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2018 | Book

How Was the Nerd or Geek Born? Read chapter Read first chapter

Age of the Geek

Depictions of Nerds and Geeks in Popular Media

Editor: Kathryn E. Lane

Publisher: Springer International Publishing

Part of: Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" , Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

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About this book

This collection examines the nerd and/or geek stereotype in popular culture today. Utilizing the media—film, TV, YouTube, Twitter, fiction—that often defines daily lives, the contributors interrogate what it means to be labeled a “nerd” or “geek.” While the nerd/geek that is so easily recognized now is assuredly a twenty-first century construct, an examination of the terms’ history brings a greater understanding of their evolution. From sports to slasher films, Age of the Geek establishes a dialogue with texts as varied as the depictions of “nerd” or “geek” stereotypes.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter
Chapter 1. How Was the Nerd or Geek Born?
Abstract
Lane offers an evolution of the nerd/geek stereotype through the present day, utilizing a historical retrospective of media. The birth of the “nerd” stereotype is directly connected to television and, through analysis of media through the decades, the nerd/geek’s evolution is chronicled, leading to the twentieth-century construct so easily recognized today. The nerd has evolved from its humble beginnings as a social outcast, as depicted in 1978’s Saturday Night Live episodes, into a mainstream character, as demonstrated on The Big Bang Theory, which is ripe for analysis and study. Lane theorizes that the nerd/geek stereotype, more than any other, reveals Western culture’s complex relationship with a world dominated by technology.
Kathryn E. Lane

What Did You Call Me?: Defining Geekdom

Frontmatter
Chapter 2. A Nerd, a Geek, and a Hipster Walk into a Bar
Abstract
Bodner, in an experimental, auto-ethnographic study, examines the often confused but separate identities of nerds, geeks, and hipsters. She focuses, initially, on what it takes to be a nerd or geek, then explores possible personal delineations between the two identities. Bodner then walks the nerd, geek, normal, and hipster into two bars and explores what happens when these four groups interact. Recounting tales of bigotry, exclusion, and the blurred lines of social acceptance, the chapter allows the reader a chance to examine their own experiences and reasons why a social group no one likes is more accepted than others.
Jessica Bodner
Chapter 3. Mediagasms, Ironic Nerds, and Mainstream Geeks: A Multimethodological Ideographic Cluster Analysis of and on Twitter
Abstract
This chapter uses an innovative mix of qualitative and quantitative methods to explore the rhetorical constructions of <geek> and <nerd> and their uses on Twitter. Utilizing the theoretical construct of the ideograph to analyze the way abstractions are marshalled for politicized identity, the chapter traces the ways that the two terms converge and diverge in meaning as used for self-identification. Although the technical-skill overtones of the <geek> seem cooler and more active, in practical use those connections are fading and the <geek> is returning to its circus-sideshow roots as synonymous with the <freak>. However, the more passive, fan-based <nerd> seems to provide a richer tool for users to tell their story of multiple, struggling, mediated identities in a digital age.
Steven S. Vrooman, Tiffiny Sia, Michael Czuchry, Christopher Bollinger
Chapter 4. Changing Faces: Exploring Depictions of Geeks in Various Texts
Abstract
A case study by John Katz—Geeks: How Two Lost Boys Rode the Internet out of Idaho—traces the lived experiences of Jesse Dailey and Eric Twilegar, self-taught techies in the late 1990s. Humorous portrayals in popular television series describe scientist/technology nerds in The Big Bang Theory and Scorpion, while other depictions seem to reveal a darker character—Patrick Jane, The Mentalist; Sherlock Holmes, Elementary; and Mr. Finch and John Reese, Person of Interest—turning geek to an older definition, that of a performer who takes extreme actions for effect. Goffman’s The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life and Storey’s Cultural Theory and Popular Culture provide additional lenses for analysis.
Kathleen M. Earnest

