Rework Definition?: Anachronism Stew

This might be a bit of a nitpick, but the description of Anachronism Stew reads like a Did Not Do The Research trope, while the majority of the examples are intentional and played for laughs. I wonder if there might probably be two tropes here, since there's a big difference between dressing 15th century villagers in 12th century clothes, and giving vikings an iPod. And then there's the whole "cavemen and dinosaurs living together" thing that pops up a lot. Isn't that it's own trope by now? At the very least, we could add a paragraph in the description about how it can be done intentionally and played for laughs.

Agreed.

I think cavemen and dinosaurs is a trope, I'm just not sure where. Cavemen And Dinosaurs would make a good redirect to it though.

Hm, it seems we've got Prehistoria for the setting and Somewhere A Paleontologist Is Crying.

edited 9th Mar '11 2:08:37 PM by Deboss

Perhaps we should sort by type, a la Eagleland or Tsundere?

Would an Anachronism Index be helpful? I have a feeling there are a lot of anachronism-related tropes lying around out there, but they're not all tied together organizationally.

How Did We Miss This One? We definitely need one.

There's already a sort-of split for films...

But also, Rule of Funny isn't the only reason to do this. Rule of Cool applies, too. And even without both of those, sometimes it's just Artistic License — it can result from Reality is Unrealistic, say, as in the medieval art examples, where ordinary viewers (who the art is meant for) might not easily be able to tell what's going on or who is who if they're not dressed in clothes familiar to contemporary characters. Tropes like The Coconut Effect, Reality Is Unrealistic, and Aluminum Christmas Trees can all result in situations where striving too hard for historical accuracy can actually end up getting in the way of what you're trying to convey.

I think a problem shared by a lot of tropes on T Vtropes is this assumption that pedantic accuracy is always the best way to go. I mean, sometimes They Just Didn't Care, but sometimes they have very good reasons to not care. If you go into a typical hollywood blockbuster expecting historical accuracy, well... chances are you're not really the intended audience!

edited 24th May '11 4:12:39 PM by Aquillion

The rewrite still hasn't been done for the description. Still claims that writers are lazy.

Um - but, if humans are lazy, and the vast majority of writers are presumably human... No, but seriously: works like the Discworld work solely 'cos of this trope, even if they suffer from occasional contradictions. So, when it's not research failure, but intentional... you need this.

edited 17th Oct '11 8:48:08 AM by Euodiachloris

Discworld isn't an example. It's fantasy, not set in Earth history.

Eh? Read the definition again, mate. Please. Fantastic worlds are only discouraged as examples for the page - not outright denied for the trope itself. And, look up Steampunk and Crystal Spires and Togas for kicks, too. Them's specifically spiced stews: for all your fantastic cravings. At no point does anybody say 'for Historical Fiction only'. Or, 'solely for badly researched bodice-rippers'... Mwuha-ha-ha-ha! <hides own stash of the above at lightning speed>

EDIT: I so totally fail at links.

edited 17th Oct '11 3:34:19 PM by Euodiachloris

If that's true, then I don't understand it. Applying real-world technological development to an explicitly different world (and then calling it "anachronistic" when it doesn't add up) doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

EDIT: Having thought about this, I think I have a better idea of what you mean. Still, there's a huge difference between "a story set at some specific point in Earth history that has 16th century style playhouses, 19th century style opera, and pizza all coexisting" and "a story set in a fantasy world that has all those things". One violates plausibility a great deal (unless it's set in a massive LARP convention or something, I guess); the other not so much.

edited 18th Oct '11 2:36:57 AM by DoktorvonEurotrash

That'll teach me to type late at night... Some backstory for you: the Discworld has had its whole time-space continuity shattered and patched twice. Which has resulted in a jury-rigged repair job that those of its characters existing little out of phase with everybody else can see for the mess it is. Ergo: it is a justified, in-world Anachronism Stew. Sorry I didn't make that clearer sooner. My bad.

Well, that, and it's a good romp mixing our time periods together for parody kicks, but, hey - that was not what I meant to say.

edited 18th Oct '11 4:23:00 AM by Euodiachloris

Ah, OK. Then we're on the same page. (I knew about the History Monks.) In-universe Anachronism Stew is indeed something different.

Think of A Knights Tale - it's hardly lazy writing, it's purposeful anachronism to translate middle ages sports into a way that makes sense for modern audiences.

If you just think of it in terms of the Playing With rules, then the "12th century meets 15th century" thing could be the straight trope and the "Vikings with iPods" thing is a parody. That way they both fit on the same page, and if the parodies outnumber the straight usages, I think there's a trope for that too.

Don't we have Purely Aesthetic Era for deliberate examples justified via Rule of Funny?

I think One Million BC is the trope for cavemen — but apparently the version without dinosaurs?

Other than Anachronism Stew, what anachronism tropes would go on an Anachronistic Index? Would Schizo Tech count? It looks like Present-Day Past and Purely Aesthetic Era would.

edited 27th Dec '11 5:53:34 PM by ArcadesSabboth

Retreaux.

We definitely need a Cavemen And Dinosaurs trope. Someone want to drop that into YMMV?

I would also second an anachronism index; can we put up a crowner for that? (I assume we'd need a separate crowner for splitting Anachronism Stew into a Did Not Do The Research-type page and a Cavemen And Ipods-type page.)

I'll do that; I like the name.

Up and editing https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/discussion.php?id=vez3kynr0d02oakhrm0s15cu

edited 17th Jan '12 3:36:48 PM by crazysamaritan

Single prop crowner up.

Love the idea of the index.

This needs a few more votes.

I think that we need to have a trope for intentional anachronism, such as what the current picture is showing.

edited 12th Feb '12 6:23:41 AM by Catbert