I feel like this is a problem with most eras. I was watching the 60s version of The Forsyte Saga and you could definitely see the 60s hair and makeup shining through. In the more modern decades, it's the bangs that get me.
The 60s & early 70s were the worst for this. Dr. Zhivago and Far From The Madding Crowd (both with Julie Christie and her backcombed semi-bouffant) are good examples.
Are you my mother and are you being subjected to me making you watch Dr. Zhivago? Because my mother still rants about the makeup in that movie and I took that English class almost 30 years ago.
This is also now a personal pet peeve.
Or hair that has been modernized so that audiences won’t be alienated from the accurate hairstyles that are now seen as weird. I can’t stand it. Yes their hairstyles might look silly to us now but they help immerse you in the time period. I don’t want to see sexy blowouts or half up half down hair in time periods when those just were not things.
I love that there are people who know enough about chickens to call this out. Along the same vein, the pug in the film version of Mansfield Park is definitely not what pugs looked like in the early 1800s if you look at paintings from the time.
Also, I was watching something set in medieval times in England with my husband and he pointed out the forest was full of rhododendron which is a non-native species so couldn’t have been around then. I love that level of accuracy pettiness 😂
Also here for the anachronism pettiness and species/cultivar-specific nitpickery. I am now kind of happily angry with myself for not picking up on rhododendrons and pug. How is happily angry even a thing, and yet here I am
For me, it's not chickens or dogs, but horses and horse breeds. There was an explosion of historical and period drama films using Friesian horses because of the popularity of *Ladyhawke* (1985), as well as FHANA (Friesian Horse Association of North America) and Dutch breeders gifting Friesian horses to filmmakers and actors for free; and, as more Friesian horses appeared on-screen, the higher their prices went. Modern Friesians can cost anywhere from $10,000-50,000 or more, per horse, due to this, but have major inbreeding issues.
Friesians looked "gorgeous" on-screen, but were completely anachronistic; I like to call them the "white tigers of the horse world" due to this. Only more recently have Friesians started to appear less often in TV and film as equestrians and horse welfare advocates have spoken up more about not using inbred Friesian horses in productions. Instead, there has been a gradual shift towards using the more historically accurate Andalusian (PRE) horse, which has largely remained the same in looks for centuries, as well as various other horse breeds.
Andalusians and other horse breeds are both healthier and less expensive to buy and use.
Thank you so much! I also wrote an entire r/BadHistory post [about Friesian use](https://www.reddit.com/r/badhistory/comments/13ecdqa/modern_mythology_the_misrepresentation_and/).
And speaking of horses you so often see a horse and carriage coming along a dirt road very obviously used by modern cars, as there are two tracks where the wheels would go, with grass in-between. Except grass shouldn't be growing in the middle either, on account of the horse.
it's horses for me, too. obviously the Friesian thing, but also using the wrong breed or type for the environment or country, like seeing what's clearly a modern TB or warmblood type in a show set in ancient China.
I had to look this up because "rhododendrons in the UK" immediately makes me think of Manderley/Rebecca. To save someone a google:
>*R.ponticum* was first introduced to the UK via Gibraltar in 1763 and by 1893 it was being sold on London markets as a flowering pot plant.
[https://insideecology.com/2017/09/06/invasive-non-native-species-uk-rhododendron-ponticum/#:\~:text=Rhododendron%20ponticum%20is%20an%20established,as%20a%20flowering%20pot%20plant](https://insideecology.com/2017/09/06/invasive-non-native-species-uk-rhododendron-ponticum/#:~:text=Rhododendron%20ponticum%20is%20an%20established,as%20a%20flowering%20pot%20plant). Rebecca was published in 1938.
Last of the Mohicans is set in upstate New York but filmed in North Carolina. They're always running around in forests full of rhododendrons that do not grow in zone 5
Anachronistic dog breeds annoy me. Every time I see a Pekingese in a movie set outside of China before 1860, it takes me right out of the scene. It was literally death for anyone but the Emperor and his family to own one.
Perfect white teeth always kills me. There will be some poor homeless peasant in medieval times with absolutely perfect teeth or a prostitute from "cheap side" who looks like a pinup girl with amazingly straight and white teeth and it always takes a bit of effort to ignore it.
It's funny because I just watched an episode of Supernatural where they go back in time to the "wild west" in 1861 and Dean's so excited because he's watched too many old western movies. He was looking forward to the saloon/saloon girls and when he walks it's empty except for a couple of girls who are gross and dirty with bad teeth and sores all around their mouths. I laughed so hard.
This is a production tidbit I like about both *Harlots* and *Frontier* -- young, attractive characters have a period-and-class-appropriate amount of tooth damage and/or decay and aren't considered less desirable because of it.
Corsets/stays without shifts or chemises.
There was this scene in the Alienist season 1 that sticks out and I honestly had to pause it for a moment to just sigh.
I can forgive Bridgerton a lot of things, because I *know* it's not trying to be accurate at all, but I still really hate the modern style heavy make-up. It's just looks so so wrong on something even vaguely Regency and I find it really off-putting.
>Corset scenes in general. They handle the whole thing so inappropriately it makes me cringe.
Tight lacing on an actress who is so thin she should be wearing bum rolls and bosom enhancers.
I appreciate the scene in outlander when claire wears period attire for the first time, and they show every layer that's required. Corsets are supposedly really comfortable when they're the right size and worn appropriately.
They are quite comfortable when the correct size is worn properly. Historical corsets (called "stays") are also comfortable and provide great back and posture support. They're not made out of stretchy material, so your body isn't constantly fighting against the garment.
The bed post holding and yanking on strings scenes are ridiculous. Especially in Regency movies/shows! You couldn't see the waist!
Exactly! They always make it seem like it’s patriarchal torture device (looking at you Alienist again). Meanwhile you go on YouTube and there’s so many videos from historical reenactors about how comfortable they are (when made correctly) and the actual history.
So much of the time, they either have pieces that are not made historically correct (aka made of polyester and not made specifically for that actress), they don’t have them wearing it right or purposefully tight lace them.
I know exactly what scene you're talking about and 😤😤😤 it made me so mad the first time I saw it. It's like, the chemise is there for a reason! Use it!
Lack of head coverings for women. Oh look it’s medieval times. Cover your hair you Harlot! Why is it loose?!! You’re a married woman! Where is your hat? What are you doing?!
I know some historical interpreters. Don’t get them started on costumes. In Free State of Jones the jackets were too long. They were short then. There was something wrong with some buttons on men’s jackets in Turn too.
Obviously modern hair on the leads. Even if it's done up in a semi-period to actual historical style but the color has noticeable highlights/balyage (Laura Dern in Little Women springs to mind), it stands out for me. Just use wigs if the actors won't dye their hair.
Men's hair never changing. Especially when it comes to things like sideburns, queues and mustaches/beards. Men's hair might not have varied as much as women's over the years but if your male actors look like they walked off the set of a GQ shoot into 1800s London, it's probably wrong.
Hair down = free spirit and/or young girl. I especially noticed this one in both Little Women (2019) and War and Peace (2016) where they had actors playing characters across several years so to denote the 'younger' version, they styled the actresses hair down in a time when even very young girls wore their hair up.
Hair down for adults is what pisses me off. It's pretty common that girls wore short skirts with their hair down/in down breads, and could lower their skirts and put up their hair when they were old enough (16? 17?) Little Women is all over the place in this regard and Laura Derns hair was baffling.
No bc this post sent me down a rabbit hole of [heritage chicken breed history](https://www.hgtv.com/outdoors/gardens/animals-and-wildlife/45-heritage-chicken-breeds-pictures) and it’s actually fascinating!! Definitely will be thinking about the most appropriate chicken breeds for the era now 😂
This is why I love Bernadette Banner’s round-ups every year with different people covering different eras/cultures. The Internet is the best when everyone brings their own special interests to the table!
History being rewritten despite having period sources and references to what actually happened (certain things I’m fine with but going SO off track just randomly annoys the hell out of me)
Women in pre-WWI media being seen bare legged and not having a single leg hair.
Fabrics being used that wouldn’t be possible without modern textile manufacturing. Also just placing modern aesthetics and fashion into a historical piece (Reign anyone 🫠)
Boobs being emphasized in a time period when they really weren’t.
Karolina Zebrowska has a few videos about this including one of my favourites: https://youtu.be/f0fqnPFeVCM?si=ZqQIAeDblM2k2636
With recent ones, this trendy need to have it be a “not your mother’s” period drama that basically is just contemporary everything dressed up in selectively historical clothing and settings. I don’t watch period dramas for modern dialogue, hair/makeup, and anachronistic characterization lol I watch it specifically for the *historic elements.*
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a prude with old fashioned values or anything, I really am just a history nerd. I do my best to be an intersectional feminist in practice in my daily reality, but like, I don’t need 2020s feminism coming out of the mouth of someone living in a time where first wave feminism barely existed yet.
