Aristotle, a 4th century BC philosopher, portrayed in 1493 Nuremberg Chronicle as a 15th century AD scholar

In Lucas van Leyden's 1520 painting "Lot and his Daughters", Biblical Sodom is depicted as a typical Dutch city of the painter's time

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An anachronism, from the Greek ανά (ana: up, against, back, re-) and χρόνος (chronos: time), is a chronological inconsistency in some arrangement, especially a juxtaposition of person(s), events, objects, or customs from different periods of time. Often the item misplaced in time is an object, but it may be a verbal expression, a technology, a philosophical idea, a musical style, a material, a custom, or anything else associated with a particular period in time so that it is incorrect to place it outside its proper temporal domain.

Types[link]

Orpheus, of Classical Greek mythology, depicted by Cesare Gennari with a violin that did not exist before 16th century

The intentional use of older, often obsolete cultural artifacts may be regarded as anachronistic. For example, it could be considered anachronistic for a modern-day person to wear a top hat, write with a quill, or carry on a conversation in Latin. Such choices may reflect an eccentricity, or an aesthetic preference.

Another sort of parachronism arises when a work based on a particular era's state of knowledge is read within the context of a later era with a different state of knowledge. Many scientific works that rely on theories that have later been discredited have become anachronistic with the removal of those underpinnings, and works of speculative fiction often find their speculation outstripped by real-world technological development.

A prochronism, on the other hand, occurs when an item appears in a temporal context in which it could not yet be present (the object had not yet been developed, the verbal expression had not been coined, the philosophy had not been formulated, the breed of animal had not been developed, the technology had not been created). An example is Western movies' placing in frontier society of antebellum or Civil War years, of firearms not introduced until the 1870s, such as the Winchester 1873 rifle or the Colt Single Action Army revolver. While prochronisms such as this may not be noticed by the uninformed, other prochronisms are intentionally comic, e.g. a 10th century peasant earnestly explaining his village as an "anarcho-syndicalist commune" in the film Monty Python and the Holy Grail, or a Beatlesque band called the "Bedbugs" appearing in the American Civil War era TV comedy F-Troop).

Politically motivated anachronism[link]

Constantin Lecca's painting "Moldavians and Muntenians become brothers", showing 19th Century flags in a 16th century scene.

Some writings and works of art promoting a political, nationalist or revolutionary cause use an anachronism to depict an institution or custom as being more ancient than it actually is. For example, the 19th century Romanian painter Constantin Lecca depicted the peace agreement between Ioan Bogdan Voievod and Radu Voievod - two leaders in Romania's 16th century history - with the flags of Moldavia (blue-red) and of Wallachia (yellow-blue) seen in the background. These flags only date from the 1830s. Anachronism here served to increase legitimacy for the unification of Moldavia and Wallachia into the Kingdom of Romania, at the time the painting was made.

Artifacts[link]

An anachronism can be an artifact which appears out of place archaeologically, geologically, or temporally. It is sometimes called OOPArt, for "out-of-place artifact". Anachronisms usually appear more technologically advanced than is expected for their place and period.

However, a seeming anachronism may reflect ignorance of history rather than a genuine chronological anomaly. A popular view of history presents an unfolding of the past in which humanity has a primitive start and progresses toward development of technology. Allegedly anachronistic artifacts demonstrate contradictions to this idea. Some archaeologists believe that seeing these artifacts as anachronisms underestimates the technology and creativity of people at the time.

Art and fiction[link]

Anachronism is used especially in works of imagination that rest on a historical basis. Anachronisms may be introduced in many ways: for example, in the disregard of the different modes of life and thought that characterize different periods, or in ignorance of the progress of the arts and sciences and other facts of history. They vary from glaring inconsistencies to scarcely perceptible misrepresentation. It is only since the close of the 18th century that this kind of deviation from historical reality has jarred on a general audience. Anachronisms abound in the works of Raphael and Shakespeare, as well as in those of less celebrated painters and playwrights of earlier times.

The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci, 1498, depicts oranges, which were brought to Europe by Portuguese traders from India in the 15th century and were unknown at the time and place of the Last Supper.

In particular, the artists, on the stage and on the canvas, in story and in song, assimilated their characters to their own nationality and their own time. Roman soldiers appear in Renaissance military garb. The Virgin Mary was represented in Italian works with Italian characteristics, and in Flemish works with Flemish ones. Alexander the Great appeared on the French stage in the full costume of Louis XIV of France down to the time of Voltaire; and in England the contemporaries of Joseph Addison found unremarkable (in Pope's words)

"Cato's long wig, flower'd gown, and lacquer'd chair."

Shakespeare's audience similarly did not ask whether the University of Wittenberg had existed in Hamlet's day, or whether clocks that struck time were available in Julius Caesar's ancient Rome: Shakespeare portrayed Brutus, plotting to assassinate Caesar in 44 BC, being interrupted by the striking of the clock,^[1] although ancient Rome was the era of the sundial, with invention of the mechanical clock dating from the 11th-13th centuries AD.^[2]

Similarly, Henry Purcell wrote the opera "Dido and Aeneas", which is based on themes from Classical Antiquity and is set in the immediate aftermath of the Trojan War; yet, he provided Dido (Queen of Carthage) with a sister called "Belinda" - a name which is probably of Germanic origin and certainly did not exist before the Middle Ages.

