So… were people just stupid back then, or what?
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Belletrist0 — 18 years ago(April 28, 2007 08:42 PM)
To be fair to the people back then, the fairies had been retouched in the photos to look whiter and brighter to stand out, which is why they looked especially fake. The original photographs were rather blurry; if people saw that, you could understand why they would be fooled, because it was hard to tell just what they were seeing.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was a vocal supporter, and had the photographs analyzed by an expert, who concluded that no "retouching" (as in nothing had been added or drawn in) had been done, and that the pictures were genuine. Moreover, most people did not (or could not) believe that two little girls could blatantly lie to the public. It was mainly because people were brought up with the misguided belief that all children, especially proper young ladies like Frances and Elsie, were honest, sweet, gentle creatures who could not willingly perpetrate a massive hoax.
It should be mentioned that not everyone believed that the faeries were real, and some people wrote in to newspapers scolding Doyle and the people who were promoting the photographs.
Everyone dies but not everyone gets to live. -
ExAxLxPx12 — 18 years ago(July 04, 2007 10:31 AM)
i don't think people were just stupid then or that they are now, i think that people want to belive in things like that, it helps to escape from reality for a while, i know i still love it i'm not stupid, i know that it prolly isn't real but its nice to belive in, all of these mythological stories normally have some truth to their beginnings, the stories get exgagerated and change to add dramatic flare but there prolly was some truth to them to begin with, so basicaly people want to belive in mythological things like faires because it makes them feel good not stupid.
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XXX_Good_Charlotte_XXX — 18 years ago(October 29, 2007 06:13 AM)
i aree with you also it was like the 1917's no one know about photoshope or what we have today the world has changed alot since then people were more trustfull then because they didn't have as much a reson not to be so if these inoccent lookin girls come out and say these are real people had no reason not to belive them
No matter how high they climb up the ladder.They won't reach up into heaven
~G.C.~In this world (murder) -
XXX_Good_Charlotte_XXX — 18 years ago(October 29, 2007 06:15 AM)
i aree with you also it was like the 1917's no one know about photoshope or what we have today the world has changed alot since then people were more trustfull then because they didn't have as much a reson not to be so if these inoccent lookin girls come out and say these are real people had no reason not to belive them
No matter how high they climb up the ladder.They won't reach up into heaven
~Good Charlotte~In this world (murdder) -
ullababe02 — 17 years ago(April 12, 2008 01:38 AM)
People just want something to believe in, even if it's obvious that it isn't real. In this instance it was a picture of fairies, other's are the image of Jesus in a taco or god speaking to people thru garbage disposals or encounters with big foot at the White House. None of this things exist but people desperately want to believe in them, so they let go of all reason and sensibility. It doesn't make them stupid, it just makes them human.
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gallant-girl9 — 17 years ago(May 11, 2008 07:30 AM)
Okay I know what you mean, but oh no people back then were not stupid, maybe a bit more innocent then now, and I know which people I prefer, to be honest as a child I thought there were fairies, never saw them.But it is more wanting to believe then anything..
I would think that horrendous WW1 had a lot to do with it. Some people wanted to believe in something beautiful and good! Can you really blame them?. -
AngelRedhead — 14 years ago(January 29, 2012 09:15 AM)
I was a little girl in the 1960's and was shown these photos by my mother. Back in the 60's everyone still believed the photos to be genuine as the girls didn't admit they were fakes until the 1980's. I believed in the 60's that fairies existed & even when it was revealed in the 80's (when I was in my 20's) that they were fake I still like to believe that they weren't. And I am not a stupid person!
"I cannot live without my life! I cannot die without my soul". Heathcliff -
Spiny_Norman — 14 years ago(January 30, 2012 12:43 PM)
I always thought it was odd that no one commented (at the time) on the fact that the fairies had contemporary (to the time) clothes, hair styles, make-up and even tiny jewellery.
"Everybody in the WORLD, is bent" -
Spiny_Norman — 14 years ago(January 30, 2012 12:47 PM)
Or indeed the fact that in the photos the wind is quite clearly blowing foliage about, causing slight blurring, yet the fairies tiny LIGHTWEIGHT clothes, wings and hair remained stock-still and pin-sharp.
"Everybody in the WORLD, is bent" -
nbreyfogle-1 — 13 years ago(January 05, 2013 12:02 PM)
People are stupid TODAY.
One of the most consistently demonstrated qualities of the human mind throughout all of human history is that of self-deception; delusion. People still exhibit massive stupidity today. Some still insist today that these obviously faked fairies were real, for instance.
Such stupidity boggles the rational mind, but it does exist, and in high numbers of childish adults. -
molly-31 — 11 years ago(October 11, 2014 05:20 PM)
It's a popular notion to believe that people in former times were "stupid" or "gullible". Actually, most people were just as intelligent, even cynical, as they are today, but they had to go with the information they had.
This film gives the impression that people flocked to Cottlingley by the thousands and that millions more succumbed to total brain-dead belief. It would be more accurate to say that for the general public, their reaction to the photographs might have been dismissal or curiosity, but for the most part it was not a matter of supreme importance. Most people would have looked at the hair styles and clothing and immediately recognized them as paper cutouts. (I certainly did, when I was twelve, and I
believe
in fairies, I just don't think they look anything like anyone thinks.)
Even most believers would have treated it like Catholics first hearing about the visitations at Lourdes; well, if it's real, we will find out in time.
Not even every member of the Theosophical Society (the metaphysical study group shown in the film) believed the photos were real. It is true that at the time the Modern Spiritualists were experimenting with telegraph, photography and other relatively recent inventions, to see if it were possible to contact the next world. They believed it might be done, without necessarily believing anyone had actually done it. These groups had more of an experimental motive, not blind faith.
You've got me?! Who's got
you?!