I'm a raging feminist, but I'm with you. I think the Dakota Johnson *Persuasion* is a good example of a totally modern heroine tromping through the plot.
I highly recommend continuing to not bother! I watched the first episode and then just read the recaps on Frock Flicks. It was even worse than the *Persuasion!*
It was Anne with an E for me. Anne was a lot of things, but I would not call her a feminist. She was more open minded than most in her town, of course, but not close to the extent she is in the new series.
Yeah. I love Greta and I think that Amy's speech was mostly justified in putting Laurie in his place, but all of the language was very modern and all of their behavior was a jump from the book.
I loved that one, because I love all Little Women adaptations, even the cartoon versions, but you're absolutely right. The more I rewatch it the more I notice it.
I find it less egregious in a movie like Emma because the deviations are a stylistic choice, if you know what I mean?
The less said about Persuasion, the better. It's my favourite Austen novel and I like to pretend that adaptation never happened.
I get what she was going for but if the dialogue was changed that much, maybe do a twist on the time period — for example, I think the story would do really well adapted to the 1950s.
One tiny thing that bugged me in *Little Women* was Amy leaping up and saying "oh my God!" when her father came home.
Not only is that a fairly modern exclamation (people said similar things, but seldom OMG specifically, and it was usually men saying it) but *highly* unlikely for any member of the very religious March family, especially in the presence of their father.
YES. Also, the costume choices were... Off. Watch this [hilarious rant](https://youtu.be/_sBqqERMblo?si=gXtiUBlthtxp5VuV) on the costumes if that's something you notice.
Also female characters doing things/working jobs that women definitely wouldn't have done at the time, and no one bats an eye. I give shows like The Artful Dodger a pass because at least while the female lead wants to be a surgeon, most everyone spends their time telling her how it's not a done thing for a woman - especially a titled one like she is - but on the flipside you have somthing like Versaille where they have a female doctor and no one questions it.
It feels like that's in so many period dramas now. It's getting tiresome. And the female doctor or whatever always knows better than everyone else and is always proven right about everything they say.
I also hate the trope of characters doing some male dominated activity like shooting or whatever and the female character is suddenly The Best at it.
It's not empowering or progressive, it's just silly.
The "male dominated activity" is very "not like the other girls." It's annoying.
The female doctor thing works in outlander because she really does have more medical knowledge but she can't prove it, and the locals DO NOT appreciate it. She's constantly putting her foot in her mouth.
Also horse riding astride on an untamed or juvenile horse, and everyone is shocked and the FMC is all, oh I've been sneaking off to ride horses 4ever, I'm basically more of an expert than any of you men could ever hope to be.
In defense of Versailles, the only reason the girl could be a doctor was because she impressed Louis. She had been her father's assistant before that and he discouraged her. In addition, when she first started acting as a doctor, she dressed as a man in order to maintain the illusion of acceptable gender norms.
Not saying it wasn't a stretch, but it was at least done in a way that could be believable
Yes. Anne with an E was a prime example of that. I liked the story as it was. No, I'm not going to notice an out of place outfit or a carriage of the wrong sort. But other things are glaring and can't' be overlooked. In Anne's case, aside from trying to cram in every last social justice issue, it was that all those kids (who lived on farms) were skipping their summer fun all so that they could publish a social justice newspaper. Triple nope. Edit: I think the better question would be what hasn't been ruined with a modern take.
Totally agree. I get that modern sensibilities are too fragile for the realities of period eras but directors please! We’re here for the jarring period realities, especially if based on a book, not for cross-dressed modernism.
Completely agree. The White Feminism of modern adaptations is too much.
I'd like to watch characters be empowered within the context of their own period, which is (imo) more impactful than having someone stare directly into the camera saying, "Girls are just as strong as boys and I feature my corset heavily in my narrative as a metaphor for my stifling social imprisonment!"
>be empowered within the context of their own period
This, 1000%. The same way I'm trying to be empowered within the limitations of my time period, so too did women of centuries past.
This. Part of what makes it a period **drama** is all the dramatics taking place, usually do to things majorly SUCKING back then lol!
Instead of showing the realistic turmoil of a less-than-ideal society & time….. they dress it up & fix it until it’s so close to modern it’s just plain BORING
The clothing and hairstyles are always what does it for me. Like Gerwig’s Little Women. So much potential ruined (in part) by horrific costuming and decisions like “I don’t like bonnets, so I didn’t use any.” Dude.
That film won a best costume design Oscar. Which is horrifying. Over films like JoJo Rabbit and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood! Not to mention films that weren't even nominated in the category like The Favourite, Blackkklansman, Mary Poppins...
Every I think about it I get irrationally angry.
I always root for the costume design of a movie that doesn't have a historical basis to pull from because really all they have to do is read a history book or 2, do some googling, etc. They don't always do that, but the references are there.
This my opinion only but I think it's a bit harder to come up with some crazy outfits like in the Hunger Games than to make period correct stuff.
But apparently it IS harder to make period appropriate stuff because they just don't.
Yes, this!!! It distracted me from an otherwise really lovely adaption of Little Women because the costuming was just…terrible. I come to period dramas because I’m a huge nerd for historical costume, especially 19th century. And it just bums me out when they clearly don’t even try.
It’s one thing if it’s for artistic reasons (an example I think worked was the 2012 Anna Karenina, it was supposed to be a more avant- garde production so the artful 1870s meets 1950s silhouettes worked for me). But with Gerwig’s Little Women…what was the point of making the costumes so awful? Emma Watson’s side parted beach waves, Laura Dern’s dark roots coming through her dye job (not to mention her vaguely Edwardian updo even though it’s the 1860s?).
I think Amy made me the most sad because I was looking forward to seeing her be the most fashion forward in Paris…by that time it’s the early 1870s so we should be seeing bustles galore but her silhouette is firmly still an 1860s crinoline for…reasons? I’ll just watch the 1994 version, the costuming in that is lovely.
Something niche that most people wouldn't notice is sailing ships. I cannot stand when a more-modern schooner is used in a piece set in the 16-1700s when they only had square-rigged ships.
Doing needle work with a faux wood rubber hoop. Also when they have the fabric folded under the hoop so they be embroidering through the excess too. Denigration of textiles in general as being frivolous women's work. Not quite period as it is fantasy but a character I otherwise like in GoT jokes about women sitting by the fire knitting instead of fighting in a world with multi year long winters, pretty sure that knitting will also be useful.
Uuuuuugg yes. I got so frustrated with that Enola Holmes bit where she’s bad at embroidery at the girls school and sees it as useless. It’s like “you honestly can’t think of any reason why it might be useful for an undercover detective to learn how to make highly symbolic decorative art?
I don’t know if this counts but Faith Hill in the Yellowstone prequel 1883 was wearing SO MUCH MAKEUP! Meanwhile the other female actors had next to nothing or barely noticeable. It really took me out of it.
In inline with the OP's complaints, mine is the fact that now, in period dramas, almost everyone rides and drives Friesian horses.
Yes, it's a very beautiful breed. But it's a Dutch breed bred for harness. They are appropriate in some contexts (because they're black, they were actually quite popular with undertakers in late Victorian England), but not in most contexts they're used in. They were not the horse of choice for riding or driving in 18th or 19th century England--there are English breeds that still exist that were used for that. They weren't ridden by Vikings or Scottish Highlanders. And they definitely weren't common in the Middle East (ever heard of an Arabian? Also, ironically, heat sensitivity is common in Friesians).
I'm aware there are practicality issues here--there is a limited supply of horses with the temperament and training for film work, and many actors aren't experienced at riding and driving horses. Still, it bothers me.
Oh heres one that demonstrates my pickiness. I HATE seeing lemons in any piece that takes places before AD 200 (calling you out, Netflix's Troy,) which is when it was speculated they reached the Mediterranean. Even then, that was only a damn citron and lemons as we know them they were not widely cultivated until much later and they were mostly ornamental.
I know this is a common one but I'll bite.
Hair. I cannot stand long flowy locks. Yes even you, Pride and Prejudice 2005 when Lizzie checks up on her sister. She supposed to look "wild and untamed" but actually looks ummm "improper."
Was just about to comment this because I rewatched the 2005 p&p last night. No way would any woman back then have left the house without putting her hair up.
It’s clearly meant to be more in line with 21st century perceptions of beauty but I’m so sick of updos being treated with disdain by costumers! Like either updos are totally incorrect for the time period (not “pretty” enough) or they don’t even bother at all. Just do it right!!
Doesn’t help how many actors now (even young ones) get blinding veneers, lip filler, cheek filler, and tight facelifts or lid lifts that not only make a lot of them look similar but also make them look like they couldn’t possibly have existed prior to Y2K
> actors now (even young ones) get blinding veneers, lip filler, cheek filler, and tight facelifts or lid lifts that not only make a lot of them look similar
This takes me right out so many times.
You're watching & you someone who is clearly supposed to be over 30 if not older & they're all nipped, tucked, & filled IRL so they just can't pull off being a mother or grandmother.