However, in many works, such anachronisms are not simply the result of the artist's ignorance. Renaissance painters, for example, were well aware of the differences in costume between ancient times and their own, given the renewed attention to ancient art in their time, but they often chose to depict ancient scenes in contemporary garb. Rather, these anachronisms reflect a difference of emphasis compared to the 19th and 20th century attention to depicting details of former times as they actually were. Artists and writers of earlier times were usually more concerned with other aspects of the composition, it was a secondary consideration that the events depicted took place far in the past. They took the view that many details required for historic realism would have been a distraction. (See Accidental and intentional anachronism below)

Authors sometimes telescope chronology for the sake of making a point. Bolesław Prus does this at several junctures in his 1895 historical novel, Pharaoh, set in Egypt in 1087–1085 BC. The ancient "Suez Canal", proposed by Prince Hiram (chapter 55),^[3] had existed in ancient Egypt's Middle Kingdom, centuries before the period of the novel. Conversely, the remarkably accurate calculation of the earth's circumference by Eratosthenes, and the invention of a steam engine by Heron, both ascribed in chapter 60 to the priest Menes,^[4] historically occurred in Alexandrian Egypt, centuries after the period of the novel.

In recent times, the progress of archaeological research and the more scientific spirit of history have led audiences and artists to view anachronism as an offense or mistake. Yet modern dramatic productions often rely on anachronism for effect. In particular, directors of Shakespeare's plays may use costumes and props not only of Shakespeare's day or their own, but of any era in between or even those of an imagined future. For instance, the musical Return to the Forbidden Planet crosses The Tempest with popular music to create a science fiction musical.

A celebrated 1960 stage production of Hamlet, starring Richard Burton, was set on a bare New York stage in contemporary rehearsal clothes: the audience could have been watching the rehearsal before the dress rehearsal. The point of the staging was apparently that the story of Hamlet is a universal one that was equally credible in the 20th century as in the 17th.^{[citation needed]}

Other popular adaptations of Shakespeare's plays that relied on anachronisms in props and setting were Titus (1999) and William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet (1996). A similar approach was used in the 2001 film Moulin Rouge!, in which a diverse selection of 20th century music is used over a fin de siècle backdrop. Other films, such as Brazil, A Series of Unfortunate Events, or Richard III may create worlds so full of various conflicting anachronisms as to create a unique stylistic environment that lacks a specific period setting. This type of stylistic anachronism is often used in children's movies, such as Shrek and Hoodwinked, for satirical effect. (See Comical anachronism below.)

Sometimes a director may use anachronisms to offer a "fresh" angle on an already established story. Thus Andrew Lloyd Webber created two popular musicals, Jesus Christ Superstar and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, which filled traditional biblical stories with modern-day sensibilities; and on a similar note, Catherine Hardwicke's The Nativity Story shows a field of maize-corn in a Nazareth farming scene. Maize-corn is native to Mesoamerica; until the late 15th century it was grown only in the Americas.

Comical anachronism[link]

Comedy fiction set in the past may use anachronism for humorous effect. One of the first major films to use anachronism was Buster Keaton's The Three Ages, which included the invention of Stone Age baseball and modern traffic problems in classical Rome.

In J. R. R. Tolkien's 1937 story Farmer Giles of Ham the protagonist - supposedly living before the time of King Arthur - is depicted using a blunderbuss. Clearly, Tolkien knew when firearms were invented, but he deliberately set out to write a lighthearted fantasy tale disregarding any consideration of historical accuracy.

Mel Brooks' 1974 film Blazing Saddles, set in the Wild West in 1874, contains many blatant anachronisms from the 1970s, including a stylish Gucci costume for the sheriff, an automobile, a scene at Grauman's Chinese Theater, and frequent references to Hedy Lamarr (1914–2000).

The cartoon The Flintstones depicts many modern appliances and ideas (such as the automobile) in a prehistoric setting—and depicts a dinosaur as a household pet. The Disney movie Aladdin, in particular, featured many short scenes in which the Genie briefly changed into caricatures of many famous people from all across time, including many 20th century figures and comedians, and quoted lines for comic effect. Also Disney's Movie Hercules, and its spin-off TV series and TV movie show Ancient Greece with modern day things and places such as restaurants, Hollywood stamps, and others. The same things are for Disney's the Emperor's New Groove, but this time with the Incan Empire with modern day things such as restaurants, pinatas, floor washers, scientists' labs, rangers, scouts, teddy bears, roller coasters, levers, candles, toasts, and others. The cartoon TV series, "Time Squad," with modern-day touches in past eras, and with the DreamWorks SKG movie Shrek and its sequels featuring the Middle Ages with modern day stuff.

Series 3 of The Micallef Program included a sketch by the name of 'Billy Anachronism' in which a janitor was sent back to multiple time periods before returning to the 1970s with several items of clothing depicting the places he had been.

Peter Greenaway's The Draughtsman's Contract, set in the 18th century, shows pop art on the walls of the manor; in the uncut version, it showed a cordless telephone. The latter scene was removed for issues of audience comprehensibility.

In a sketch in Robot Chicken, a newspaper boy yells, "Extra, extra! Newspaper boys are anachronisms in modern day society, read all about it!".

Future anachronism[link]

Unintentional[link]

Even with careful research, science fiction writers risk anachronism as their works age. For example, many books and films nominally set in the mid 21st century or later refer to the Soviet Union, defunct in 1991, or refer to Saint Petersburg in Russia as Leningrad, e.g. in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. Such conflicts can be retconned by positing a return to the former state, a new Soviet Union emerging and the city's name changing back to Leningrad.

