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I am a self professed nerd. This should be fairly obvious from the stuff I've written before, whether that be over analysing trailers, explaining every detail of minor superheroes or singing the praises of a Japanese children's TV show. Some years ago, in the recent past, it could be argued that there was a stigma against people who enjoyed things that were considered in the realm of geekdom. Cartoons, comics, games both video and card based, collectibles and vintage/retro stuff were all considered stupid at various points. But the 2010's have allowed the world of the nerd to come front and centre, where the things nerdy kids grew up loving have somehow been allowed to be the biggest industries and franchises in the world.
This is both incredible and horrible. But why?
I am a self professed nerd. This should be fairly obvious from the stuff I've written before, whether that be over analysing trailers, explaining every detail of minor superheroes or singing the praises of a Japanese children's TV show. Some years ago, in the recent past, it could be argued that there was a stigma against people who enjoyed things that were considered in the realm of geekdom. Cartoons, comics, games both video and card based, collectibles and vintage/retro stuff were all considered stupid at various points. But the 2010's have allowed the world of the nerd to come front and centre, where the things nerdy kids grew up loving have somehow been allowed to be the biggest industries and franchises in the world.
This is both incredible and horrible. But why?
The Good
Genuinely Good Multimedia
Image Credit: wikimedia.org
Let's start with the obvious stuff; since the rise of nerd culture, the quality of it's surrounding media has improved exponentially. The best example of this is easily the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I've sung it's praises so many times before, so I'll keep this brief. The MCU is the crowing achievement of Marvel Studios; a film series that has allowed previously impossible feats of movie making to not only be done with sincerity and with respect to it's properties, but have also become incredibly financially successful, which allows more of these movies to be made. As someone who grew up with comic from a very early age, the idea of seeing The Avengers on screen was an absolute dream come true. I was left speechless at how completely and utterly faithful and respectful the MCU movies have been to the stories and characters that defined mine and many other readers childhoods. Even my favourite group of characters ever, the Guardians of The Galaxy, were adapted with such class and style, and now the world loves Star-Lord nearly as much as it might love Spider-Man. And that is just crazy.
Healthy Competition
Image Credit: tumblr.com
The escalating quality of this kind of media is due to the very instant and vocal feedback of the people who love it most. The advent of sites like Twitter and Rotten Tomatoes have put the pressure on the companies to actually put effort into their output. The focus now is on the quality of the stories and characters, rather than how flashy effects can be or being concious of the budget. Faithfulness to source material is what allowed Deadpool to be the unlikely hit of 2016, similar to how a lack of understanding of character and a rejection of motivations are made Batman V Superman the meme-worthy joke that it is. At least in some cases, the direct competition between franchises and companies has allowed for a focus on quality rather than check-list inclusions and arbitrary target figures.
The Bad
Predictability and Insult of Intelligence
Image Credit: tumblr.com
The main inherent problem of the rise of nerd culture is the tendency to use it as a crutch to make money. Movies are quite possibly the worst for this, with video games riding a close second. Transformers and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are the ones that stick out in my mind as the worst offenders; Computer generated garbage with little to no emotional sustenance or engaging material that simply slaps a well known brand on the front and generates a license to print money. You can easily counter argue that the over-reliance on nostalgia is equally to blame here, but honestly it feels like a bigger betrayal of the very people who once made these names big that gives the impression that this kind of culture has come too far and become too bloated.
And honestly, trailers and promo material these days is getting so out of hand people have to consciously AVOID the very material that is intended to get us excited for stuff. Most recently, the trailers for Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, Captain America: Civil War and X-Men: Apocalypse have given away some or even ALL of their crowd pleasing surprises in an effort to guarantee more ticket pre-orders. The ever-clutching hand of capitalism has allowed this to happen in the video game space as well, with sections of a game getting cut into chunks and served to different companies or hidden behind paywalls in order to taunt fans who want to experience the whole game with an often undeserved price tag. These decisions just seek to insult the intelligence of the fandom, who often can see right past it, but are still somehow so blinded by dedication that they pony up the money for these companies for those brief minutes of distraction.
