How do you define anachronism?

When learning just how to define anachronism, you will learn that the anachronism definition is: "something located at a time when it could not have existed or occurred." Often, movies are the bearers of interesting anachronisms. Many people watch movies and notice "goofs," or occurrences that were not just right for the plot, setting, or some other part of the movie.

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This is where anachronism examples come into play. For instance, if you are watching a movie, you may notice that a certain setting and time period is in place, but there are items that just do not belong in that same setting or time period. An interesting comical movie anachronism can be found in the movie Aladdin. This Disney movie featured a genie who, in his attempts to show off his powers, changed his face and body shape to parody many well-known people and figures of the twentieth century. The genie obviously had been trapped in his lamp for thousands of years, so his knowledge would most certainly be dated, hence the movie anachronisms that popped up when he decided to characterize himself as twentieth-century people.

In 1996, a movie came out that was a remake of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. The film starred Claire Danes and Leonardo DiCaprio. The story and overall plot stayed mainly intact, but the use of anachronisms was jarring to many who saw the film. Instead of swords, guns were used at times in the film for fight scenes. Also, there was a modern day setting for the film, but Shakespearean language and garb were still used for the purpose of maintaining some of the intricacies of Shakespeare's famous work.
Movies and television shows that take place in the future can have anachronistic tendencies as well. When you define anachronism, you come to understand it to mean that something is out of place in the time it is in, because it should not be existing or occurring in that time. In Back to the Future: Part II or the TV shows The Jetsons or Futurama, subtle anachronisms are hinted at throughout the viewing experience. In Back to the Future: Part II, Marty and Doc travel to the future and come upon several anachronisms. The year is 2015 in the movie, and since we know that is only several years off as of now, we can come to an almost certain conclusion that we will not have Hoverboards instead of skateboards, flying cars, or highways in the sky. Also, fax machines will probably not completely take over the sending of e-mail (when the movie was made in 1985, neither e-mail nor fax machines were too ubiquitous). In The Jetsons, futuristic videophones and other such items were in use before they became truly popular, and on Futurama, many of the jokes the show relies on deal with items that have become mostly obsolete taking the forefront in the show's running gags. So, you can define anachronism not only as items that are from the past and are out of place in the present or future, but as items that can be out of the future or present but have been placed in the past.

Use anachronism examples in your writing to spur on your thought process. Anachronisms do not necessarily have to take away from the legitimacy of your writing because they do not belong in the time period in which you are setting your story. They can add to the impressiveness of your story, poem, or other writing by inserting even more legitimacy. Find ways to insert anachronisms to fuel the fires that make your story intriguing and creative. Anachronisms make people think harder. They will entice your readers to read more as you shine light on items from the past, present, or future that add a sense of surrealism or uniqueness to your already superb writing repertoire.

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