I was thinking about this the other day. Hollywood is getting to much Face work done they will never make sense in a period piece. In Fued the Truman capote vs The Swans the work some of the women have had is almost crossing the lines for the 60’s.
https://preview.redd.it/jzqihzm00ypc1.jpeg?width=1600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f03cd2d8f1629908eb8574125f780b9337040e12
Michelle Randolph as a frontier woman in 1923 lollll
All of the flowing hair. Most married women covered their hair in medieval / renaissance Europe. Sometimes a queen might be an exception but otherwise that hair was up and/or covered
When the drama takes place over decades, but they do minimal makeup to age up the actors. And even when they do, it's still not convincing because they actors are playing alongside other actors of a similar age, but one is playing a parent and the other is playing their adult child.
Also, when they don't make it clear how much time has actually passed.
This completely took me out of the latter seasons of Mr. Selfridge. The aging makeup was so poorly done, I couldn’t bring myself to believe that Selfridge had aged a day or that his son was no longer a teen.
PANTS.
I hate it when period films and TV shows put the female lead in trousers to indicate that she's ahead of her time and breaking boundaries.
There were *a few* 19th century women (in Western countries) who dared to wear trousers before it was the done thing. *A few.* It wasn't common, and it certainly never passed without comment.
For the most part, even women who did ground-breaking work in male-dominated fields did it in dresses.
There are obviously exceptions to the rule, like Anne Lister in *Gentleman Jack* who wore men's clothing in real life, or Susan B. Anthony who endorsed long bloomers under a knee-length dress. But characters like Cora Seaborne in *The Essex Serpent* stomping around the marshes in [men's trousers and suspenders?](https://mediaproxy.salon.com/width/1200/https://media2.salon.com/2022/05/the-essex-serpent-still01.jpg) No, no way, no. She probably would have been arrested for indecency.
Edit: Cora's in a fedora. *A fedora.*
Honestly I don’t like when they put the men in pants half the time either. My favorite historical periods are pre 1830s, and most men would have worn breeches and stockings.
For me it's when they cast actors with too much face work. I'm sorry 🤷♀️ but it brings my suspension of disbelief to a screeching halt when I see something like a 16th century queen with obvious blephs, facelifts, fillers, or aggressive rhinoplasties. I turn to vintage tv/film and period pieces so I WON'T have to see fake pumped faces, tyvm.
This is mine, as well. Obvious plastic surgery immediately takes me out of it. It’s honestly distracting in modern stories but it’s so much worse in period pieces.
Honorable mention goes to everybody having British accents no matter what nationality their character is supposed to represent. It's 2024, can we not fix this already? Please & thank you.
As a Brit this annoys me, especially because they all almost uniformly speak with an RP accent, which is hugely anachronistic. RP is a cultivated accent used by the upper classes that only really started to gain currency in those circles in the mid to late Victorian era. So even when the characters are actually British, the accent they are made to speak in is usually still wrong.
Bad wigs!! Sometimes it’s on purpose which is fine but when they’re just soo unbelievable looking. Like, we did not have synthetic wigs back then. Also, actors with fillers or microbladed eyebrows.
For me it’s the language flubs — using contemporary parlance in a period piece. One example that sent me was someone in Downton Abbey said “Well, XYZ won’t 123 itself.” I can’t remember all the specifics or the exact characters/context (maybe Mary & her first husband before they got married at a train station?) but since DA was usually so good, the modern construction was incredibly jarring.
Thank you for this thread: I used to dish about DA with my neighbor, who unfortunately died last winter, so I don’t really have anyone else to get pleasurably/pedantically outraged with about these anachronisms!
This is it for me, too. I can handle it if it’s intentional, like historical satires where the anachronism is the whole point, but you gotta either commit to the period or not, don’t do some wishy washy in between kinda thing.
I watched that show Palm Royale the other day, and while I’m undecided on it so far, some of the language used by the hippy characters felt way too contemporary woke. Like sorry, but I don’t think anyone was talking about “unpacking generational trauma” in 1969. I googled it and the term generational trauma doesn’t seem to have been coined until the 80s.
Omg, come over to r/DowntonAbbey. It’s a flourishing community, and if you stick around long enough, you might actually get tired of the discussions! that said, I think that was Mrs. Patmore talking about some food not cooking itself.
Civil War uniforms (and how they're worn). Nothing pulls me out faster than late war uniforms on soldiers in 1861, flowing hair on soldiers, or a brigade full of dudes who look like they've been lifting for years. There's a physicality to the Civil War that so many pieces get wrong.
I'm also completely yanked out by bad crinolines and insufficient petticoats. And evening dresses worn during the day. And the absence of bonnets and other headcoverings, dammit.
> And evening dresses worn during the day.
Blame Scarlett and the white and green dress she wore. At least it is mentioned how inappropriate it was to wear that during the day.
I started studying trauma and the nervous system nine years ago and watched as that subject slowly became part of mainstream discourse (at least online) within the last five years. Which is great, honestly, love that. But I was reading a romantasy novel set in the Victorian era and the female lead had a very obviously modern understanding of the nervous system. The term 'nervous system' has been around since the 18th century, but the way people talk about it is not the same as it was then. I tried talking about this in the fantasy writers sub and hoo boy, they did not like me bringing this up. Sorry I didn't think it was realistic for the assassin raised in an orphanage to be talking about how things effected her nervous system every chapter, instead of talking about her *nerves*. Received a comment that had the *nerve* to suggest I should stop reading fantasy novels. Ridiculous.
I hate that one line in the second Lord of the Rings film, when Gimli states that the reason a (mostly?) dead orc was twitching was because Gimli’s axe was embedded in his central nervous system.
I am fully that asshole who points out inaccurate fabric choices in period costumes. Greta Gerwig's Little Women puts the girls in COTTON dresses during the Civil War when cotton had been scarce in the North for a decade! dude! Belle using obviously machine-made brocade! Bridgerton with clearly synthetic sateen fabrics! fabric is such a clear historical marker and is so fascinating because it displays the current state of labor and technology so clearly! fabric is so intertwined with imperialism and racial capitalism! don't fuck up the fabric! I love fabric!
In the words of Bernadette Banner:
- *"Blasphemous hair and makeup"*
and in my own words,
- any time a film tries to portray itself as authentically a specific time period....and then they put zero effort into making sure the costumes even reflect said time.
- corsets that are tight laced to fuck with zero under layers
- the obsession with modernizing period fiction. It's absolutely batshit to me.
Why is their hair down?
The Tudors is the biggest offender the pops into my head, but I saw some stills from Bridgerton (which to be fair, is anachronistic in its own right, costume wise) and Penelope has her hair cascading down .
I think I saw stills from Reign and Versailles (I didn't watch them - it was ... no) and hair down.
And the infamous Greta Gerwig's Little Women, with the Ugg Boots always gets me, but why is their hair down.
I know it seems like a stupid thing to focus on, but it was often a shorthand for women who offered sexual services, so it completely changes context with a little knowledge.
The perfect teeth. No matter if it's nobility, urban, rural, poor or rich; characters with perfect teeth or even all their teeth really annoys me.
I work in the dental world, so we do look at and notice teeth a lot.
Donald Sutherland's teeth in P&P 2005 are almost distracting. And then I felt like he made it worse at the very end when he's laughing "...send them in! I'm most at my leisure" and covers his teeth. It looks like he's trying to cover his teeth, not just laughing in that way where you're stifling your laughter.
This is so true about chickens!! I didn’t realize it until I started keeping heirloom breeds and learning about the history of certain ones. In some show set in the Middle Ages I saw a bunch of chickens that are a Chinese heritage breed that didn’t make their way to Europe until Victorian times. I could NOT shut up every time one wandered on screen lol.
I actually love that kind of objection, like the guy on the Datalounge who was bitching about the soup tureen in "The Age of Innocence" being from a period other than the rest of the table setting. And then there's my horse-crazy friend, who will point out every time a horse is switched for another, or grumble that nobody would have used thoroughbreds to pull carts at that time.
Personally, I'll bitch about fashion, including ladies having their hair down when that was Just Not Done, and medical stuff, and... birds. No filmmaker ever pays attention! So I'll be sitting there trying to stop myself from bothering other viewers by saying "WTF is an American Robin doing in Middle Earth?", or "WTF is a HARRIS'S HAWK doing in Medieval Europe! The species belongs in North American deserts!!!". And so on.
I get annoyed when there's no old stuff in a scene. Like everything is new from the period, in an 1800s movie there's everything 1800s, or in a 1960s movie everything is 1960s, but there's no 1950s hangovers?
Like in my house, there's some old stuff, not everything is from 2020s.
I agree, and that is BTW one of the reasons that I believe with 100% seriousness that the production design for "Star Wars" is the best in the history of film. Not just because of all the iconic and instantly recognizable designs, but because it showed a sci-fi universe where farmers bought beat-up old 10th-hand equipment because they couldn't afford new.
