A Collection Of Pre-1930 Awkward Family Photos
These pictures should give you a pretty good idea of what AwkwardFamilyPhotos.com would've looked like 100 years ago. It starts out cute, but turns ugly and creepy fast…
MORE GREAT STUFF
Facebook Conversations
20 Responses So Far
- shaynag thinks A Collection Of Pre-1930 Awkward Fami... is WTF
- melissaw15 A Collection Of Pre-1930 Awkward Fami... and thinks it’s LOL
- kharisilynnaeeliseb A Collection Of Pre-1930 Awkward Fami...
- benjamina2 A Collection Of Pre-1930 Awkward Fami... and thinks it’s Old, WTF & LOL
-
People didn't smile in these pictures, because they would have been standing there for a very long time trying to hold the pose. This was due to the old-timey cameras.
- Nichola A. thinks A Collection Of Pre-1930 Awkward Fami... is LOL
- Sara Nitz A Collection Of Pre-1930 Awkward Fami...
-
If the reaction “wow” existed here, I might even click. But I guess it's too old fashioned unfortunately. (Thanks to Tia for linking me here, I belong with these photos. I wish I knew all their stories.)
- Eclipsante thinks A Collection Of Pre-1930 Awkward Fami... is WTF
- Michael C. thinks A Collection Of Pre-1930 Awkward Fami... is LOL
- nekomaneki thinks A Collection Of Pre-1930 Awkward Fami... is LOL & WTF
- fivestyle thinks A Collection Of Pre-1930 Awkward Fami... is WTF & Cute
- stefswerdo thinks A Collection Of Pre-1930 Awkward Fami... is LOL
- Kaitlin W. thinks A Collection Of Pre-1930 Awkward Fami... is WTF
- katelynb A Collection Of Pre-1930 Awkward Fami... and thinks it’s Cute
- meggy thinks A Collection Of Pre-1930 Awkward Fami... is WTF
- Katie A Collection Of Pre-1930 Awkward Fami...
- Walter K. thinks A Collection Of Pre-1930 Awkward Fami... is LOL
- Ilana Glazer A Collection Of Pre-1930 Awkward Fami... and thinks it’s OMG, WTF & LOL
- Paola D thinks A Collection Of Pre-1930 Awkward Fami... is Old & LOL
- Richard C. A Collection Of Pre-1930 Awkward Fami... and thinks it’s OMG
- Kara T. thinks A Collection Of Pre-1930 Awkward Fami... is LOL
-
Family photo.
- shaug thinks A Collection Of Pre-1930 Awkward Fami... is LOL
- demotivation thinks A Collection Of Pre-1930 Awkward Fami... is WTF
- JKSxo thinks A Collection Of Pre-1930 Awkward Fami... is LOL & WTF
- Christy W. thinks A Collection Of Pre-1930 Awkward Fami... is WTF & LOL
- Carolina F. thinks A Collection Of Pre-1930 Awkward Fami... is OMG
- . s0apscum . A Collection Of Pre-1930 Awkward Fami... and thinks it’s LOL
-
Smiling in photographs wasn't always the convention. The model for early portrait photography was the painted portrait—in which the dignified, timeless quality that was desired would have been undermined by rendering the subject as insanely happy for no apparent reason. Besides, there's something to be said for family albums that don't consist of dozens and dozens of images of people feigning boundless joy for the camera. At the very least, the ubiquitous mirthful grins and slack-jawed, sedated expressions of total contentment adopted by the subjects of modern photos are no more unnatural and strange than the solemn poses that were the norm in photography's early days. As for what we are apparently supposed to perceive as the unintended and unfortunate homoerotic nature of some of the photos: Again, it's only relatively recently in American cultural history that physical closeness and expressions of affection between men became taboo. It was during WWI and the period between the Wars that this taboo was constructed and cemented into place. Before that, the fear that the label “homosexual” would be attached to a man who was seen to be physically intimate with another man simply did not exist. Men and women of the era before hyper-masculinity as a defense mechanism was the norm would have thought it ludicrous to suggest that men (or women) such as those in the photos above were what *we* would call homosexual. For them, it was common for men to love one another and to express such emotions physically—but the idea of such men possessing a same-sex orientation would never have even occurred to them. They didn't have a word for such a thing because it did not exist for them—and because it did not exist for them, they did not have a word for it. The men in the photos were (are) men who love each other, and express that love publicly without fear of being thought of as lovers in our modern understanding of that word.
- Stephen D. thinks A Collection Of Pre-1930 Awkward Fami... is LOL
- Sinay G. thinks A Collection Of Pre-1930 Awkward Fami... is Geeky
- Timothy Serviss thinks A Collection Of Pre-1930 Awkward Fami... is WTF
- Jiahui C. thinks A Collection Of Pre-1930 Awkward Fami... is LOL & WTF
- Alfonso A. thinks A Collection Of Pre-1930 Awkward Fami... is WTF
- Chris T. thinks A Collection Of Pre-1930 Awkward Fami... is WTF
-
Where's the NEXT button? I want to see more. GOOD STUFF!
