When's the proper time to forgive constant anachronisms?

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Yeah Peggy Carter. I thought it was anachronistic unless I'm wrong.



That elusive hide-and-seek cow is at it again
One should always find forgiveness in their heart. I think around 10:00 PM in your local timezone is probably the absolute latest. Or one hour after a meal, whichever comes first.
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Who me?



I mean, there is this scene where they all dance to a Bowie song. Even if you argue that the song isn't happening "for real" in the scene, the dance moves are certainly modern.



Or the opening sequence in which the crowd claps along and sings along to "We Will Rock You".



But I think it's important to note that this muddling of pop culture and history is very intentional and was actually a big part of the marketing of the film (which prominently featured the modern dance scene). No one who'd seen a single trailer for the film should have walked into it expecting historical accuracy.

How come nobody told me the movie would be like Moulin Rouge?



Does Captain America: The First Avenger count as being anachronistic, because it has things in it like a woman being promoted to a sergeant (if I remember correct), in the army, which a woman would not be promoted to in WWII, so does that count?
Not sure why you think a woman would not be promoted to sergeant in WWII. Totally untrue.

In this British WWII photo the woman on the far left is a sergeant.

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Oh okay, my mistake. I have just never heard of it in WWII before, and in all WWII movies made especially even back when WWII, everyone in the army that are a more middle rank are always men, from what I could remember. So I took it as an anachronism in Captain America.



⬆️ I should point out that the NCOs in my photo are in the Royal Air Force. But that’s neither here nor there.



In the movie context, it's generally used in regard to those bloopers like 1970 cars in a movie about 1968 or popular songs out of their era. Movie crews include people who are supposed to look for those problems, but they also know that most audiences miss a lot of that if the rest of the action and plot are engaging. If you're looking at the labels on soup cans to see if the year is right, you're probably bored with the rest of the movie. If it really IS glaring, like in a classic western with a pickup in the background, then someone is asleep at the job. Personally, I don't worry too much since looking for all that is a useless distraction. Fortunately, they usually are fairly unusual.

I was watching The Artist tonight and when I looked at the trailer, the trailer music was an anachronism....Benny Goodman music from several years after the movie setting.

If it is a comedy using the anachronism for comedic effect, then I love it: Mel Brooks' comedies are full of them. If it is a mistake in a serious piece, then I hate it: wasn't there a Starbuck's cup visible in a shot of Game of Thrones?



I was watching The Artist tonight and when I looked at the trailer, the trailer music was an anachronism....Benny Goodman music from several years after the movie setting.
For the record, filmmakers rarely have anything to do with the trailers. Even when they do they are often cut before the final scoring and much more often than not use music that does not appear in the film.
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For the record, filmmakers rarely have anything to do with the trailers. Even when they do they are often cut before the final scoring and much more often than not use music that does not appear in the film.
Yeah, it's often fairly obvious that trailer makers are not movie directors. I recall reading an interview with a trailer person who said it was a great job because he could crank out a trailer real fast and didn't have all the headaches that come with really making a movie.



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I watched JFK (1991), with my aunt and the term "Motherf$%^er" was used and my aunt laughed, and said that that term did not exist in the 60s. Does that count as an anachronism, if she's right?



I watched JFK (1991), with my aunt and the term "Motherf$%^er" was used and my aunt laughed, and said that that term did not exist in the 60s. Does that count as an anachronism, if she's right?
Here's a short and fabulous Wikipedia entry for you, BOOM! (Link contains profanity!)

But this specific example aside, I would consider slang to be an example of an anachronism if it's used in a film portraying an era before that word became popular/commonly used. However, I find that people generally tend to overestimate how recent words are.



Sorry, censor nukes the URL too. But people can suss it out.

LOL. I put it in a hyperlink to shield sensitive eyes. It's now a wonderful part of my Google search history as well.

Anyway, the term dates back to the late 1800s and there are examples of it in letters, court transcripts, songs, and novels.




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Oh okay, interesting.

What about in movies that are set in the past where you think characters would be smoking but they are not? Does lack of smoking count as an anachronism? Like for example in Wonder Woman, no one in WWI smokes apparently.



Oh okay, interesting.

What about in movies that are set in the past where you think characters would be smoking but they are not? Does lack of smoking count as an anachronism? Like for example in Wonder Woman, no one in WWI smokes apparently.
I'd say yes and no. If it's a serious drama set in WWI then some characters should be smoking (and not smoking modern cigarettes), but a fanciful movie like Wonder Woman it doesn't matter.



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What about anachronisms done to be politically correct to a modern audience? For example in Robin Hood (2010), King John's wife looked like to be of an adult age, where as in real life she was only around 12 at the time, but the upped the age for PC reasons, I believe. Would that count as an anachronism?



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What about anachronisms done to be politically correct to a modern audience? For example in Robin Hood (2010), King John's wife looked like to be of an adult age, where as in real life she was only around 12 at the time, but the upped the age for PC reasons, I believe. Would that count as an anachronism?
No, thats not an example of anachronism.



What about anachronisms done to be politically correct to a modern audience? For example in Robin Hood (2010), King John's wife looked like to be of an adult age, where as in real life she was only around 12 at the time, but the upped the age for PC reasons, I believe. Would that count as an anachronism?
When it comes to films that are (loosely) based on history, filmmakers often change characters' ages, use actors with different hair/eye color, etc. The characters also don't speak with a Middle English pronunciation. Going back to a previous point I'd made, I wager their teeth look pretty good for a pre-flouride era. I bet that the Robin Hood of the film was also more skilled an archer than his "historical" counterpart.

Changing elements like this falls under dramatic license. An adult wife is not an anachronism--because there were adult wives during this time period. If it's factually established that a person was 12 at the time of her marriage and a filmmaker decides to use an adult actress in the role, you could argue that it's an historical inaccuracy. But in this case, Robin Hood is also a highly mythologized story anyway.

Perfect historical/period accuracy is not something that is universally to be praised. For example, would Captain America be a better film if half the characters walked around using racial slurs? Or if we got to hear anti-Semitic viewpoints regarding US involvement in WW2? Of course not. Sometimes historical reality is actually jarring to a modern audience and works against films that are asking for a certain type of escapism.