Bonus points of course if it has no plot relevance

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[–] 21 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (3 children)

No Country For Old Men:

  • Anton Chighur uses a Gen 2 Glock 19 in one scene. This is anachronistic because the movie takes place at some point in the year 1980. Glock handguns were introduced into Austrian military service in 1982, became available for purchase by civilians starting in 1983, and were introduced to North America in 1985. Furthermore, the Glock 19 specifically was not produced until 1988.

  • In another scene Anton Chighur uses an Interdynamic KG-99 that seems to have been converted to full auto, meaning it's possibly supposed to be a TEC-9 in the context of the scene (the McCarthy novel calls it a TEC-9). The KG-99 was introduced in 1982, and the TEC-9 was introduced in1984.

Shutter Island:

  • Leonardo Dicaprio's character (Edit: Ben Kingsley) uses the term "zombie" at one point to describe the effects of a lobotomy. This is anachronistic because the film is set in 1954. It wasn't until the film Night of the Living Dead in 1969 did the term come to mean a mindless, shambling corpse. In 1954 the term zombie would have been more associated with Voodoo and witchcraft, as in a mind controlled servant magically bound to a sorceror.
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  • [–] 4 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (2 children)

    In regards to the Shutter Island thing, the quote is actually

    Y'know this place makes me wonder; which would be worse—to live as a monster, or to die as a good man?

    even so I think it is in line with the MKUltra subtext of the film for the older voodoo meaning to still work here.

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  • [–] 3 points 3 days ago* (1 child)

    I got it wrong, it was actually the psychiatrist played by Ben Kingsley who said the line. It's earlier in the movie where he's discussing the various treatments done on the island and he brings up lobotomies. He says "Some say the patients become reasonable, docile. Others say they become zombies."

    So saying the phrase like that would be a little anachronistic, since the conception of a zombie in 1954 would have been a magically bound slave. But I do kinda like the MKULTRA angle too.

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  • [–] 2 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

    I'm inclined to think it's intentional, because you can generally find this subtextual implication of deep politics looming around in the background of most of Scorcese's films. Like the Cuban gusano gunrunners/CIA agent that is obviously a stand-in for E. Howard Hunt (even making a joke about his ears!) in The Irishman as a fast example. To me, Kingsley's portrayal of the character is very obviously a stand-in for Sidney Gottlieb with his kind of urbane and new agey affect.

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