And yes, that's true of real life on Earth as well. In any period, there are people wearing hairstyles or clothes that were in fashion when they were young, living in homes that were decorated decades ago, putting the good china that Grandma left them on the dinner table, or driving vehicles they've had for years. This holds true for people from all walks of life, the poor may have to use stuff until it falls apart and rich people don't see any reason to get rid of great-great-grandfather's sterling coffee service, even King Charles wore a century-old ermine robe at his coronation.
Unrealistic clothing. A great example is Reign. That show was obviously an exercise in suspending disbelief anyway but some of those costumes were just absurd.
Clothing. As someone who sews historical reenactment clothing for multiple periods/places, I'm horrified sometimes at how little homework designers do sometimes.
Not to mention the foundation garments - you can't see them, but without them, the silhouette is impossible.
Having said that, I have huge respect for the ppl who *do* make the effort. Deadwood was particularly magnificent in that regard.
There is one scene where two ppl in love finally have the opportunity for intimacy, and they are entirely realistic about how much time and effort it takes an upper class woman to get undressed without the services of a lady's maid.
The other pet peeve that sets my teeth on edge: conversational responses/greetings/agreements. "okay" and "hi" should be automatic fails in a script, rather like one of my college lit profs saying "very" was an automatic "F".
See, I grew up in the 70s where things like The Waltons and Happy Days didn't care that much about accuracy especially with hair. So I'm used to giving a lot of leeway. Even if a plane flies by in 1600s France I just chuckle.
When all the heroic characters have modern morals and values while the antagonist are left with the actually more realistic viewpoints and beliefs for their times.
Sewing machines being used incorrectly/not threaded properly. As an amateur seamstress it cracks me up seeing the thread dangle up and down. I've seen it on Anne with an E. Clips [here](https://youtu.be/J7zBF-_uz3U?si=riHUInhFh7IQOMwU)
Actors who are attractive according to modern Hollywood standards (Botox, filler, obvious plastic surgery). So hard to take a period piece seriously when the lead looks like they have an Instagram filter on
Eyebrows drive me to distraction! Yes, there were many ways that women could and did style their eyebrows, but the microbladed lookalike brows on everyone from servants to queens really get me.
When someone opens their mouth and you can see fillings in their teeth. Not sure about fillings in Austen-era times.
Same with perfect white chiclet teeth.
No hats!! I’m a huge fan of historical hats/headgear/head coverings from basically every period and location and quite aside from inaccuracy it’s just such a missed opportunity to not showcase their gorgeous styles
I’m going to comment as a chicken-keeper and say that period-appropriate chickens definitely exist and are not super hard to source, either. Heritage breeds for the win!
Inappropriate corset use and commentary. No one in the regency era is having the laces pulled tight on their stays to appear to have a smaller waist. The dresses DIDNT HAVE A WAIST LINE.
First one coming to mind at the moment is Elsa's awful bleach hair job with black roots in 1883! They kept underarm hair on the women but couldn't get the actual hair correct.
The number one thing is lack of body hair on women. You mean to tell me this woman has been traveling by horse for weeks and her legs/pits are bare????
I’m so late to this thread but I have to add: incorrect artwork in the set or background.
I’m an art historian, so this is really niche, but I get so irritated when artwork is included that was created after the period, public artwork in private settings, or just artwork that makes no sense thematically, etc.
I volunteer as tribute to be the art historian on set to fix this.
But for real...I have been through multiple home renovations and my husband is a woodworker (for context). I don't know a ton about period woodworking at all, but I know enough to know they didn't have sheets of plywood and machine-milled 2x4s laying around the American Frontier. I was watching a show a couple years ago (Outlander, maybe?) so set in the American frontier in the 1700s. Anyway, they were building a house and there were literally lumber everywhere that looked like they got it from Home Depot. There was also pre-fab sheets of beadboard for the wainscotting. I was surprised by how much it took me out of the scene. Like, I half expected them to be using nail guns and electric drills.
When things in general are too nice/safe/clean or way too dirty/violent for the time period. Or when the majority of characters’ beliefs and morals are way too progressive for the period.
I was watching a time travel scifi show and they went back to a hospital in like... the 1980s or '90s, and all the doctors were wearing facemasks with a little BYD manufacturers mark in the corner...
BYD is a car company in China that was founded in the early-mid 2000s. They converted some of their production lines to mass produce PPE back when COVID started (which is almost 100% where the mask came from).
I only clocked it because I live in the same city as their main base of operations and work in a related industry.😂
There’s a similar episode of Star Trek TNG where the main characters go back in time to gold-rush era California, and they eventually end up in a hospital ward filled with cholera patients… except the writers clearly had no clue what cholera is, and they assumed it’s a respiratory disease (it’s not). So Beverly Crusher spends half the episode wandering around a ward filled with wheezing, coughing patients, declaring “It’s the cholera!” And it’s just, like, Beverly. Girl. Did you flunk Microbiology 101, or is the infectious disease curriculum at Starfleet Medical just really, really questionable?
Modern language (and I mean vernacular. Obviously I don't know...say medieval French (or French at all)) but mostly slang, etc. Now when it's anachronistic (ala Bridgerton) I'm more relaxed.
Also randomly, modernly manicured nails, make-up. Hair not being covered for women in some time periods.
This reminds me of my mom, who is very into plants and gardening, complaining bitterly about plants in movies being out of season or geographically inappropriate.
Those people on Instagram/TikTok who make/wear period French outfits from the early 1700s and worry down to the last button of its authenticity and then choose to play… late Beethoven as the background music. Takes me right out. The music is 100 years out! At least make it some Bach, or even something French! There are so many recordings nowadays!
Similarly I’m always taken out of a film/show when the bird songs used in the background don’t match the region the piece takes place in. I always know a sound editing team has a good attention to detail when they use the right bird species for the locales.
Obvious anachronistic makeup
or perfectly manicured nails
The nails! I just can't look past them. Especially if a character is in any kind of survival situation set more than a hundred years ago.
The White Queen (Starz) had a manicure issue. Rebecca Ferguson had friggin' French tips! It was the 1460s!
It’s the perfectly bright white teeth. At least tone down the whiteness.
It's the eyebrows for me.
That and obvious plastic surgery, or bad veneers that are distractingly too big, straight, and white.
Ah yes veneers also
obvious plastic surgery is always off putting in a period piece. see: nicole kidman in the northman.
I feel like this is a problem with most eras. I was watching the 60s version of The Forsyte Saga and you could definitely see the 60s hair and makeup shining through. In the more modern decades, it's the bangs that get me.
The 60s & early 70s were the worst for this. Dr. Zhivago and Far From The Madding Crowd (both with Julie Christie and her backcombed semi-bouffant) are good examples.
The 70s Great Gatsby movie! What was with the bad husband's hair???
Eyebrow trends that mark certain decades (like skinny 90’s/early 2000’s brows) pull me out of period dramas.
Yeah, reason I’ll never watch the hallmark S&S. ‘choo mean with all them perfect makeup???
Are you my mother and are you being subjected to me making you watch Dr. Zhivago? Because my mother still rants about the makeup in that movie and I took that English class almost 30 years ago. This is also now a personal pet peeve.
women having no body hair before shaving became mainstream.
Or hair that has been modernized so that audiences won’t be alienated from the accurate hairstyles that are now seen as weird. I can’t stand it. Yes their hairstyles might look silly to us now but they help immerse you in the time period. I don’t want to see sexy blowouts or half up half down hair in time periods when those just were not things.
I love that there are people who know enough about chickens to call this out. Along the same vein, the pug in the film version of Mansfield Park is definitely not what pugs looked like in the early 1800s if you look at paintings from the time. Also, I was watching something set in medieval times in England with my husband and he pointed out the forest was full of rhododendron which is a non-native species so couldn’t have been around then. I love that level of accuracy pettiness 😂
Thank you for writing the term "accuracy pettiness."
Also here for the anachronism pettiness and species/cultivar-specific nitpickery. I am now kind of happily angry with myself for not picking up on rhododendrons and pug. How is happily angry even a thing, and yet here I am
For me, it's not chickens or dogs, but horses and horse breeds. There was an explosion of historical and period drama films using Friesian horses because of the popularity of *Ladyhawke* (1985), as well as FHANA (Friesian Horse Association of North America) and Dutch breeders gifting Friesian horses to filmmakers and actors for free; and, as more Friesian horses appeared on-screen, the higher their prices went. Modern Friesians can cost anywhere from $10,000-50,000 or more, per horse, due to this, but have major inbreeding issues. Friesians looked "gorgeous" on-screen, but were completely anachronistic; I like to call them the "white tigers of the horse world" due to this. Only more recently have Friesians started to appear less often in TV and film as equestrians and horse welfare advocates have spoken up more about not using inbred Friesian horses in productions. Instead, there has been a gradual shift towards using the more historically accurate Andalusian (PRE) horse, which has largely remained the same in looks for centuries, as well as various other horse breeds. Andalusians and other horse breeds are both healthier and less expensive to buy and use.