And honestly, trailers and promo material these days is getting so out of hand people have to consciously AVOID the very material that is intended to get us excited for stuff. Most recently, the trailers for Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, Captain America: Civil War and X-Men: Apocalypse have given away some or even ALL of their crowd pleasing surprises in an effort to guarantee more ticket pre-orders. The ever-clutching hand of capitalism has allowed this to happen in the video game space as well, with sections of a game getting cut into chunks and served to different companies or hidden behind paywalls in order to taunt fans who want to experience the whole game with an often undeserved price tag. These decisions just seek to insult the intelligence of the fandom, who often can see right past it, but are still somehow so blinded by dedication that they pony up the money for these companies for those brief minutes of distraction.
Rampant fanboying
Image Credit: youtube.com/yahtzee19
One of the biggest problems is that today's nerds can't seem to separate quality and preference. The antagonist of anyone who has a different opinion from you has it's roots in the rise of the internet, and before that in religion, presumably. However, it's never been bigger. Marvel vs DC, Sony vs Microsoft, Apple vs Samsung; mindsets like these are making us focus on what we choose to buy and those around us who validate that choice, rather than the actual tangible quality of the product. With technology, you can break down specs and compare them, or price points and compare them, but at the end of the day, you will choose the item that fits your own parameters. Just because you buy an iPhone does put you in any form of status above anyone else. In fact, the argument can be made that it actually makes you look like a completely unoriginal, carbon copy cunt. People will buy iPhones because iPhones are iPhones. People will play on an Xbox because Xboxes are Xboxes. Very little seems dictated by quality, which is why even though Batman Vs Superman is a critical failure, it's still made more money than any one of us fans are likely to see in ten lifetimes. It's almost as if we're forced to pick sides these days because we need something to fight over. Who the fuck cares if you're Team Cap, we still all saw Civil War because it was a good movie! You had fun! Hold onto that for Gods sake!
But then you get fandoms who go too far and get too dedicated, who then start violently lashing out at people who have done little to deserve it. The fandom for the excellent game Undertale are the most recent offenders, creating a vitriolic following on sites like Tumblr (No surprises there) and YouTube. In one case, popular games commentator Markiplier had to stop playing Undertale and stop enjoying the game because the fanboy backlash has too severe, who threatened the video creator because he was 'playing it wrong', apparently. There was no emotional separation of the fans enjoyment and a personality's enjoyment of the game, which immediately lead to death threats, because we're just that fucking stupid nowadays, I guess. I'm all for calling out something or someone bad when that thing is undeniably bad, like MLM schemes or bad movies, but threatening to kill a man because he didn't play an open-ended, multi-choice game the exact way that you wanted it to be played is infantile, idiotic and clear signifier that this culture needs to die before it gets too powerful.
But then you get fandoms who go too far and get too dedicated, who then start violently lashing out at people who have done little to deserve it. The fandom for the excellent game Undertale are the most recent offenders, creating a vitriolic following on sites like Tumblr (No surprises there) and YouTube. In one case, popular games commentator Markiplier had to stop playing Undertale and stop enjoying the game because the fanboy backlash has too severe, who threatened the video creator because he was 'playing it wrong', apparently. There was no emotional separation of the fans enjoyment and a personality's enjoyment of the game, which immediately lead to death threats, because we're just that fucking stupid nowadays, I guess. I'm all for calling out something or someone bad when that thing is undeniably bad, like MLM schemes or bad movies, but threatening to kill a man because he didn't play an open-ended, multi-choice game the exact way that you wanted it to be played is infantile, idiotic and clear signifier that this culture needs to die before it gets too powerful.
Image Credit: tumblr.com
The problem is also with fan entitlement. There is a mindset with fans now that they are deserving of certain greatnesses, with little consideration for the reality and actuality of industries. Not to protect the multi-million dollar companies that profit off nostalgia and nerd culture literally every day, but modern nerds can't seems to understand that everything they want may not actually equal a good creative or business decision. Not everything is as mutually beneficial as Spider-man coming to the MCU. For every Dredd sequel push, we unfortunately have to deal with situations where fans threw a hissy fit over the ending of Mass Effect 3. It genuinely seems that our crowd are simply never happy anymore. Star Wars Battlefront was one of the best looking games of 2015, it looked, felt and sounded like Star Wars, it came out almost ten years after the franchise was considered dead, it was developed by the ultra talented DICE, but wah wah there isn't a single player campaign even though the market clearly shows that online multi player is at the utmost height of its popularity and the story modes on most shooters aren't even touched wah. Now, I know there's more going on with Star Wars Battlefront, like it's overpriced DLC practice and it's timely release with The Force Awakens, but it's a nice little nutshell example that we, as nerd, will pick apart anything and find all the flaws until we make it utterly soulless and devoid of joy for everyone.
