is set on a flying Moon base and features a "fantasy Costco", the second arc is set entirely on a train and features a town entirely populated by Tom Bodett, the third arc is set in a fairly modern city and revolves around underground ''Film/TheFastAndTheFurious''-style racing, the fourth arc is set on a ''different'' flying base, puts the heroes in spacesuits for the whole thing, and features a whole museum about elevators after [[GameMaster Griffin]] was [[TakeThatAudience criticized for putting them in the last arc]], and so on. By the end, it's closer to DungeonPunk and {{Magitek}} than any actual medieval setting. [[spoiler:Although the heroes' anachronistic references throughout the series could be due to the fact that they're actually from an entirely different plane and traveled to Neverwinter via a spaceship.]]

* The ''WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}}'' movies are set in a MedievalEuropeanFantasy setting, yet there is photography (the Duloc information booth), television broadcasts (seen through magic mirror, but still...), and modern day-style high schools complete with cheerleaders and pep rallies. Donkey sings '90s era pop tunes, and Shrek himself occasionally says anachronistic phrases like "Hold the phone," and "Oh, no you didn't!" It's all part of the whole DeconstructiveParody thing the series is known for.

* ''Theatre/RosencrantzAndGuildensternAreDead'': with Rosencrantz constantly inventing aspects of modern life, such as the hamburger, the theory of gravity, and those swinging beads that businessmen put on their desks.

** On the brighter side, the series is highly reminiscent of the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_academia Dark Academia]] aesthetic. Poetry, theatre, classic literature, and other forms of the arts are featured everywhere. Most characters have a special interest that they like to study/pursue, such as mycology, cartography, the culinary arts, etc.