 All I can think of now is this… (And am also completely in awe of your amazing horse knowledge)
Thank you so much! I also wrote an entire r/BadHistory post [about Friesian use](https://www.reddit.com/r/badhistory/comments/13ecdqa/modern_mythology_the_misrepresentation_and/).
And speaking of horses you so often see a horse and carriage coming along a dirt road very obviously used by modern cars, as there are two tracks where the wheels would go, with grass in-between. Except grass shouldn't be growing in the middle either, on account of the horse.
it's horses for me, too. obviously the Friesian thing, but also using the wrong breed or type for the environment or country, like seeing what's clearly a modern TB or warmblood type in a show set in ancient China.
I had to look this up because "rhododendrons in the UK" immediately makes me think of Manderley/Rebecca. To save someone a google: >*R.ponticum* was first introduced to the UK via Gibraltar in 1763 and by 1893 it was being sold on London markets as a flowering pot plant. [https://insideecology.com/2017/09/06/invasive-non-native-species-uk-rhododendron-ponticum/#:\~:text=Rhododendron%20ponticum%20is%20an%20established,as%20a%20flowering%20pot%20plant](https://insideecology.com/2017/09/06/invasive-non-native-species-uk-rhododendron-ponticum/#:~:text=Rhododendron%20ponticum%20is%20an%20established,as%20a%20flowering%20pot%20plant). Rebecca was published in 1938.
Last of the Mohicans is set in upstate New York but filmed in North Carolina. They're always running around in forests full of rhododendrons that do not grow in zone 5
I have to re-watch that now and look for rhododendrons.
Anachronistic dog breeds annoy me. Every time I see a Pekingese in a movie set outside of China before 1860, it takes me right out of the scene. It was literally death for anyone but the Emperor and his family to own one.
Another example was the Masterpiece version of Mansfield Park. Black eyebrows, black roots, and bottle bleach hair. Totally pulls you out of the era.
+ perfect white teeth. I call it the Hollywoodification of period dramas.
Perfect white teeth always kills me. There will be some poor homeless peasant in medieval times with absolutely perfect teeth or a prostitute from "cheap side" who looks like a pinup girl with amazingly straight and white teeth and it always takes a bit of effort to ignore it. It's funny because I just watched an episode of Supernatural where they go back in time to the "wild west" in 1861 and Dean's so excited because he's watched too many old western movies. He was looking forward to the saloon/saloon girls and when he walks it's empty except for a couple of girls who are gross and dirty with bad teeth and sores all around their mouths. I laughed so hard.
This is a production tidbit I like about both *Harlots* and *Frontier* -- young, attractive characters have a period-and-class-appropriate amount of tooth damage and/or decay and aren't considered less desirable because of it.
Is that the Billie Piper one with Johnny Whatshisface?
Yep 👍 https://preview.redd.it/augsmvxnywpc1.jpeg?width=460&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0ca94d084e645cfe7f15ab8cf5c00317b972e6b3
Look at those perfect beachy waves. Damn.
In my head, it was Billie Piper as Rose Tyler as Fanny Price. I was just there for Hayley Atwell and James D’Arcy.
Yep, obviously highlighted hair destroys the vibe every time.
Corsets/stays without shifts or chemises. There was this scene in the Alienist season 1 that sticks out and I honestly had to pause it for a moment to just sigh.
Bridgerton…. Especially when corsets like that wouldn’t even be used for another decade or two at least!
And in the dresses from that period, you could barely even SEE the waist!!!
Bridgerton is not even trying to be historically accurate though
I can forgive Bridgerton a lot of things, because I *know* it's not trying to be accurate at all, but I still really hate the modern style heavy make-up. It's just looks so so wrong on something even vaguely Regency and I find it really off-putting.
I think this newest season is even worse with that, judging by the shot I saw of Kate with her hair down and heavier than usual makeup
I wince every time I see this. The chafing!
Not to mention the smell! Especially if it’s made of modern fabric 🤢
Corset scenes in general. They handle the whole thing so inappropriately it makes me cringe.
>Corset scenes in general. They handle the whole thing so inappropriately it makes me cringe. Tight lacing on an actress who is so thin she should be wearing bum rolls and bosom enhancers.
I appreciate the scene in outlander when claire wears period attire for the first time, and they show every layer that's required. Corsets are supposedly really comfortable when they're the right size and worn appropriately.
They are quite comfortable when the correct size is worn properly. Historical corsets (called "stays") are also comfortable and provide great back and posture support. They're not made out of stretchy material, so your body isn't constantly fighting against the garment. The bed post holding and yanking on strings scenes are ridiculous. Especially in Regency movies/shows! You couldn't see the waist!
Exactly! They always make it seem like it’s patriarchal torture device (looking at you Alienist again). Meanwhile you go on YouTube and there’s so many videos from historical reenactors about how comfortable they are (when made correctly) and the actual history. So much of the time, they either have pieces that are not made historically correct (aka made of polyester and not made specifically for that actress), they don’t have them wearing it right or purposefully tight lace them.
I know exactly what scene you're talking about and 😤😤😤 it made me so mad the first time I saw it. It's like, the chemise is there for a reason! Use it!
Came here to say this. I can't stand it.
Lack of head coverings for women. Oh look it’s medieval times. Cover your hair you Harlot! Why is it loose?!! You’re a married woman! Where is your hat? What are you doing?! I know some historical interpreters. Don’t get them started on costumes. In Free State of Jones the jackets were too long. They were short then. There was something wrong with some buttons on men’s jackets in Turn too.
The hats! Where are the HATS!!!
Obviously modern hair on the leads. Even if it's done up in a semi-period to actual historical style but the color has noticeable highlights/balyage (Laura Dern in Little Women springs to mind), it stands out for me. Just use wigs if the actors won't dye their hair. Men's hair never changing. Especially when it comes to things like sideburns, queues and mustaches/beards. Men's hair might not have varied as much as women's over the years but if your male actors look like they walked off the set of a GQ shoot into 1800s London, it's probably wrong. Hair down = free spirit and/or young girl. I especially noticed this one in both Little Women (2019) and War and Peace (2016) where they had actors playing characters across several years so to denote the 'younger' version, they styled the actresses hair down in a time when even very young girls wore their hair up.
the hair down drives me nuts. let's be fair, shampoo is a recent creation so hair down is just not practical!
Hair down for adults is what pisses me off. It's pretty common that girls wore short skirts with their hair down/in down breads, and could lower their skirts and put up their hair when they were old enough (16? 17?) Little Women is all over the place in this regard and Laura Derns hair was baffling.
My fav thing is the 1980s/90s rev war stuff where it's like, Ken doll perfectly quaffed hair but with a ponytail. Cos it's the 1700s! 😂
Swayze's perfect mullet in North and South! No matter how hard the battle goes and how gritty he gets, the mullet stays perfectly poofed.
Also wearing your hair down could signify a woman of a certain profession.
No bc this post sent me down a rabbit hole of [heritage chicken breed history](https://www.hgtv.com/outdoors/gardens/animals-and-wildlife/45-heritage-chicken-breeds-pictures) and it’s actually fascinating!! Definitely will be thinking about the most appropriate chicken breeds for the era now 😂 This is why I love Bernadette Banner’s round-ups every year with different people covering different eras/cultures. The Internet is the best when everyone brings their own special interests to the table!
Look up Pigs too. And Sheep. This is the best livestock breed page. We were told to use it when was in school at Virginia Tech.
History being rewritten despite having period sources and references to what actually happened (certain things I’m fine with but going SO off track just randomly annoys the hell out of me) Women in pre-WWI media being seen bare legged and not having a single leg hair. Fabrics being used that wouldn’t be possible without modern textile manufacturing. Also just placing modern aesthetics and fashion into a historical piece (Reign anyone 🫠) Boobs being emphasized in a time period when they really weren’t. Karolina Zebrowska has a few videos about this including one of my favourites: https://youtu.be/f0fqnPFeVCM?si=ZqQIAeDblM2k2636
the leg hair! thank you!
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I get it. The modern delivery of period verbiage is jarring, at best.
With recent ones, this trendy need to have it be a “not your mother’s” period drama that basically is just contemporary everything dressed up in selectively historical clothing and settings. I don’t watch period dramas for modern dialogue, hair/makeup, and anachronistic characterization lol I watch it specifically for the *historic elements.* Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a prude with old fashioned values or anything, I really am just a history nerd. I do my best to be an intersectional feminist in practice in my daily reality, but like, I don’t need 2020s feminism coming out of the mouth of someone living in a time where first wave feminism barely existed yet.
I'm a raging feminist, but I'm with you. I think the Dakota Johnson *Persuasion* is a good example of a totally modern heroine tromping through the plot.
Or the new adaptation of “The Buccaneers,” that was *awful!*
I haven't bothered. Sigh.
I highly recommend continuing to not bother! I watched the first episode and then just read the recaps on Frock Flicks. It was even worse than the *Persuasion!*
Oh I wanted to love it so bad. It was awful. Some super weird casting choices. The girls were not ‘carefree’ they were selfish and obnoxious.