Stories published before the invention of solid state electronics often depict characters in futuristic settings still using vacuum tube radios and slide rules. This is particularly noticeable in George O. Smith's Venus Equilateral stories, written between 1942 and 1945 but set in the mid 21st century, where radio communication using vacuum tubes, though more advanced than the ones at the 1940s, is a major plot subject. Also, the 1887 novel Looking Backwards, set in 2000, features a form of alarm clock/radio with vacuum tubes.

Clifford Simak's Time is the Simplest Thing (published in 1961) is set in the 22nd century, a time when cars are equipped with atomic engines and do not touch the ground, teleportation exists but is not available to the general public, and a means of travel to stars thousands of light years distant was created, but telephone calls go through manual telephone exchanges that have never been automated.

Conversely, some works assumed a more rapid rate of technological advance in the near future than actually happened, e.g. many of the works of Ray Bradbury depict futuristic families who rely on helicopters as a main mode of travel, which had not occurred by the date stated. The same is true for Heinlein's The Puppet Masters.

H. Beam Piper's novels, largely set in the 27th century "Atomic Era" (circa 2600) envision anti-gravity drives and super-luminal travel but still depict analog tape-based recording. Futuristic films, such as A Clockwork Orange, sometimes have anachronisms, e.g. in that film a 1960s Volkswagen Beetle is run off the road, and listening to microcassettes in a film set deep in the late 20th century. (Note, however, that in our timeline, a modernized version of the Beetle was introduced in 1998.) The 1926 movie Metropolis depicting life a century later shows plentiful biplanes obsolete roughly ten years later.

This can happen another way as well: William Gibson's Sprawl trilogy depicts a cyberpunk world of fantastically advanced technology in which personal mobile phones do not exist, characters rely extensively on pay phones or exotic satellite-based communication and 8 megabytes of RAM is a valuable commodity. (Mobile phones already existed at the time of the works, but they were big, clunky, and expensive; Gibson did not foresee their miniaturization and ubiquity.)

A more subtle example may be found in the 1989 film Back to the Future Part II, where it is assumed that fax machines are ubiquitous in 2015, instead of e-mail. Shows like The Jetsons also tend to have a number of similar examples, depicting 1960s style rock music as still unacceptable to adults, and that media of any kind would still be recorded on tape. This is satirized in the Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law episode Back to the Present.

Intentional[link]

Anachronisms are sometimes intentionally used in stories about the future. This can function to make the story seem comical or help a contemporary audience to relate to a story set in the future.

The television series Firefly's vision of a pioneer culture dominant in the outer regions of the galaxy mirrors the mid-West pioneer culture of 19th century United States. This can be seen as an anachronism, but one which helps an audience to identify with characters and even see the story as allegory, as the creator wanted the story to follow people who had fought on the losing side of a war and their experiences afterwards as pioneers and immigrants on the outskirts of civilization, much like the post-American Civil War era of Reconstruction and the American Old West culture.

Sometimes terms are intentionally used anachronistically, especially when referring to futuristic technology and the writers prefer to retain audience identification instead of creating a new term that would then have to be explained. The original Star Trek series also made reference to "computer tapes" although the storage media seen strongly resembled floppy disks, which had not yet been invented in the real world.

One work where nominal anachronisms are present but not fatal to credibility is David Brin's 1990 novel Earth. Brin foresees the ubiquity of the computer networks (but not the term Internet), but he was writing in the year before the World Wide Web was made popular. He therefore refers to documents that are readily available to computer users but called by clumsy numeric identifiers, rather than URLs. He also imagines that personal video recorders, like camcorders, would influence civil liberties by making it possible for ordinary citizens to film crimes committed by police, as well as by hooligans. He does not foresee the ways in which both still photographs and video can be transmitted, making it possible for amateur reporters to cover breaking news stories and get their stories televised.

Accidental and intentional[link]

With the detail required for a modern historical movie it is easy to introduce anachronisms.

• The 1995 hit film Apollo 13 contains numerous errors, including a wrong NASA logo and the appearance of The Beatles' Let It Be album a month before it was released.
• The film Grounding, about the collapse of the airline Swissair, is set in September 2001, yet computers are shown using Windows XP, which was released a month later, and some VW Phaetons are being used, which were released a year later.^[5]
• Many movies about World War II depict cardiopulmonary resuscitation being performed, which was rarely described or performed until the late 1950s.
• A scene from the movie Goodfellas, captioned "Idlewild Airport 1963", shows a Boeing 747 flying over, but the 747 did not make its first flight until 1969. Also, Ray Liotta is seen leaning on a 1965 Impala.
• The film Titanic (1997) also contains a well-known anachronism. Jack, one of the main characters in the movie (played by Leonardo DiCaprio), claims to have gone ice fishing on Lake Wissota, near Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. Lake Wissota is an artificial reservoir that was not created until 1917, five years after the Titanic sank. Rose also mentions Austrian psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud's ideas on the male preoccupation with size to Bruce Ismay. However, Titanic is set in 1912, and Freud did not publish the work relating to this until 1920 in Beyond the Pleasure Principle. Also, up until 1919, Freud relied solely on data from females.
• A series of novels^[which?] set among German soldiers in World War II describes Russians using AK-47s, which were invented in 1947, two years after the war ended.
• The movie Start the Revolution Without Me, which acts in 1750, has a prominent character Christina, a Belgian princess. However, Belgium did not exist until 1830.
• Effects from technologies not present in the time depicted in a movie -- tire tracks from automobiles and vapor trails from aircraft -- can appear in backdrops and foregrounds.
• In Gladiator a patron is seen dropping a printed paper program that shows two technologies -- printing and paper -- that the Romans did not have because those would be introduced centuries later.
• Anachronisms can include nationalities out of place. In the musical A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum a song by a bombastic soldier in a setting in the Roman Empire lists his military victories, including one against 'the Turk'. Turks did not appear near any part of the Roman Empire until long afterward.