Geek Chic and Nerd Blackface
I can't stress how much this pisses me off on a very personal level. A lot of people may not see this in such as bad as light as I do, but humour me for these next few sentences. Geek chic is a goddamn abomination. The idea looking as stereotypically 'geeky' as possible is considered a fashionable thing to do makes me want to end my life. People who wear the frames of glasses piss me off more than anything. I need glasses to see, I have sight problems. I could wear contacts but I am more comfortable removing a pair of glasses than I am taking lenses out of my eyes. Would I rather have perfect vision and not wear them at all? Absolutely. So can someone explain why wearing glasses with fake or no lenses is a thing? Who wakes up and chooses to look like someone they're not, especially someone they're likely to get stick for being? The problem is the irony is now fashionable. Fashion concious people use the traits of people who need certain items of clothing to feel comfortable with who they are or even function as a human being and boil it down to how it can be parodied or even sexualised.
Image Credit: pinterest.com
But even though geek chic is fucking terrible, at least it isn't The Big Bang Theory, which is as close to nerd blackface as you're likely to get. TBBT is hands down the single worst thing to exist in recent years, and everyone involved should be fucking shameful, not only of the poor quality of the product, but for the atrocious affect it has had on it's viewers and the culture surrounding it. TBBT takes stuff like social anxiety, autism and depression and turns them into fucking jokes. Like, literally, the only joke surrounding the character of Sheldon is that he exhibits autistic behaviour, but because he's a nerd it's funny. It's not fucking funny, and for two reasons: One, the writing is terrible; and Two, the fact that we have turned being mentally troubled and passionate about seccular culture into a goddamn punchline is harmful to people.
The thing about the nerds of yesteryear is that they were rejected by the popular society that prides superior aesthetic genes and physical abilities above everything else. To an extent, that is always going to have a place in our society due to it's very natural links to the science of early man and survival of the fittest, but with time comes understanding and acceptance. This is why gay people face far less marginalisation and hate nowadays than they did 100 years ago. Yes, it still exists, but we have understood and accepted it more than we ever have, which is awesome. A similar thing can be said of mental health. I personally deal with anxiety issues linked to atychiphobia. I don't let it rule my life, but it does mean that I inherently limit myself and have problems with my fear of failure, whether that be academically, vocationally or socially. And because our society tackles mental health issues way better today that they did years ago, I have been supported in this by workers of the NHS and my friends and family. However, what TBBT does is attribute mental deformities with ridicule. Suffer through an episode of TBBT and you'll find that it's essentially a high budget version of being bullied in the playground. It's the thuggish sporty kids calling you names because you like to read or because you're quiet and unassuming. It makes fun of people for being different from what's 'normal'. The characters in TBBT clearly have mental and social deformities. And they're FUCKING PUNCHLINES. Sheldon doesn't understand how social interactions work. LAUGH AT HIM. Raj can't function around women unless he is completely out of control of his senses. IT'S FUNNY BECAUSE HE IS LESSER. Leonard has severe confidence issues at work and at home. LOOK AT THE NERD LOSER FAIL AT EVERYTHING. Howard puts on a front to hide the repressed, religiously loyal person he hates being. ISN'T BEING PERFECT GREAT GUYS, CHECK OUT THESE FAILURES OF MEN.