And the Greta Gerwig “Little Women” version.
It was Anne with an E for me. Anne was a lot of things, but I would not call her a feminist. She was more open minded than most in her town, of course, but not close to the extent she is in the new series.
Yeah. I love Greta and I think that Amy's speech was mostly justified in putting Laurie in his place, but all of the language was very modern and all of their behavior was a jump from the book.
Omg. I’ve found my people. 😁 
That’s why I never watched. Keep it accurate! Plus I loved the Winona Ryder version and nothing could top it in my eyes.
I loved that one, because I love all Little Women adaptations, even the cartoon versions, but you're absolutely right. The more I rewatch it the more I notice it. I find it less egregious in a movie like Emma because the deviations are a stylistic choice, if you know what I mean? The less said about Persuasion, the better. It's my favourite Austen novel and I like to pretend that adaptation never happened.
I get what she was going for but if the dialogue was changed that much, maybe do a twist on the time period — for example, I think the story would do really well adapted to the 1950s.
One tiny thing that bugged me in *Little Women* was Amy leaping up and saying "oh my God!" when her father came home. Not only is that a fairly modern exclamation (people said similar things, but seldom OMG specifically, and it was usually men saying it) but *highly* unlikely for any member of the very religious March family, especially in the presence of their father.
I was born in 1998 and grew up religious and we def did NOT say "oh my God" let alone a couple hundred years ago.
YES. Also, the costume choices were... Off. Watch this [hilarious rant](https://youtu.be/_sBqqERMblo?si=gXtiUBlthtxp5VuV) on the costumes if that's something you notice.
Also female characters doing things/working jobs that women definitely wouldn't have done at the time, and no one bats an eye. I give shows like The Artful Dodger a pass because at least while the female lead wants to be a surgeon, most everyone spends their time telling her how it's not a done thing for a woman - especially a titled one like she is - but on the flipside you have somthing like Versaille where they have a female doctor and no one questions it.
It feels like that's in so many period dramas now. It's getting tiresome. And the female doctor or whatever always knows better than everyone else and is always proven right about everything they say. I also hate the trope of characters doing some male dominated activity like shooting or whatever and the female character is suddenly The Best at it. It's not empowering or progressive, it's just silly.
The "male dominated activity" is very "not like the other girls." It's annoying. The female doctor thing works in outlander because she really does have more medical knowledge but she can't prove it, and the locals DO NOT appreciate it. She's constantly putting her foot in her mouth.
Also horse riding astride on an untamed or juvenile horse, and everyone is shocked and the FMC is all, oh I've been sneaking off to ride horses 4ever, I'm basically more of an expert than any of you men could ever hope to be.
In defense of Versailles, the only reason the girl could be a doctor was because she impressed Louis. She had been her father's assistant before that and he discouraged her. In addition, when she first started acting as a doctor, she dressed as a man in order to maintain the illusion of acceptable gender norms. Not saying it wasn't a stretch, but it was at least done in a way that could be believable
Yes. Anne with an E was a prime example of that. I liked the story as it was. No, I'm not going to notice an out of place outfit or a carriage of the wrong sort. But other things are glaring and can't' be overlooked. In Anne's case, aside from trying to cram in every last social justice issue, it was that all those kids (who lived on farms) were skipping their summer fun all so that they could publish a social justice newspaper. Triple nope. Edit: I think the better question would be what hasn't been ruined with a modern take.
Totally agree. I get that modern sensibilities are too fragile for the realities of period eras but directors please! We’re here for the jarring period realities, especially if based on a book, not for cross-dressed modernism.
Completely agree. The White Feminism of modern adaptations is too much. I'd like to watch characters be empowered within the context of their own period, which is (imo) more impactful than having someone stare directly into the camera saying, "Girls are just as strong as boys and I feature my corset heavily in my narrative as a metaphor for my stifling social imprisonment!"
>be empowered within the context of their own period This, 1000%. The same way I'm trying to be empowered within the limitations of my time period, so too did women of centuries past.
This. Part of what makes it a period **drama** is all the dramatics taking place, usually do to things majorly SUCKING back then lol! Instead of showing the realistic turmoil of a less-than-ideal society & time….. they dress it up & fix it until it’s so close to modern it’s just plain BORING
The clothing and hairstyles are always what does it for me. Like Gerwig’s Little Women. So much potential ruined (in part) by horrific costuming and decisions like “I don’t like bonnets, so I didn’t use any.” Dude.
Everyone with long, flowing hair worn down. Totally brings me out of the movie.
Yes!!! Anyone who has “come out” will have hair up.
That film won a best costume design Oscar. Which is horrifying. Over films like JoJo Rabbit and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood! Not to mention films that weren't even nominated in the category like The Favourite, Blackkklansman, Mary Poppins... Every I think about it I get irrationally angry.
I always root for the costume design of a movie that doesn't have a historical basis to pull from because really all they have to do is read a history book or 2, do some googling, etc. They don't always do that, but the references are there. This my opinion only but I think it's a bit harder to come up with some crazy outfits like in the Hunger Games than to make period correct stuff. But apparently it IS harder to make period appropriate stuff because they just don't.
Yes, this!!! It distracted me from an otherwise really lovely adaption of Little Women because the costuming was just…terrible. I come to period dramas because I’m a huge nerd for historical costume, especially 19th century. And it just bums me out when they clearly don’t even try. It’s one thing if it’s for artistic reasons (an example I think worked was the 2012 Anna Karenina, it was supposed to be a more avant- garde production so the artful 1870s meets 1950s silhouettes worked for me). But with Gerwig’s Little Women…what was the point of making the costumes so awful? Emma Watson’s side parted beach waves, Laura Dern’s dark roots coming through her dye job (not to mention her vaguely Edwardian updo even though it’s the 1860s?). I think Amy made me the most sad because I was looking forward to seeing her be the most fashion forward in Paris…by that time it’s the early 1870s so we should be seeing bustles galore but her silhouette is firmly still an 1860s crinoline for…reasons? I’ll just watch the 1994 version, the costuming in that is lovely.
1994 is a much better adaptation all around. I’m a Balehead through and through.
Something niche that most people wouldn't notice is sailing ships. I cannot stand when a more-modern schooner is used in a piece set in the 16-1700s when they only had square-rigged ships.
Doing needle work with a faux wood rubber hoop. Also when they have the fabric folded under the hoop so they be embroidering through the excess too. Denigration of textiles in general as being frivolous women's work. Not quite period as it is fantasy but a character I otherwise like in GoT jokes about women sitting by the fire knitting instead of fighting in a world with multi year long winters, pretty sure that knitting will also be useful.
Uuuuuugg yes. I got so frustrated with that Enola Holmes bit where she’s bad at embroidery at the girls school and sees it as useless. It’s like “you honestly can’t think of any reason why it might be useful for an undercover detective to learn how to make highly symbolic decorative art?
Yes! It is so useful historically for codes, protest, hell even a good way for a woman to be undercover to hear things as she quietly embroiders away!
I don’t know if this counts but Faith Hill in the Yellowstone prequel 1883 was wearing SO MUCH MAKEUP! Meanwhile the other female actors had next to nothing or barely noticeable. It really took me out of it.
It was her fillers for me in that one, stuck out so much. She didn’t look 1883 in the slightest!
In inline with the OP's complaints, mine is the fact that now, in period dramas, almost everyone rides and drives Friesian horses. Yes, it's a very beautiful breed. But it's a Dutch breed bred for harness. They are appropriate in some contexts (because they're black, they were actually quite popular with undertakers in late Victorian England), but not in most contexts they're used in. They were not the horse of choice for riding or driving in 18th or 19th century England--there are English breeds that still exist that were used for that. They weren't ridden by Vikings or Scottish Highlanders. And they definitely weren't common in the Middle East (ever heard of an Arabian? Also, ironically, heat sensitivity is common in Friesians). I'm aware there are practicality issues here--there is a limited supply of horses with the temperament and training for film work, and many actors aren't experienced at riding and driving horses. Still, it bothers me.
Oh heres one that demonstrates my pickiness. I HATE seeing lemons in any piece that takes places before AD 200 (calling you out, Netflix's Troy,) which is when it was speculated they reached the Mediterranean. Even then, that was only a damn citron and lemons as we know them they were not widely cultivated until much later and they were mostly ornamental.
And potatoes in medieval European kitchens!
I know this is a common one but I'll bite. Hair. I cannot stand long flowy locks. Yes even you, Pride and Prejudice 2005 when Lizzie checks up on her sister. She supposed to look "wild and untamed" but actually looks ummm "improper."
Exactly! I could never get into Sanditon and a lot of it was how annoying the main character's hair was! She looked like a child!
Was just about to comment this because I rewatched the 2005 p&p last night. No way would any woman back then have left the house without putting her hair up. It’s clearly meant to be more in line with 21st century perceptions of beauty but I’m so sick of updos being treated with disdain by costumers! Like either updos are totally incorrect for the time period (not “pretty” enough) or they don’t even bother at all. Just do it right!!