Cinematic anachronisms that result from inappropriate objects in a film or television program are common even if they are unintentional. Often, these are faults of costume, especially for a television series filmed with a low budget. Thus, episodes of a 1960s series relating to the frontiersman Daniel Boone have been shown with 20th century hairdos and clothing with plastic buttons. At times, some modern actor unwilling to put aside a prized wristwatch during a filming of an epic of ancient times is shown with the bulge of the wristwatch under a toga even if the watch or its band is not partially exposed. A ballpoint pen, a commonplace object of the late 20th century, would not be available until after World War II to Americans, so any incidence of Franklin D. Roosevelt, who died during the war, or any earlier President of the United States signing legislation with one demonstrates an anachronism.

The popular 1970's television series The Waltons, set in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia during Franklin Roosevelt's presidency in the Great Depression and later, World War II, contained several anachronistic references to things that occurred during the pre-war Depression era. The first season is set in 1933,^[6] yet in the first episode, the family listens to Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy's radio show,^[7] which did not start until 1937. In the fifth episode, breaking news of an earthquake in Long Beach, California is discussed,^[8] though it actually occurred on March 10, 1933 (just six days into Roosevelt's presidency).

A number of accidental anachronisms occur in Franc Roddam's 1979 film Quadrophenia. Based on Pete Townshend and The Who's 1973 double album about a troubled London teenager trying to fit into the hedonistic early 1960s Mod scene, the film is widely believed to be set in 1964, as it depicts the Mods and Rockers seaside battle on Brighton beach and shows Jimmy's newspaper cuttings of similar battles at Hastings and Margate that same year. The numerous mirrors, lamps and chromed frames adorning Jimmy's Lambretta scooter also suggest 1964 rather than the stripped-down scooters of later years. However, 1970s car models are seen in street scenes, such as the Austin Allegro. At a house party, the sleeve of Who LP A Quick One is on the top of the record player, yet it was not released until the end of 1966. Also, in a scene on Brighton promenade, a cinema is advertising Heaven Can Wait, a film not made until 1978. Furthermore, while Jimmy is watching an episode of Ready Steady Go! on TV in 1964 (a pop-music programme aired 1963-66), The Who appear, singing "Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere", a song not released until May 1965.

Sometimes movie anachronisms are intentional but appear accidental. An example is the musical score of The Sting. The ragtime piano music by Scott Joplin was composed in the 1890s and 20th century, while the setting of the movie was the 1930s Great Depression. Although Joplin's music is not contemporary with the 1930s, its use in The Sting evokes a 1930s gangster film, The Public Enemy, which had also used Joplin theme music. The presence of Joplin's music might give the impression that the movie's backdrop and music are from the same period or, conversely, be mistaken as an unintentional anachronism by viewers unaware of the allusion to the earlier film.

Technical advances can also cause anachronisms, especially in movies set in the future. Numerous examples of this can be seen in the 1995 film Harrison Bergeron, set in 2081. Throughout the film, numerous analog CRT television sets are visible, along with other anachronisms, such as the analog nature and hardware-level programming of handicapping headbands. (One would expect the headbands to be programmable using a computer, as opposed to adjusting by hand.) In a large number of Yugoslavian movies about World War II, 1960s FAP and Tam trucks were used. A 1940 Ford fire truck was used in the 1967 movie Bonnie and Clyde; the real-life outlaws had been killed in 1934.

Anachronisms can show up when filming on location since buildings or natural features may be present that would not have been at the time the film was set. For example, many movies are set in the future but show the World Trade Center in New York City, such as Vanilla Sky. Some buildings or natural features may be missing in the film but existed at the time the movie was set. Another example is the Coen brothers movie No Country for Old Men, set in early 1980s Texas, in which a modern-day Carl's Jr. is visible in the background. The chain did not open its first Texas locations until later in that decade, and did not use its current markings until the 2000s. Similar anachronisms are noticeable in the film The Blue Max, in which outdoor television antennas are visible on buildings, during scenes set in 1918.

In the BBC science-fiction sitcom Red Dwarf, set on a 23rd century spacecraft, Sony Trinitron monitors are seen throughout the ship and VHS and Betamax video cassettes are still in use. One of these unintentional anachronisms is used for comic effect in Red Dwarf: Back to Earth, when it was explained that DVDs were discontinued sometime in the late 21st century because "humans were utterly incapable of putting them back in the cases" and that "videos are too big to lose".

