Basic Trope: Bits of contemporary culture pop up in a work set in the recent past.
- Straight:
- In a show set around 2000, Alice uses an iPhone.
- In a show set around 2000, Bob discusses a TV show from the 2010s.
- Exaggerated:
- In a show set during World War II, Alice uses a modern-looking computer.
- In a show set during World War II, Bob discusses the existence of television in general.note
- Downplayed:
- In a show set last year, Alice has a model of the iPhone which was released this year.
- In a show set last year, Bob discusses a meme which only took hold this year.
- Justified:
- Alice is a Time Traveller from the present day, and simply brought her technology and culture with her.
- The work is set in an Alternate History/Alternate Universe where these technologies are available during this period.
- Inverted:
- In a show set in the present day, Alice uses a flip phone or an older piece of technology.
- In a show set in the present day, Bob makes an obviously outdated cultural reference.
- Next Sunday A.D..
- Subverted:
- What looks to be an iPhone to the modern viewer is actually a little-known device which even appears to use technology ahead of its time.
- The civvy version was released this year, she's using the (still superior, but not viable for commercial release) army version from 3 years ago.
- Double Subverted: ...which it actually does.
- Parodied:
- Alice slips up and states that the current year is whenever the show's episode first aired, rather than when it's set.
- Nothing that exists in a show (which can be replaced; the existence of houses and people is mandatory) existed before the show's setting.
- Zig Zagged: ???
- Averted: Alice only uses technology and discusses culture readily available in her own time.
- Enforced:
- The show's director can't be bothered to research its time, or simply wants it to have a timeless feel.
- The director wanted to have his cake and eat it too, as he inserts the conveniences of the present day into his favorite time period.
- Lampshaded:
- "What's that thing and why does it look so advanced?"
- "That's not the current logo of Apple."
- Invoked: ???
- Exploited: Modern technology proves popular in the show, which leads Alice to establish a time travel thrift store selling objects from the (relative) future.
- Defied: Either Alice herself decides not to or the time travel technology she uses prevents her from bringing anything from her own time to the show's setting.
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: "Don't you just hate it when a show assumes that iPhones existed in 2000?"
- Played For Drama: Due to modern wireless standards being fairly recent, Alice's iPhone doesn't actually work as a phone.
Back to Present-Day Past.