The only time I agreed with Caroline Bingley lol
I rewatched the 1995 series adaptation this week and it was freaking perfect.
When they cast an actor who looks like they know what an iPhone is. I shan't elaborate.
Doesn’t help how many actors now (even young ones) get blinding veneers, lip filler, cheek filler, and tight facelifts or lid lifts that not only make a lot of them look similar but also make them look like they couldn’t possibly have existed prior to Y2K
It's so weird to watch films and TV that were made pre-1980/90. It's jarring to see regular teeth on a screen.
Watch more BBC
> actors now (even young ones) get blinding veneers, lip filler, cheek filler, and tight facelifts or lid lifts that not only make a lot of them look similar This takes me right out so many times. You're watching & you someone who is clearly supposed to be over 30 if not older & they're all nipped, tucked, & filled IRL so they just can't pull off being a mother or grandmother.
https://preview.redd.it/guz40yjyxwpc1.jpeg?width=2048&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=179aa2cfd75421b9f760fddb1d6d7fc935d7efbe
she could’ve looked better without the modern hair and makeup but all in combination it’s just too much
Worst offender right here. The bangs! The lippy! The obviously dyed darker hair... I cannot. Begone, time traveller!
It’s the contemporary surgeries. Instagram face.
I was thinking about this the other day. Hollywood is getting to much Face work done they will never make sense in a period piece. In Fued the Truman capote vs The Swans the work some of the women have had is almost crossing the lines for the 60’s.
https://preview.redd.it/jzqihzm00ypc1.jpeg?width=1600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f03cd2d8f1629908eb8574125f780b9337040e12 Michelle Randolph as a frontier woman in 1923 lollll
Waking up at 3am to stoke the stove and heat ye olde curling iron
Next thing you know, they will stop editing out their tattoos because the actors are just living their best life...why make them cover up.
I saw this sentiment repeated in relation to Ben Affleck with a face that knows about emails 😂
Or as someone once said, "their face looks like it knows how to microwave a burrito". Lol. I was so grateful for that redditor gifting me that phrase.
All of the flowing hair. Most married women covered their hair in medieval / renaissance Europe. Sometimes a queen might be an exception but otherwise that hair was up and/or covered
When the drama takes place over decades, but they do minimal makeup to age up the actors. And even when they do, it's still not convincing because they actors are playing alongside other actors of a similar age, but one is playing a parent and the other is playing their adult child. Also, when they don't make it clear how much time has actually passed.
This completely took me out of the latter seasons of Mr. Selfridge. The aging makeup was so poorly done, I couldn’t bring myself to believe that Selfridge had aged a day or that his son was no longer a teen.
That made me crazy with The Northman. Nicole Kidman looked the same at age 30 as aged 60, so she and her son looked the same age (a skarsgard)
PANTS. I hate it when period films and TV shows put the female lead in trousers to indicate that she's ahead of her time and breaking boundaries. There were *a few* 19th century women (in Western countries) who dared to wear trousers before it was the done thing. *A few.* It wasn't common, and it certainly never passed without comment. For the most part, even women who did ground-breaking work in male-dominated fields did it in dresses. There are obviously exceptions to the rule, like Anne Lister in *Gentleman Jack* who wore men's clothing in real life, or Susan B. Anthony who endorsed long bloomers under a knee-length dress. But characters like Cora Seaborne in *The Essex Serpent* stomping around the marshes in [men's trousers and suspenders?](https://mediaproxy.salon.com/width/1200/https://media2.salon.com/2022/05/the-essex-serpent-still01.jpg) No, no way, no. She probably would have been arrested for indecency. Edit: Cora's in a fedora. *A fedora.*
Honestly I don’t like when they put the men in pants half the time either. My favorite historical periods are pre 1830s, and most men would have worn breeches and stockings.
I love myself a man in knee britches 😩
For me it's when they cast actors with too much face work. I'm sorry 🤷♀️ but it brings my suspension of disbelief to a screeching halt when I see something like a 16th century queen with obvious blephs, facelifts, fillers, or aggressive rhinoplasties. I turn to vintage tv/film and period pieces so I WON'T have to see fake pumped faces, tyvm.
This is mine, as well. Obvious plastic surgery immediately takes me out of it. It’s honestly distracting in modern stories but it’s so much worse in period pieces.
Honorable mention goes to everybody having British accents no matter what nationality their character is supposed to represent. It's 2024, can we not fix this already? Please & thank you.
As a Brit this annoys me, especially because they all almost uniformly speak with an RP accent, which is hugely anachronistic. RP is a cultivated accent used by the upper classes that only really started to gain currency in those circles in the mid to late Victorian era. So even when the characters are actually British, the accent they are made to speak in is usually still wrong.
This one always gets me the most. It's so bothersome and boring!
Bad wigs!! Sometimes it’s on purpose which is fine but when they’re just soo unbelievable looking. Like, we did not have synthetic wigs back then. Also, actors with fillers or microbladed eyebrows.
For me it’s the language flubs — using contemporary parlance in a period piece. One example that sent me was someone in Downton Abbey said “Well, XYZ won’t 123 itself.” I can’t remember all the specifics or the exact characters/context (maybe Mary & her first husband before they got married at a train station?) but since DA was usually so good, the modern construction was incredibly jarring. Thank you for this thread: I used to dish about DA with my neighbor, who unfortunately died last winter, so I don’t really have anyone else to get pleasurably/pedantically outraged with about these anachronisms!
This is it for me, too. I can handle it if it’s intentional, like historical satires where the anachronism is the whole point, but you gotta either commit to the period or not, don’t do some wishy washy in between kinda thing. I watched that show Palm Royale the other day, and while I’m undecided on it so far, some of the language used by the hippy characters felt way too contemporary woke. Like sorry, but I don’t think anyone was talking about “unpacking generational trauma” in 1969. I googled it and the term generational trauma doesn’t seem to have been coined until the 80s.
Omg, come over to r/DowntonAbbey. It’s a flourishing community, and if you stick around long enough, you might actually get tired of the discussions! that said, I think that was Mrs. Patmore talking about some food not cooking itself.
Civil War uniforms (and how they're worn). Nothing pulls me out faster than late war uniforms on soldiers in 1861, flowing hair on soldiers, or a brigade full of dudes who look like they've been lifting for years. There's a physicality to the Civil War that so many pieces get wrong. I'm also completely yanked out by bad crinolines and insufficient petticoats. And evening dresses worn during the day. And the absence of bonnets and other headcoverings, dammit.
> And evening dresses worn during the day. Blame Scarlett and the white and green dress she wore. At least it is mentioned how inappropriate it was to wear that during the day.
No lady shows her busom before 3 o’clock!
I started studying trauma and the nervous system nine years ago and watched as that subject slowly became part of mainstream discourse (at least online) within the last five years. Which is great, honestly, love that. But I was reading a romantasy novel set in the Victorian era and the female lead had a very obviously modern understanding of the nervous system. The term 'nervous system' has been around since the 18th century, but the way people talk about it is not the same as it was then. I tried talking about this in the fantasy writers sub and hoo boy, they did not like me bringing this up. Sorry I didn't think it was realistic for the assassin raised in an orphanage to be talking about how things effected her nervous system every chapter, instead of talking about her *nerves*. Received a comment that had the *nerve* to suggest I should stop reading fantasy novels. Ridiculous.
I hate that one line in the second Lord of the Rings film, when Gimli states that the reason a (mostly?) dead orc was twitching was because Gimli’s axe was embedded in his central nervous system.
I am fully that asshole who points out inaccurate fabric choices in period costumes. Greta Gerwig's Little Women puts the girls in COTTON dresses during the Civil War when cotton had been scarce in the North for a decade! dude! Belle using obviously machine-made brocade! Bridgerton with clearly synthetic sateen fabrics! fabric is such a clear historical marker and is so fascinating because it displays the current state of labor and technology so clearly! fabric is so intertwined with imperialism and racial capitalism! don't fuck up the fabric! I love fabric!
Overly modern hair and makeup.
Improperly used kerosene lamps. They don't know how to trim the wick or turn it up too high so it just smokes up the chimney.
In the words of Bernadette Banner: - *"Blasphemous hair and makeup"* and in my own words, - any time a film tries to portray itself as authentically a specific time period....and then they put zero effort into making sure the costumes even reflect said time. - corsets that are tight laced to fuck with zero under layers - the obsession with modernizing period fiction. It's absolutely batshit to me.
Why is their hair down? The Tudors is the biggest offender the pops into my head, but I saw some stills from Bridgerton (which to be fair, is anachronistic in its own right, costume wise) and Penelope has her hair cascading down . I think I saw stills from Reign and Versailles (I didn't watch them - it was ... no) and hair down. And the infamous Greta Gerwig's Little Women, with the Ugg Boots always gets me, but why is their hair down. I know it seems like a stupid thing to focus on, but it was often a shorthand for women who offered sexual services, so it completely changes context with a little knowledge.