-
Really? I'm the first one to use the “old” tag? You people are humorless!
- Chai Life thinks A Collection Of Pre-1930 Awkward Fami... is Old & WTF
- Gadook thinks A Collection Of Pre-1930 Awkward Fami... is WTF
- Sarah B. thinks A Collection Of Pre-1930 Awkward Fami... is WTF
- zoom thinks A Collection Of Pre-1930 Awkward Fami... is Cute & LOL
- Chris L. thinks A Collection Of Pre-1930 Awkward Fami... is WTF
-
#17 must have been taken after 1946. Weeki Wachee Springs didn't become a tourist attraction until then.
- Lihi Lasslo thinks A Collection Of Pre-1930 Awkward Fami... is WTF
- Jessica S. A Collection Of Pre-1930 Awkward Fami...
- Ivan Nikolic thinks A Collection Of Pre-1930 Awkward Fami... is WTF
- The Acorn King thinks A Collection Of Pre-1930 Awkward Fami... is LOL
-
These aren't people…they are DEMONS!
- Tracy H. thinks A Collection Of Pre-1930 Awkward Fami... is OMG
- Gerry Ahrens thinks A Collection Of Pre-1930 Awkward Fami... is Trashy
- ostfrallan.com readers just made A Collection Of Pre-1930 Awkward Fami... more viral
- amy swiney A Collection Of Pre-1930 Awkward Fami... and thinks it’s OMG
- fatboonbo A Collection Of Pre-1930 Awkward Fami...
- tesa A Collection Of Pre-1930 Awkward Fami... and thinks it’s LOL
- reckoner A Collection Of Pre-1930 Awkward Fami... and thinks it’s LOL
- Roxanne thinks A Collection Of Pre-1930 Awkward Fami... is Cute & LOL
- Maura D. A Collection Of Pre-1930 Awkward Fami...
- Anna Smith A Collection Of Pre-1930 Awkward Fami...
- insidestl.com readers just made A Collection Of Pre-1930 Awkward Fami... more viral
- Jennifer H. thinks A Collection Of Pre-1930 Awkward Fami... is WTF
- lchen12345 thinks A Collection Of Pre-1930 Awkward Fami... is WTF
- A Collection Of Pre-1930 Awkward Fami... was rebuzzed by Carrie S.
- Carrie S. A Collection Of Pre-1930 Awkward Fami... and thinks it’s LOL
- EK A Collection Of Pre-1930 Awkward Fami...
- triciajean thinks A Collection Of Pre-1930 Awkward Fami... is WTF
- Bernáth E. thinks A Collection Of Pre-1930 Awkward Fami... is LOL
- media.yooblog.gr readers just made A Collection Of Pre-1930 Awkward Fami... more viral
- greg hardin A Collection Of Pre-1930 Awkward Fami... and thinks it’s LOL
- Tr S. thinks A Collection Of Pre-1930 Awkward Fami... is WTF
- Lauryn A. thinks A Collection Of Pre-1930 Awkward Fami... is LOL & WTF
- gorillamask.net readers just made A Collection Of Pre-1930 Awkward Fami... more viral
- Craig Butcher thinks A Collection Of Pre-1930 Awkward Fami... is WTF & LOL
- GalKv thinks A Collection Of Pre-1930 Awkward Fami... is OMG & LOL
- Eric S. thinks A Collection Of Pre-1930 Awkward Fami... is WTF
- Le Lapin Nesquik thinks A Collection Of Pre-1930 Awkward Fami... is LOL, Trashy & Ew
- Nini Bridges thinks A Collection Of Pre-1930 Awkward Fami... is Ew
- PBBMarx tweeted A Collection Of Pre-1930 Awkward Family Photos Follow · Retweet
- blogs.nerve.com readers just made A Collection Of Pre-1930 Awkward Fami... more viral
-
Think #2's got a beard?
![[link]](http://s3-ak.buzzfed.com/static/images/public/icons/external-link2.png)
hangoverbeard.com
-
Golly, I can't pick a favorite!
-
Response to this post— with commentary
![[link]](http://s3-ak.buzzfed.com/static/images/public/icons/external-link2.png)
blogs.nerve.com
-
OK #5………… 0_0
-
#05 is from the early 60s.
-
Prohibition = no smiling.
-
All my nightmares realized on one Buzzfeed page.
-
#18 will haunt my dreams for days.
So thanks. -
Was smiling illegal before 1930?
-
It started out awkward and then just got into scary, come-out-of-the-screen-and-use-my-powers-to-make-you-a-member-of-my-wooden-puppet-family territory.
-
these are amazing pictures! i must marry a man who will grow a deadlocked beard and will stuff frightened kitties in said dread-locked beard
-
Too funny—have you looked at our old family albums cause I dare say—could easily fit!
- thecultureofme tweeted A Collection Of Pre-1930 Awkward Family Photos Follow · Retweet