In the case of films made in the past but set in the future, a building or feature may be seen that is known to exist no longer. Especially with regards to historical items and vehicles, anachronisms can stem from convenience; for example, a historically accurate item might be replaced with a later but fairly similar item, especially if a historically accurate item cannot be sourced. In the case of replicas, signs of modern construction techniques may be visible. In some cases, though, due to technological entrenchment, anachronisms cannot be helped, such as in the British television show Life on Mars (set in the 1970s), where it would require an excessive amount of work to remove today's outdoor amenities such as park benches or satellite dishes.

Language anachronism[link]

Language anachronisms in novels and films are quite common. They can be intentional or unintentional. Intentional anachronisms let us understand more readily a film set in the past. Language and pronunciation change so fast that most modern people (even many scholars) would have difficulty understanding a film with dialogue in 17th century English; thus, we willingly accept characters speaking an updated language. Similarly, modern slang and figures of speech are often used in these films. Modern audiences want to understand George Washington when he speaks, but if he starts talking about "the bottom line" (a figure of speech that did not come into popular use until almost two centuries after Washington's time) that can stretch credulity and distract the audience.

A character in e.g. Ancient Rome may use what many people will assume to be an ordinary figure of speech, but which a significant minority will be aware is actually a quote from Shakespeare, or the King James Bible, or even Lenin: e.g. the Empress Livia referred to the "infantile disorder of republicanism" in the TV series I, Claudius.

At the most blatant, linguistic anachronisms can demonstrate the fraudulence of a document purportedly from an earlier time. The use of 19th- and 20th-century antisemitic terminology demonstrates that the supposed "Franklin Prophecy" is a forgery, as Benjamin Franklin died in 1790.^[9]

In academia[link]

Anachronism in academic writing is considered at best embarrassing, as in early 20th century scholarship's use of Translatio imperii to interpret 10th century literature, when it was first formulated in the 12th century. Genuine errors will usually be acknowledged in a subsequent erratum.

The use in a hyperbolic sense is more complex: to refer to the Holy Roman Empire as the First Reich, for example, is inaccurate but may be a useful comparative exercise; the application of theory to works which predate Marxist, Feminist or Freudian subjectivities is considered an essential part of theoretical practice. In most cases, however, the practitioner will acknowledge or justify the use or context.

See also[link]

• Anatopism
• Ancient astronaut theory
• Antikythera mechanism
• Blackadder
• Book of Mormon anachronisms
• A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
• History Bites
• Kitsch
• Nonlinear (arts)
• Parachronism
• Presentism (literary and historical analysis)
• Soap Opera Rapid Aging Syndrome
• Society for Creative Anachronism
• Steampunk
• Suspension of disbelief

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Bolesław Prus, Pharaoh, translated from the Polish by Christopher Kasparek, Warsaw, Polestar Publications, and New York, Hippocrene Books, 2001.
•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Anachronism". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/1911_Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica/Anachronism. 

External links[link]

• The Wiktionary entry for anachronism
• To Doubt The Search: How Anachronisms Creep Into Academic Trend Studies

Amanda Palmer
Palmer playing at the Music Box Theatre, Hollywood, California; December 2008.
Background information
Birth name	Amanda MacKinnon Palmer
Also known as	Amanda Fucking Palmer[1][2]
Born	(1976-04-30) April 30, 1976 (age 36) New York City
Genres	Alternative rock, punk cabaret
Occupations	Artist, performer, musician, songwriter
Instruments	Vocals, keyboard, piano, ukulele
Years active	1989–present
Labels	8ft Records / Formerly Roadrunner Records (until April 2010)[3]
Associated acts	The Dresden Dolls Evelyn Evelyn
Website	Amanda Palmer.net

Amanda MacKinnon Gaiman Palmer^[4] (born April 30, 1976), sometimes known as Amanda Fucking Palmer,^[1][2] is an American performer who first rose to prominence as the lead singer, pianist, and lyricist/composer of the duo The Dresden Dolls.^[5] She has since started a solo career, and is also one half of the duo Evelyn Evelyn.

Biography[link]

Palmer was born in New York City's Mount Sinai Hospital,^[6] and grew up in Lexington, Massachusetts.^[7] She attended Lexington High School, where she was involved in the drama department,^[8] and attended Wesleyan University^[9] where she was a member of the Eclectic Society.^[10] She staged performances based on work by the Legendary Pink Dots, an early influence, and was involved in the Legendary Pink Dots electronic mailing list, Cloud Zero.^{[citation needed]} She then formed the Shadowbox Collective, devoted to street theatre and putting on theatrical shows (such as the 2002 play, Hotel Blanc,^[11] which she directed).

With an interest in the performing arts, both in music and in theatre, Palmer spent time busking as a living statue called "The Eight Foot Bride" in Harvard Square, Cambridge; Edinburgh, Scotland; Australia (where she met Jason Webley);^[12] as well as many other locations. She references this line of work on The Dresden Dolls' self-titled CD, with the song "The Perfect Fit":

"I can paint my face
And stand very, very still
It's not very practical
But it still pays the bills"

as well as on the A is for Accident track "Glass Slipper":

"I give out flowers
To curious strangers
who throw dollars at my feet."

The Dresden Dolls[link]

Amanda Palmer performing with The Dresden Dolls at Kings Arms Tavern in Auckland, New Zealand, September 2006

At a Halloween party in 2000, Palmer met drummer Brian Viglione and afterwards they formed The Dresden Dolls. In an effort to expand the performance experience and interactivity, Palmer began inviting Lexington High School students to perform drama pieces at her live shows. The Dirty Business Brigade, a troupe of seasoned and new artists, performed at many gigs. The invited costumed characters mingled with the crowd before and during the show, and veteran groups sometimes joined in with a choreographed stage act. Life-sized marionettes, coin-operated boys, living statues, and other undergroundlings greeted fans while circus and burlesque drew the audience into the Dolls' music, creating a participatory atmosphere that allowed the audience to experience numerous types of art simultaneously.