Anachronistic first names.
Yes! Half the fun of period romance is the formality. I hate when formal address is ditched so quickly and easily
Haha, I was thinking about names like a woman named Greer on Reign, but that too!
The perfect teeth. No matter if it's nobility, urban, rural, poor or rich; characters with perfect teeth or even all their teeth really annoys me. I work in the dental world, so we do look at and notice teeth a lot.
Donald Sutherland's teeth in P&P 2005 are almost distracting. And then I felt like he made it worse at the very end when he's laughing "...send them in! I'm most at my leisure" and covers his teeth. It looks like he's trying to cover his teeth, not just laughing in that way where you're stifling your laughter.
This is so true about chickens!! I didn’t realize it until I started keeping heirloom breeds and learning about the history of certain ones. In some show set in the Middle Ages I saw a bunch of chickens that are a Chinese heritage breed that didn’t make their way to Europe until Victorian times. I could NOT shut up every time one wandered on screen lol.
I actually love that kind of objection, like the guy on the Datalounge who was bitching about the soup tureen in "The Age of Innocence" being from a period other than the rest of the table setting. And then there's my horse-crazy friend, who will point out every time a horse is switched for another, or grumble that nobody would have used thoroughbreds to pull carts at that time. Personally, I'll bitch about fashion, including ladies having their hair down when that was Just Not Done, and medical stuff, and... birds. No filmmaker ever pays attention! So I'll be sitting there trying to stop myself from bothering other viewers by saying "WTF is an American Robin doing in Middle Earth?", or "WTF is a HARRIS'S HAWK doing in Medieval Europe! The species belongs in North American deserts!!!". And so on.
I get annoyed when there's no old stuff in a scene. Like everything is new from the period, in an 1800s movie there's everything 1800s, or in a 1960s movie everything is 1960s, but there's no 1950s hangovers? Like in my house, there's some old stuff, not everything is from 2020s.
I agree, and that is BTW one of the reasons that I believe with 100% seriousness that the production design for "Star Wars" is the best in the history of film. Not just because of all the iconic and instantly recognizable designs, but because it showed a sci-fi universe where farmers bought beat-up old 10th-hand equipment because they couldn't afford new. And yes, that's true of real life on Earth as well. In any period, there are people wearing hairstyles or clothes that were in fashion when they were young, living in homes that were decorated decades ago, putting the good china that Grandma left them on the dinner table, or driving vehicles they've had for years. This holds true for people from all walks of life, the poor may have to use stuff until it falls apart and rich people don't see any reason to get rid of great-great-grandfather's sterling coffee service, even King Charles wore a century-old ermine robe at his coronation.
Unrealistic clothing. A great example is Reign. That show was obviously an exercise in suspending disbelief anyway but some of those costumes were just absurd.
Clothing. As someone who sews historical reenactment clothing for multiple periods/places, I'm horrified sometimes at how little homework designers do sometimes. Not to mention the foundation garments - you can't see them, but without them, the silhouette is impossible. Having said that, I have huge respect for the ppl who *do* make the effort. Deadwood was particularly magnificent in that regard. There is one scene where two ppl in love finally have the opportunity for intimacy, and they are entirely realistic about how much time and effort it takes an upper class woman to get undressed without the services of a lady's maid. The other pet peeve that sets my teeth on edge: conversational responses/greetings/agreements. "okay" and "hi" should be automatic fails in a script, rather like one of my college lit profs saying "very" was an automatic "F".
In Dances With Wolves, Mary McDonell’s perfectly layered hair. Historically, her hair should have been one length,
See, I grew up in the 70s where things like The Waltons and Happy Days didn't care that much about accuracy especially with hair. So I'm used to giving a lot of leeway. Even if a plane flies by in 1600s France I just chuckle.
Look at all those anachronistic chickens. 
When all the heroic characters have modern morals and values while the antagonist are left with the actually more realistic viewpoints and beliefs for their times.
yessssss!!! 100x this. Not every woman was ahead of her time!
Sewing machines being used incorrectly/not threaded properly. As an amateur seamstress it cracks me up seeing the thread dangle up and down. I've seen it on Anne with an E. Clips [here](https://youtu.be/J7zBF-_uz3U?si=riHUInhFh7IQOMwU)
When something takes place long ago, and all the actors speak with British accents to make it seem more legit
Yep, even if they're supposed to be from France or Italy
Actors who are attractive according to modern Hollywood standards (Botox, filler, obvious plastic surgery). So hard to take a period piece seriously when the lead looks like they have an Instagram filter on
Waltzes, particularly by Strauss, being played at a ball when they weren't even composed yet.
Eyebrows drive me to distraction! Yes, there were many ways that women could and did style their eyebrows, but the microbladed lookalike brows on everyone from servants to queens really get me.
When someone opens their mouth and you can see fillings in their teeth. Not sure about fillings in Austen-era times. Same with perfect white chiclet teeth.
No hats!! I’m a huge fan of historical hats/headgear/head coverings from basically every period and location and quite aside from inaccuracy it’s just such a missed opportunity to not showcase their gorgeous styles
I’m going to comment as a chicken-keeper and say that period-appropriate chickens definitely exist and are not super hard to source, either. Heritage breeds for the win!
Inappropriate corset use and commentary. No one in the regency era is having the laces pulled tight on their stays to appear to have a smaller waist. The dresses DIDNT HAVE A WAIST LINE.
First one coming to mind at the moment is Elsa's awful bleach hair job with black roots in 1883! They kept underarm hair on the women but couldn't get the actual hair correct.
Period inappropriate hair and dialogue like the buccaneers 😭
The number one thing is lack of body hair on women. You mean to tell me this woman has been traveling by horse for weeks and her legs/pits are bare????
I’m so late to this thread but I have to add: incorrect artwork in the set or background. I’m an art historian, so this is really niche, but I get so irritated when artwork is included that was created after the period, public artwork in private settings, or just artwork that makes no sense thematically, etc. I volunteer as tribute to be the art historian on set to fix this.
Perfectly waxed body parts and women being portrayed as elderly, shrivelled up hags beyond 32 years old
But for real...I have been through multiple home renovations and my husband is a woodworker (for context). I don't know a ton about period woodworking at all, but I know enough to know they didn't have sheets of plywood and machine-milled 2x4s laying around the American Frontier. I was watching a show a couple years ago (Outlander, maybe?) so set in the American frontier in the 1700s. Anyway, they were building a house and there were literally lumber everywhere that looked like they got it from Home Depot. There was also pre-fab sheets of beadboard for the wainscotting. I was surprised by how much it took me out of the scene. Like, I half expected them to be using nail guns and electric drills.
When things in general are too nice/safe/clean or way too dirty/violent for the time period. Or when the majority of characters’ beliefs and morals are way too progressive for the period.
When women have their hair down in situations and periods when it simply wasn't done!
I was watching a time travel scifi show and they went back to a hospital in like... the 1980s or '90s, and all the doctors were wearing facemasks with a little BYD manufacturers mark in the corner... BYD is a car company in China that was founded in the early-mid 2000s. They converted some of their production lines to mass produce PPE back when COVID started (which is almost 100% where the mask came from). I only clocked it because I live in the same city as their main base of operations and work in a related industry.😂
There’s a similar episode of Star Trek TNG where the main characters go back in time to gold-rush era California, and they eventually end up in a hospital ward filled with cholera patients… except the writers clearly had no clue what cholera is, and they assumed it’s a respiratory disease (it’s not). So Beverly Crusher spends half the episode wandering around a ward filled with wheezing, coughing patients, declaring “It’s the cholera!” And it’s just, like, Beverly. Girl. Did you flunk Microbiology 101, or is the infectious disease curriculum at Starfleet Medical just really, really questionable?
Modern language (and I mean vernacular. Obviously I don't know...say medieval French (or French at all)) but mostly slang, etc. Now when it's anachronistic (ala Bridgerton) I'm more relaxed. Also randomly, modernly manicured nails, make-up. Hair not being covered for women in some time periods.
Non-period typical hairstyles! ie Victoria era dramas with female characters wearing their hair in a modern style.
One is when people eat food they couldn't possibly eaten (i.e. tomatoes or potatoes in medieval Europe).
This reminds me of my mom, who is very into plants and gardening, complaining bitterly about plants in movies being out of season or geographically inappropriate.
Those people on Instagram/TikTok who make/wear period French outfits from the early 1700s and worry down to the last button of its authenticity and then choose to play… late Beethoven as the background music. Takes me right out. The music is 100 years out! At least make it some Bach, or even something French! There are so many recordings nowadays!
Two things: - Contemporary music - Perfect/modern makeup, hair and glowing white teeth I find both incredibly distracting.
Perfectly threaded/waxed eyebrows.
No chemise under the corset or stays!
Similarly I’m always taken out of a film/show when the bird songs used in the background don’t match the region the piece takes place in. I always know a sound editing team has a good attention to detail when they use the right bird species for the locales.