MovieChat Forums > A Passage to India (1985) Discussion > Why do so many people call the score "an...

Why do so many people call the score "anachronistic"?

posted 8 years ago by felstein
1 reply | jump to latest

It may have started with Leonard Maltin's review, but I have read several other reviews that have expressed this same opinion. I don't get it. A rock score would have been anachronistic. A baroque score would have been anachronistic. I thought the music perfectly suited the period. And while one may argue that such a jaunty, Western-influenced score was more suited to an Agatha Christie murder mystery ("Death on the Ganges" perhaps? ), I don't necessarily consider that a shortcoming. It was simply choosing to emphasize the British side of things rather than the Indian side. Did anyone criticize Jarre for not including Arabic folk music in his score for Lawrence of Arabia?

[–] liscarkat (19385) a year ago

Maybe they don't know what "anachronistic" means. Chances are they're using a word they've seen, but they just mean they don't like the score. Sort of like the way people toss around "ironic", thinking it means coincidental or unusual. Or "disinterested", as if it means uninterested. Or "begs the question", as if it means raises the question.