The thing about the nerds of yesteryear is that they were rejected by the popular society that prides superior aesthetic genes and physical abilities above everything else. To an extent, that is always going to have a place in our society due to it's very natural links to the science of early man and survival of the fittest, but with time comes understanding and acceptance. This is why gay people face far less marginalisation and hate nowadays than they did 100 years ago. Yes, it still exists, but we have understood and accepted it more than we ever have, which is awesome. A similar thing can be said of mental health. I personally deal with anxiety issues linked to atychiphobia. I don't let it rule my life, but it does mean that I inherently limit myself and have problems with my fear of failure, whether that be academically, vocationally or socially. And because our society tackles mental health issues way better today that they did years ago, I have been supported in this by workers of the NHS and my friends and family. However, what TBBT does is attribute mental deformities with ridicule. Suffer through an episode of TBBT and you'll find that it's essentially a high budget version of being bullied in the playground. It's the thuggish sporty kids calling you names because you like to read or because you're quiet and unassuming. It makes fun of people for being different from what's 'normal'. The characters in TBBT clearly have mental and social deformities. And they're FUCKING PUNCHLINES. Sheldon doesn't understand how social interactions work. LAUGH AT HIM. Raj can't function around women unless he is completely out of control of his senses. IT'S FUNNY BECAUSE HE IS LESSER. Leonard has severe confidence issues at work and at home. LOOK AT THE NERD LOSER FAIL AT EVERYTHING. Howard puts on a front to hide the repressed, religiously loyal person he hates being. ISN'T BEING PERFECT GREAT GUYS, CHECK OUT THESE FAILURES OF MEN.
Image Credit: youtube.com/channel/UCwQ2IEzsUHe-iEQTR-86NlQ
Yeah, you can argue I'm picking this apart and putting way more thought into it than even the shows creators did. And you'd be right. Things is, it's the BIGGEST SHOW ON TV. We've allowed the biggest voice on TV to be the voice of someone who wants you to make fun of people for their shortcomings and their alternative lifestyles. I'm not against parody at all, but this isn't even clever enough to be considered parody. It's not trying to say anything clever or funny about nerds or mental issues or comic books or social norms. It's not even trying to be funny any more, but you cunts are still laughing at it because the mentally sick man child just said 'bazinga' again. You can say it isn't a problem since it's only fiction, but when people with genuine issues are labelled as punchlines, you can bet your arse I'm going to take issue. Nobody should ever, EVER have to have their genuine issues likened to a comedy character without good reason. The idea that someone who is sick can draw similarities with a pantomime comedy vehicle is possibly the most offensive thing to come out of the rise of nerd culture. And, like I said, the show is so lowest common denominator, it's not even saved by quality production, writing or acting. It's so amazingly blasé that I'm amazed I'm even capable of getting this angry over something so low quality it makes the last Fantastic Four movie look like 2001: A Space Odyssey.
In many ways, my response to this issue is no different from the psycho, pitchfork sharpening fanboys themselves, but goddamnit, they're getting angry over people not enjoying something right, as opposed to when outright literal bullying and stereotypes have turned over billions of dollars in profit and have done irreversible damage to the way it's viewers think. It's not the best justification, but it'll do.
In many ways, my response to this issue is no different from the psycho, pitchfork sharpening fanboys themselves, but goddamnit, they're getting angry over people not enjoying something right, as opposed to when outright literal bullying and stereotypes have turned over billions of dollars in profit and have done irreversible damage to the way it's viewers think. It's not the best justification, but it'll do.
And yet it continues...
I genuinely don't have time to cover all the facets of this huge phenomenon and do it well. That's the problem with something this big with it's amount of history and accelerated growth. And honestly, if you've read this far, you're probably the kind of nerd who's interested in this kind of stuff, so for your sake, I do intend to come back to this in the future. But for now, it's best to say that there's some good to come of this nerd bubble we currently live in, but it's size and murkier parts have the potential to be largely damaging.
So, hopefully we all come out of this undamaged, with our precious childhoods intact. Or at least with a sequel to Dredd. Come on, Netflix, make us happy... or else.
So, hopefully we all come out of this undamaged, with our precious childhoods intact. Or at least with a sequel to Dredd. Come on, Netflix, make us happy... or else.
By Mike Owen
@ThatMikeOwen
The Editor in Chief of Foul Entertainment, Mike edits most of what you see on the site. He runs the production of our podcasts, and currently pens Pop Culture Club and The Death of Video Games
@ThatMikeOwen
The Editor in Chief of Foul Entertainment, Mike edits most of what you see on the site. He runs the production of our podcasts, and currently pens Pop Culture Club and The Death of Video Games