After developing a cult following, the band recorded their eponymous debut album, The Dresden Dolls in 2002 with producer Martin Bisi (of Indie, Brooklyn, New York fame). They produced the album before being picked up by Roadrunner Records.

In 2006, The Dresden Dolls Companion,^[13] was published, with words, music & artwork by Amanda Palmer.^[13] In it she has written a history of the album The Dresden Dolls and of the duo, as well as a partial autobiography. The book also contains the lyrics, sheet music, and notes on each song in the album, all written by Palmer, as well as a DVD with a 20 minute interview of Amanda about making the book.

In June 2007, as part of the Dresden Dolls, she toured with the True Colors Tour 2007,^[14] including her debut in New York City's Radio City Music Hall,^[15] and her first review in the New York Times.^[15]

July 2008 saw the release of the second Dresden Dolls book, the Virginia Companion.^[16] It is a follow-up to The Dresden Dolls Companion, featuring the music and lyrics from the Yes, Virginia...(2006) and No, Virginia... (2008) albums.

The Onion Cellar and Cabaret[link]

Palmer conceived the musical/production The Onion Cellar, based on a short story from The Tin Drum by Günter Grass. From December 9, 2006 through January 13, 2007, The Dresden Dolls performed the piece in conjunction with the American Repertory Theater at the Zero Arrow Theatre in Cambridge, Massachusetts. While Palmer was openly frustrated with the direction of the show, fan and critical reviews were very positive.^[17][18]

Palmer, as part of her solo career, returned to the A.R.T. in fall 2010 for a two-month run of Cabaret, starring as the Emcee.^{[citation needed]}

2010 Reunion Tour[link]

In 2010, a reunion tour to selected venues in the United States occurred. It started on Halloween in New York City and ended in San Francisco on New Years Eve.^[19]

Solo career[link]

Palmer (left) as one half of Evelyn Evelyn, with Jason Webley.

Palmer's solo album, Who Killed Amanda Palmer, was released on September 16, 2008.^[20] Ben Folds produced and also played on the album.^[21][22] The title is a play on an expression used by fans during Twin Peaks' original run, "Who killed Laura Palmer?" A companion book of photos of Palmer looking as if she were murdered was released in July 2009 featuring photography by Kyle Cassidy and accompanying writing by Neil Gaiman.

August Strindberg was indirectly referenced in a song by Palmer titled "Strength Through Music," which contains an audio clip of a web cartoon called Strindberg and Helium. The cartoon almost exclusively quotes Strindberg's work.

In July 2007, Palmer played three sold out shows (in Boston, Hoboken, and NYC) in a rare "with band" format. Her backing band was Boston alternative rock group Aberdeen City, who also opened along with Dixie Dirt. In August 2007, Amanda traveled to perform in the Spiegeltent and other venues at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland, and also performed on BBC Two's The Edinburgh Show. She collaborated with Australian theater company, The Danger Ensemble; both again appeared at the Spiegeltent in Melbourne and at other venues around Australia in December 2007. In September 2007 Palmer collaborated with Jason Webley to release Evelyn Evelyn's debut EP "Elephant Elephant" via Jason's Eleven Records. In June 2008, Palmer established her solo career with two well-received performances with the Boston Pops.^[23][24][25] In Autumn 2008, she toured Europe with Jason Webley, Zoe Keating and The Danger Ensemble, performing songs mostly from her debut solo album. She did most of the shows with a broken foot she had sustained in Ireland when a car ran over her foot as she stepped out into a street.^[26] In April 2009, she played at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.^[15]

In 2009, Palmer went back to her alma mater, Lexington High School in Massachusetts to collaborate with her old director and mentor Steven Bogart on a workshop piece for the department's spring production. The play, With The Needle That Sings In Her Heart was inspired by Neutral Milk Hotel's album, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea and The Diary of Anne Frank.^[27] It received an overwhelmingly positive response from the Lexington community and abroad. NPR's Avishay Artsy interviewed the cast in a piece featured on All Things Considered on closing night of the production.^[28] Amanda described this process as "what it's all about" in her blog.^{[citation needed]}

From August to October 2010, she performed in Cabaret at the A.R.T. in Boston, Massachusetts. She played the emcee, collaborating with long-time associates Lance Horne (music director), Steven Mitchell Wright of The Danger Ensemble ("movement master/choreographer"), and Steven Bogart (director, Amanda's high school drama teacher who directed the Lexington High School production of the Neutral Milk Hotel-inspired "With the Needle That Sings In Her Heart").^[29][30][31]

Palmer has increasingly used the ukulele in her career,^[32] including free ninja gigs in public locations, that are open to all ages.^{[citation needed]}

On February 9, 2012, Palmer announced on her blog^[33] that she will begin recording a new solo album in collaboration with The Grand Theft Orchestra, under the name of 'Amanda Palmer & The Grand Theft Orchestra'. Palmer stated that there are "20+ songs" ready to record, and that "almost all of them have never been heard". The album is to be recorded in Melbourne with John Congleton producing.^[33]

Use of the Internet[link]

Palmer is noted for her use of the Internet, regularly using the latest innovations to make new fans and connect with old ones. This includes her forum,^[34] her blog,^[35] use of many free music and social networking sites, fund raising, and direct-to-fan marketing.^[36]

Controversies[link]

Dispute with Roadrunner Records, fans' "ReBellyon"[link]

Photo taken during her 2008 tour promoting Who Killed Amanda Palmer?

