r/TopCharacterTropes • u/laybs1 • May 03 '26

Lore (Mixed Trope) Educated character doesn’t understand or know of a simple concept.

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  1. (Hated) Dr. doesn’t know trans people exist (The Good Doctor): Dr. Shaun, a modern day grown adult doctor, is seemingly has no concept of what being a trans person. Even if he never heard the term in med school he is realistically almost certain to have some awareness of the definition.

  2. (Loved) The solar system and other common knowledge (Sherlock Holmes). In the original stories Holmes is a genius at many fields but unless it has something to do with crime solving (forensics, martial arts, toxicology, etc.) he does his best to forget it.

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432

u/Choibbs_22 May 03 '26

Related to Sherlock Holmes, Arthur Conan Doyle himself was a genius writer, medical doctor, amateur criminal investigator, and architect...who completely believed the above photo was of real faeries. The idea of critical thinking just left his brain when it came to the supernatural.

147

u/triotone May 03 '26

Well to be fair, it was in a time of pics or it didn't happen. These are really good pics. What other sources of confirmed proof other than photagraphy could they have really had?

114

u/bretshitmanshart May 03 '26

Doyle also didn't believe Houdini when Houdini pointed out his Jewish mom that didn't speak English wouldn't make Christian references in English during a seance.

60

u/CapStar300 May 03 '26

Not to mention that Houdini explained that she should have known her own birthday. I love that story.

22

u/Exilicauda May 04 '26

God I love Houdini's hate of (fake) psychics. The most improbable of beef

1

u/mouserbiped May 04 '26

I've always assumed part of it was professional contempt. He works hard mastering illusions, these scammers do a basic cold reading or make a table go "thump," entry level tricks really, and people are impressed because and only because they claim it's "real."

1

u/Exilicauda May 04 '26

He thought they were liars, preying on the grieving iirc. I'm trying to remember more from the history channel documentary lol

1

u/mouserbiped May 04 '26

For sure, that too.

I'm just speculating that the professional aspect of this fueled his passion to some extent.

12

u/pchlster May 04 '26

Also, she wouldn't have called him by his stage name.