In or Out?: Defending Nerddom

Frontmatter
Chapter 5. Geek Metafiction: Nerds, Footnotes, and Intertextuality
Abstract
Bueno offers a discussion of how geek culture is found in literature, in an effort to expand the critical analysis of this topic beyond its presence in television and movies. Using examples from various literary works and drawing from concepts such as intertextuality, paratextuality, and hypertextuality, Bueno explores the nature of geeks and nerds and how they are found in novels such as Junot Díaz’s The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. The term geek metafiction, therefore, applies to the kind of literature where geek culture plays a central role.
Bernardo Bueno
Chapter 6. Ich Bin Ein Nerd!: Geek Identity in Insider and Outsider Media
Abstract
Neterer analyzes several geek characters through the eyes of both insiders (who are familiar with geek culture) and outsiders to geek culture, and how these characters can shape the way geeks are viewed in society. Focusing on examples from Revenge of the Nerds and The Big Bang Theory, Neterer explores the ways in which outsider characters can perpetuate stereotypes about geeks, particularly as they relate to gender and masculinity. The chapter then highlights the differences between these examples and examples created by “geeks, for geeks,” including The Guild and The IT Crowd. In these examples, “geek” is portrayed as a chosen identity rather than a label, and engagement with geek culture is depicted as an effective method of understanding oneself and the world.
Jessica Stanley Neterer
Chapter 7. Geek Is the New Jock: The Relationship Between Geek Culture and Sports
Abstract
This chapter focuses on the similarities between geeks and jocks. Their closeness is most visible through video games and fandom. Video games have always been the domain of geeks, and the gamer has always been the opposite of the athlete. However, playing video games is an activity enjoyed by gamers as various as video games themselves. Fandom is another similarity between both groups, since both are very passionate about the things they care about. The biggest place where they come together is the San Diego Comic-Con, where jocks go out of their way to “out-geek” other participants. Being simultaneously a geek and a jock is no longer exceptional—one can even state that these imbued labels do not apply anymore and should be dropped.
Łukasz Muniowski
Chapter 8. Geeking Out and Hulking Out: Toward an Understanding of Marvel Fan Communities
Abstract
Bryan describes the process wherein the fan consumer constructs meaning for the larger public. Marvel’s success is predicated on its deep relationship with the fan community, both as a publisher and as a film studio. Bryan examines the interplay within modern superhero blockbusters, which grants the geek a degree of social power: Marvel’s use of the post-credits scene is indicative of the larger process, creating a ritual enacted by fans, who interpret the scene for the uninitiated. The fan is a producer and performer, an active participant within a larger media experience. The media is constructed, but the fan response is organic.
Peter Cullen Bryan

I Saw It on TV: Depictions of “Other” Nerd/Geek Stereotypes on Television

Frontmatter
Chapter 9. How Is It Okay to Be a Black Nerd?
Abstract
Flowers offers an insightful look at the figure of the black nerd in American popular culture and its relation to black masculinity. Focusing on four characters across multiple television and cinematic genres, the chapter discusses how the image of the black nerd serves to reinforce dominant images of black masculinity in popular culture. Flowers also explores the implications of the narrow range of representations of the black nerd for understanding the construction of black masculinity in African-American culture. “How Is It Okay to Be a Black Nerd?” concludes with a discussion of the lack of female representations of the black nerd in American popular culture, and its implications for the black community.
Johnathan Charles Flowers
Chapter 10. That Geek Look: Beauty and the Female Geek Body
Abstract
The image of a geek often calls attention to an individual’s body, associating it with certain physical and aesthetic characteristics, such as a non-athletic body type and glasses. Oftentimes, geek characters are also largely identifiable as male, with female geek characters typically portrayed within the context of their male counterparts. Female geeks are further distinguishable by the depictions of their bodies. Unlike male geeks, who are able to transcend their physical appearance, female geeks in such popular television series as The Big Bang Theory, Criminal Minds, and Doctor Who, which this chapter focuses on, remain largely enshrined in the portrayal of their bodies, resulting in characters illustrative of cultural beauty standards that constrict women’s identities as supplementary to the development of the male characters.
Lauren Rocha
Chapter 11. Modern Nerd: Alex Dunphy and Growing Up Geeky in Modern Family
Abstract
The life of the adolescent nerd is often one of isolation, defined by difference from his or her peers. In the tradition of Lisa Simpson and Rory Gilmore, Modern Family’s Alex Dunphy (played by Ariel Winter) is a nerd who has little community among her peers or within her family. While Alex’s family is unfailingly supportive of her, they often struggle to understand or connect with her intellectual pursuits and obsessive competitiveness. As a result, Alex’s intellectualism is a frequent point of negotiation in her interactions with her family and peers. Despite these challenges, Alex continues to define herself, set clear and focused goals, and prevail through both failures and successes.
Alissa Burger