After the release of her music video for the song "Leeds United," Palmer sparked controversy with a post in her blog. She claimed Roadrunner Records had wanted to pull certain shots from the video that exposed her stomach, because "...they thought I looked fat." After her fans read about this, they posted pictures of their stomachs online with messages to Roadrunner, lyrics, and words of comfort. They then sent their pictures to the record label, and started a web site.^{[citation needed]} The fans coined a term for the movement: The ReBellyon, and put together a book, "The Belly Book," of over 600 pictures and stories from fans. The book was sold over the internet to fans all over the world.^[37] Pitchfork Magazine^[38] and The Guardian^[39] were among publications reporting on the controversy.

Partly because of the Leeds video controversy,^{[citation needed]} Palmer attempted to disengage from her contract with Roadrunner Records, going as far as composing and performing a song called "Please Drop Me," which asked the label to free her from the contract.^[40][41]

After a long legal battle between Palmer and Roadrunner, and her repetitive pleas to discontinue her contract with Roadrunner, Palmer announced^[3] that Roadrunner Records finally released her from their label. Her appreciation was punctuated with another new song: "Do You Swear to Tell the Truth the Whole Truth and Nothing but the Truth So Help Your Black Ass" as a free download to celebrate her new freedom. She repeated the announcement during an appearance on the Australian music quiz show Spicks and Specks.^[42]

"Oasis" controversy[link]

Palmer's song "Oasis" and its follow-up video sparked more controversy. The song's fictional story deals with an Oasis fan and rape victim who has an abortion. Despite these tragic events, she states that "I've seen better days, but I don't care", and directly after, informs the listener what just happened involving her process of communicating to Oasis through fan mail, first, "I just sent a letter in the mail", then, "Oasis got my letter in the mail", and finally, toward the end of the song, "I just got a letter in the mail."^[43] Palmer received an e-mail while she was in the United Kingdom from her label there explaining that "all" of the TV outlets in the country had refused to play the video due to its "making light of rape, religion, and abortion." Palmer, in response, wrote on her blog "I suggested that I might be allowed to play it if I just slowed it way down and played it in a minor key. Think about it. If they heard the same lyrics against the backdrop of a very sad and liliting [sic] piano, maybe with some tear-jerking strings thrown in for good measure, would they take issue?"^[44]

"I Kissed a Girl" skit[link]

In December 2008, Palmer performed an Anti Proposition 8 agitprop skit at the Henry Fonda Theatre in Los Angeles where a Katy Perry look-alike came onstage and began singing her controversial song "I Kissed a Girl," only to be interrupted, kissed, and fondled by Palmer and comedian Margaret Cho. The skit ended with the two binding and gagging "Perry," who is forced into a mock wedding with Palmer, followed by the raising of an anti Proposition 8 banner. Palmer mentioned, on her blog, the discontent some in the LGBT community had with Perry over her exploitation of their identity in her song "I Kissed a Girl," and said she meant the piece as a protest against Proposition 8.^[45][46]

Personal life[link]

Palmer resides in Boston, Massachusetts.

She has identified as bisexual,^[47] telling afterellen.com in 2007: "I'm bisexual, but it's not the sort of thing I spent a lot of time thinking about," Palmer said. "I've slept with girls; I've slept with guys, so I guess that's what they call it! I'm not anti trying to use language to simplify our lives."^[48] On her blog, Palmer has stated that she had an abortion at age 17. In the same blog post, she stated that she was date raped when she was 20 years old.^[49]

Amanda Palmer and Neil Gaiman (Vienna 2011)

On January 1, 2010, she stated on her Twitter feed that she "might have told [Neil Gaiman] [she]'d marry him but also might have been drunk."^[50] On January 15, 2010, Neil Gaiman and Palmer confirmed their engagement in an announcement made to their respective websites.^[51][52] On November 16, 2010, Amanda Palmer hosted a flash mob wedding (not legally binding) for Gaiman's birthday in New Orleans.^[53] On January 3, 2011, the couple announced, via Twitter, that they had legally married in a private ceremony.^[54] The wedding took place in the parlour of writers Ayelet Waldman and Michael Chabon.^[55]

Palmer practices meditation and wrote an article titled "Melody vs. Meditation"^[56] for the Buddhist publication Shambhala Sun, that described the struggle between songwriting and being able to clear the mind to meditate. Palmer has also mentioned her pescetarianism on her blog.^[57] She has many friends who are fellow musicians, and frequently performs alongside them, either accompanying them in their performances, or featuring them in her live shows.^{[original research?]} These performers include: Jason Webley, Kim Boekbinder, The Jane Austen Argument, Reggie Watts, Tim Minchin, Mikelangelo, Meow Meow and Neil Gaiman.^{[citation needed]}

Awards & honors[link]

