# What was the most anachronistic thing you've seen in a fictional work that wasn't intentional or an accident? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 8, 2021, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956 "2021-11-08T03:28:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 14
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2022, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/261 "2022-02-23T19:04:58Z")
Grantchester is set in the 1950s near Cambridge. Black people would have been uncommon in a small village, but by no means impossible - lots arrived from the late 40 from Commonwealth countries to take jobs in transport, medication and other short-staffed fields (they were invited here and even had their journey paid for). People from the Indian subcontinent have also been pretty widespread in the UK since the 50s, and many work in the NHS, which means that some would have ended up living in small villages. Interracial dating in the 50s was highly frowned upon, but being friends and going out for a coffee wouldn’t have been weird in the slightest. ---
**Author:** ![mordecaiB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mordecaib/32/7725_2.png) [@mordecaiB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mordecaiB)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2022, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/262 "2022-02-25T20:23:00Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > Haven’t read the whole thread, but there’s a blooper in “Hurt Locker” and I have no idea if it’s deliberate or not. Early in the movie, an American soldier spots an Iraqi man with a video camera, and says, “He’s probably going to put this on You Tube.” Not possible, because that movie is set in the fall of 2004, and YT didn’t launch until early 2005. > > Also, in “127 Hours”, the main actor’s facial hair never changes. This looks vaguely familiar. Almost word for word. [Nov 8](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/24) > A lot of people thought “The Hurt Locker” was a documentary because it was shot on videotape, but there was a blooper that made that impossible. Early in the movie, a soldier is defusing an IED, and “There’s an Iraqi with a video camera; he’s probably going to put this on You Tube.” The movie is set in the fall of 2004, and You Tube didn’t debut until early 2005. > > Also, in the movie “127 Hours”, the actor’s facial hair never changes. > [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > The second episode was also a total fail. If anyone watched further and it gets better, please let me know. It doesn’t get any better, sorry. At least you saved yourself some time by quitting early. We watched four episodes. ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2022, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/263 "2022-02-25T22:10:28Z")
Speaking of _The Hurt Locker_---- In one scene a soldier is playing Gears of War on an Xbox 360. The Xbox 360 was released 2005; Gears of War was released November 2006. But the movie is set in Baghdad in 2004. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2022, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/264 "2022-02-25T23:11:26Z")
Yeah, we started watching the third episode but it was so ludicrous we turned it off. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2022, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/265 "2022-02-26T00:03:35Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > In **The Rifleman** , Lucas McCain (Chuck Connors) wears jeans, which is fine. But in one episode a view from behind shows “ **W** ” stitching on his back pocket. The scene was in 1880, but Wrangler didn’t sell jeans with the W stitching until 1940. ~deleted ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2022, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/266 "2022-02-26T01:42:44Z")
I have no idea what movie this was from, but not long ago, I saw a clip from a movie set in the 1960s. It showed a group of hippies, frolicking unclad. The women all had Brazilians. That was wrong on multiple levels. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2022, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/267 "2022-02-26T03:49:51Z")
That’s a total hoot! Did they also have shaved underarms? ETA: And how heavily was everyone tattooed? ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2022, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/268 "2022-02-26T03:57:13Z")
Yup. Everything below the neck. I didn’t notice tattoos, but I wasn’t really looking for them. ---
**Author:** ![Cayuga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Cayuga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cayuga)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2022, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/269 "2022-02-26T14:37:10Z")
I’ve read several articles in recent years about several different productions in which they had to provide merkins for actresses doing nude scenes. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2022, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/270 "2022-02-26T17:44:54Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Racquel Welch and the other cavepeople might be anachronistic, but I can look at Ms. Welch in a fur bikini for hours. That’s the reason she was in the movie. She was the bait for the target audience. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2022, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/271 "2022-02-27T03:25:17Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > Did they also have shaved underarms? Shaved underarms, on women only, would have been quite possible in the 1960’s; although hippies might not have shaved theirs, most women in the USA did. Men did not. Nobody, of any gender, shaved or trimmed their pubes in the 60’s. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2022, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/272 "2022-02-27T04:03:39Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > Nobody, of any gender, shaved or trimmed their pubes in the 60’s. Nitpick: I know how you meant it, but we all know rule 34, and people were into the shaved look certainly in the 60s, so there were people who trimmed their pubes. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2022, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/273 "2022-02-27T04:17:55Z")
You know, I almost modified that “nobody”, because I know better. Of course there was somebody. But it certainly wasn’t common practice. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2022, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/274 "2022-02-27T04:32:38Z")
In _Animal House_, which is set in 1962, a modern LED cash register which would be more appropriate for 1978 can be seen. [![](https://www.moviemistakes.com/images/mistakegrabs/401.jpg) ](https://www.moviemistakes.com/images/mistakegrabs/401.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2022, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/275 "2022-02-27T04:52:46Z")
Not Europe. > [@Broomstick](#): > > Add in those new fads of tobacco, coffee, and tea and people started having really mucked-up teeth from something like 1550 onward and it just got worse from there. > > Before that, and in places like the Americas and Australia before the Europeans arrived, you had crooked teeth because of the lack of braces, and they’d get yellowed with age, but yeah, in general better teeth than the invaders. Nope. Stone ground grain will wear down teeth to nubs. There are skeletons who apparently died from abscessed teeth. > [@nearwildheaven](#): > > Also, in “127 Hours”, the main actor’s facial hair never changes. \Yes it is amazing that men away from razors will grow a 3 day beard then stop. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2022, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/276 "2022-02-27T06:14:48Z")
I remember when _ **Playboy** _ started showing pubic hair in the late '60s and early '70s. It was a big deal. It wasn’t until the early '90s that I started seeing shaved pubes in any magazine. ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2022, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/277 "2022-02-27T12:16:10Z")
Wikipedia even has an article about this: > **[Pubic Wars](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pubic_Wars)** > > The Pubic Wars, a pun on the Punic Wars, was a rivalry between the pornographic magazines Playboy and Penthouse during the 1960s and 1970s. Each magazine strove to show just a little bit more than the other, without getting too crude. The term was coined by Playboy owner Hugh Hefner. In 1950s and 1960s America, it was generally agreed that nude photographs were not pornographic unless they showed pubic hair or genitals. "Respectable" photography was careful to come close to, but no Penthouse orig... ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2022, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/278 "2022-03-01T03:14:57Z")
And that would include movies featuring nude scenes with older actors and actresses. The most recent example I can think of was that skinny-dipping scene in “Nomadland.” As a post-menopausal woman myself, I can assure anyone who saw that, that Frances McDormand’s ladygarden probably does not really look like that. Of course, only William H. Macy would really NEED to know. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2022, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/279 "2022-03-01T04:08:39Z")
I caught an episode of _ **The Sister Boniface Mysteries** _ tonight, in which one of the female cast responded to a statement by saying “Roger that!” The show is set in the early 1950s, and I don’t recall ever hearing that phrase prior to Vietnam (and maybe even later). I think the first time I actually encountered it was in a Tom Clancy novel. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2022, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/280 "2022-03-01T04:32:03Z")
It was the bikini of course that eventually led to the bikini wax. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956.md?page=13) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956.md?page=15)