I Am A Nerd!: Depictions of the Nerd/Geek Stereotype on Film

Frontmatter
Chapter 12. From Zero to Hero and Back Again: Nerd Nobodies, Magic Makeovers, and the Power of the American Dream in Four Teen Films
Abstract
The “American Dream” is a powerful narrative in the United States and forms a core part of the nerd makeover movie in which rejected outcasts attempt to join the popular crowd through a magical makeover. However, four films, Can’t Buy Me Love (1987), She’s All That (1999), The New Guy (2002), and The DUFF (2015), demonstrate how these movies actually train young adults to channel the dangerous idea of searching for individuality into passive acceptance of the dominant culture in order to safeguard existing power structures in American society. Drawing on Antonio Gramsci’s notion of hegemonic discourse, this chapter demonstrates how nerd makeover movies teach teens that conformity, not creativity, is the true American Dream.
Jennifer Rachel Dutch
Chapter 13. The Geek as Rake: Roving Masculinity in Contemporary Film
Abstract
Focusing on the fusion of the geek figure and the rake—the libertine male—in select science fiction and comedy films by Generation X filmmakers, Wardell argues that this mixing rewrites both figures and speaks to the apparently fluid, yet relatively rigid, nature of contemporary masculinity. Using a theoretical approach drawn from gender and sexuality studies and genre studies, the chapter focuses on the comedy Superbad (Mottola, 2007), the comedy/science fiction hybrid Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (Wright, 2010), and the science fiction films Star Trek (Abrams, 2009) and Star Trek: Into Darkness (Abrams, 2013) to explore the implications of this fusion, tracing key similarities between the geek and rake that make this fusion less unexpected than it would initially appear.
K. Brenna Wardell
Chapter 14. The Horror of the Geek: The Geek Archetype in Slasher Film
Abstract
One of the most well-known subgenres of cinematic horror is the slasher film, whose main feature is that evil is embodied in human nature. The victims are usually represented with stereotypical characteristics and some major archetypes have been created over the years, such as the virginal archetype, the “sexual transgressor,” and the killer. This chapter examines the representation of the “geek” characters in slasher films and how they affect the formula of the narrative. Based on an in-depth examination, the analysis incorporates three distinctive slasher films from three different decades—Scream (Craven 1996), Halloween: Resurrection (Rosenthal 2002), and The Cabin in the Woods (Goddard 2012)—for an understanding of the geek’s representation in slasher films and society as a whole.
Sotiris Petridis
Chapter 15. Survival of the Smartest?
Abstract
Lane analyzes current nerd/geek television series, contrasting the depiction of nerddom on The Big Bang Theory with The Great Indoors. In both series, viewers are seeing an evolution of the nerds depicted on-screen. Yet, CBS’s scheduling of the two series back-to-back illuminates a clear “generational divide” between nerds in their 30s and nerds in their 20s. The Great Indoors depicts three versions of “othered” nerd/geek characters in Clark, Mason, and Emma—what Eglash terms a “nerd network”—all of whom contrast with the lead character of Jack, with each representing a different evolution of now-established nerd stereotypes. With The Great Indoors’ “nerd network”, race, gender, and sexuality stereotypes of nerd/geeks are explored, and potentially exploded.
Kathryn E. Lane
Backmatter
Metadata
Title
Age of the Geek
Editor
Kathryn E. Lane
Copyright Year
2018
Electronic ISBN
978-3-319-65744-8
Print ISBN
978-3-319-65743-1
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65744-8