• 2012 – Twitter Feed @amandapalmer in the Boston Phoenix's Best 2012 ^[58]
• 2011 – Actress in a local production: Cabaret – Boston's Best, Improper Bostonian^[59]
• 2010 – Artist of the Year – Boston Music Awards^[60][61][62]
• 2010 – Cover of Fake Plastic Trees (Radiohead) named 13th of Paste Magazine's 20 Best Cover Songs of 2010^[63]
• 2009 – No. 100 on After Ellen's Hot 100 of 2009.^[64]
• 2008 – No. 6 on the Best Solo artist list in The Guardian's Readers' Poll of 2008.^[65]
• 2007 – No. 6 on Spinner.com's Women Who Rock Right Now.^[66]
• 2006 – the Boston Globe named her the most stylish woman in Boston.^[67]
• 2006 – listed in Blender Magazine's hottest women of rock.^[68]
• 2005 – Best Female Vocalist in the WFNX/Boston Phoenix Best Music Poll.^[69][70]

Discography[link]

Solo artist[link]

Demos[link]

• Songs from 1989–1995... (1996)
• Summer 1998 Five Song Demo (1997)

Studio albums[link]

• Who Killed Amanda Palmer (2008) No. 77 US^[71]
• Amanda Palmer Goes Down Under (2011)^[72]
• Amanda Palmer & The Grand Theft Orchestra (2012)^[73]

EPs[link]

• Amanda Palmer Performs the Popular Hits of Radiohead on Her Magical Ukulele (2010)^[74][75][76]

Singles[link]

• "Do You Swear to Tell the Truth the Whole Truth and Nothing but the Truth So Help Your Black Ass" (April 6, 2010)
• "Idioteque" (June 10, 2010)
• "Map of Tasmania" (December 2010)^[77]

DVDs[link]

• Who Killed Amanda Palmer: A Collection of Music Videos (2009)

As part of The Dresden Dolls[link]

• The Dresden Dolls EP (2002)
• A Is for Accident (2003)
• The Dresden Dolls (2003, reissued 2004)
• Yes, Virginia... (2006)
• No, Virginia... (2008)

As part of Evelyn Evelyn[link]

• Elephant Elephant (2007)^[78][79]
• Evelyn Evelyn (2010)

Other collaborations[link]

• "Trudy" (with Ad Frank and the Fast Easy Women on In Girl Trouble) (2003)
• "Circus Freak Love Triangle" (with Hierosonic on Pornos and Razorblades) (2005)
• "Warsaw Is Khelm" (with Golem on Fresh Off Boat) (2006)
• "Life", "Eight Days of Hell" and "Witch's Web" (with ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead on So Divided) (2006)
• "The Lovers" (with Meredith Yayanos on Brainwaves) (2006)
• "Stuck with You" (with Voltaire on Ooky Spooky) (2007)
• "Everybody Hurts" (with Cormac Bride on Stereogum Presents... Drive XV: A Tribute to Automatic For the People) (2007)
• "Black Versus White" (with Apoptygma Berzerk on Rocket Science) (2009)
• Murder By Death/Amanda Palmer Split 7" (2009)
• "Living in Misery" (with Kill Hannah on Wake Up the Sleepers) (2009)
• "János vs Wonderland" (with Tristan Allen on Tristan Allen EP) (2010)
• "The Little Prince" (with Lance Horne on First Things Last) (2011)^[80]
• Nighty Night (with Damian Kulash of OK Go, Neil Gaiman and Ben Folds as 8in8) (2011)^[81][82]
• "Such Great Heights" (with Kim Boekbinder on Such Great Heights single) (2011)^[83][84][85]

Cameo appearances[link]

• "Let Me Borrow That Top" (by Liam Kyle Sullivan aka. "Kelly") (2004) appearing briefly in the mall scene.
• "With the Needle That Sings in Her Heart" (Lexington High School's 2009 Spring Production) appearing as "The Ringmaster"

Bibliography[link]

• Palmer, Amanda (2006). The Dresden Dolls Companion. New York, NY: Eight Foot Music. ISBN 978-1-57560-888-4. 
• Palmer, Amanda; Viglione, Brian (2008). The Dresden Dolls – The Virginia Companion. Cherry Lane Music Company. ISBN 1-60378-079-3. 
• Palmer, Amanda; Gaiman, Neil; Cassidy, Kyle; Hommel, Beth (2009). Who Killed Amanda Palmer: A Collection of Photographic Evidence. New York, NY: Eight Foot Books. ISBN 0-615-23439-9. 
• Palmer, Amanda (2009). Amanda Palmer - Who Killed Amanda Palmer?. Cherry Lane Music Company. p. 112. ISBN 978-1-60378-123-7. "A songbook with the chords and lyrics to the album Who Killed Amanda Palmer" 
• Cynthia, Von Buhler; Palmer, Amanda; Webley, Jason (2011). Evelyn Evelyn (illustrated ed.). Diamond Comic Distributors. p. 144. ISBN 978-1-59582-578-0. 

Notes[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Amanda Palmer

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Amanda Palmer

• Amanda Palmer's official site
• Live Webcast & Ustream archive
• Amanda Palmer's autobiography on The Dresden Dolls' website
• Amanda Palmer discography at MusicBrainz
• Amanda Palmer discography at Discogs

Interviews[link]

• Conversation with Amanda Palmer and Henry Rollins – July 7, 2007

Features[link]

• "Art Endures, Capitalism Degenerates: The Evolving Career of Amanda Palmer", by Sean Bell, PopMatters, October 28, 2011