Is there really a backlash toward "nerd culture"?

[Zorak Masaki]

Someone on the "why is anime declining in popularity" thread brought up one of the reasons being that there's a backlash toward "nerd" culture and entertainment (stuff like sci-fi, fantasy, comic books, etc). Do you agree with that? After all, two of the summers most anticipated films are star trek 11 and wolverine, and outside of entertainment, stuff thats associated with "nerds" (note, im not using the term in a hurtful way, dont get me wrong) still thrives (video games, internet blogs, etc).

[defunctzombie]

I think that things like the Wii are slowly redefining things that were always nerdy. I used to be a nerd in elementary school because I was pretty much the only girl who could kick ass on the Super Nintendo. Now, in the eyes of the culture, I'm sorta normal as far as video games are concerned. It's the manga and anime that make me a nerd now. The whole nerd thing goes in cycles. Back in the 70s, liking LOTR was normal. Then in the 80s and 90s it was nerdy again. But the release of the movies made it okay once more. So while people may be looking down on nerd culture, they actually adopted part of it. Do I make any sense? :anime:

[GWOtaku]

I don't think general opinion about those things are any different today than they were a handful of years ago. Either way, I don't care. I like what I like. It's also my opinion that people with at least one nerdy interest lead substantially more interesting lives. I'd be shutting myself off from an incredible number of things if I were overly concerned with not being perceived as a "nerd." Last I checked bookworms are supposed to be nerds, and I'm sure as hell not giving my books up.

Hell, everybody is probably a nerd about something. Some of us just have no problems with actually being honest about it.

[Ishtar]

I think that things like the Wii are slowly redefining things that were always nerdy. I used to be a nerd in elementary school because I was pretty much the only girl who could kick ass on the Super Nintendo. Now, in the eyes of the culture, I'm sorta normal as far as video games are concerned. It's the manga and anime that make me a nerd now. The whole nerd thing goes in cycles. Back in the 70s, liking LOTR was normal. Then in the 80s and 90s it was nerdy again. But the release of the movies made it okay once more. So while people may be looking down on nerd culture, they actually adopted part of it. Do I make any sense? :anime:
I noticed the same thing with Comic Book characters like Batman and Spider-man. Because of all the movie adapatations of Comic Book Superheroes lately, the general public has been more accepting of that.

[Mynd Hed]

Hell, everybody is probably a nerd about something. Some of us just have no problems with actually being honest about it.

Exactly. There's nothing I find more sad and hilarious than someone who looks down on "nerdy" things, but obsesses over the minutia involved in watching grown men get paid ridiculous sums of money to shoot up with steroids and run around throwing balls at each other. And memorizes statistics related to their relative success at said steroid-enhanced ball-throwing. And feels a deep, personal elation if one group of men is temporarily better than another at ball-throwing, and a profound depression if that group suddenly gets worse, or if a particularly crucial ball-throwing man leaves one group for another. Etc.

...As is so often the case, The Onion said it better. (http://www.theonion.com/content/node/38664) (-:

Can't we just admit that we're all huge nerds, already?

[Kitschensyngk]

I think the problem lies with common stereotypes of nerds. "They're wimps", "they're overweight mouth-breathers", "they don't get out much", "they have thick glasses and pocket protectors", "they live in their parents' basements collecting anime figurines and Star Trek memorabilia and playing Dungeons and Dragons with their fat, ill-shaven friends all day", that sort of thing.

When Sci Fi announced they were rebranding last month, I found this part of their press release a little insulting:

“The name Sci Fi has been associated with geeks and dysfunctional, antisocial boys in their basements with video games and stuff like that, as opposed to the general public and the female audience in particular,” said TV historian Tim Brooks, who helped launch Sci Fi Channel when he worked at USA Network.I'm not antisocial! I'm just shy!

[PC!]

Exactly. There's nothing I find more sad and hilarious than someone who looks down on "nerdy" things, but obsesses over the minutia involved in watching grown men get paid ridiculous sums of money to shoot up with steroids and run around throwing balls at each other. And memorizes statistics related to their relative success at said steroid-enhanced ball-throwing. And feels a deep, personal elation if one group of men is temporarily better than another at ball-throwing, and a profound depression if that group suddenly gets worse, or if a particularly crucial ball-throwing man leaves one group for another. Etc.

...As is so often the case, The Onion said it better. (http://www.theonion.com/content/node/38664) (-:

Can't we just admit that we're all huge nerds, already?

DUDE. And here I thought I was the only one who felt that way. That is so true.

[CyberCubed]

I thought it was Star Wars fans in the late 70's as well as Trekkies who "started" the backlash against nerds originally. Given how obsessive they were back then.

After that it kind of moved on to videogames, cartoons, anime, and everything else.

Did "nerd culture" exist before the first Star Wars movie?

[Sparticus]

I thought it was Star Wars fans in the late 70's as well as Trekkies who "started" the backlash against nerds originally. Given how obsessive they were back then.

After that it kind of moved on to videogames, cartoons, anime, and everything else.

Did "nerd culture" exist before the first Star Wars movie?

Of course it did. There's always been nerds. X)

[Ajax]

Can't we just admit that we're all huge nerds, already?I think a lot people readily admit to that already with no problems. Everyone plays video games, most athletes/celebraties are hardcore gamers and big comic book fans, there are entire shows dedicated to fanatsy drafts (basketball, baseball, football etc) big tough guy hollywood actors and athletes play MMOs (WoW for example) so exactly what kind of backlash could exist when this current genertaion actually embraces the nerd culture. In my opinion if you get called a geek or a nerd or considered as such its probably because of your physical appearance, not what your hobbies are.

[Mynd Hed]

I think a lot people readily admit to that already with no problems. Everyone plays video games, most athletes/celebraties are hardcore gamers and big comic book fans, there are entire shows dedicated to fanatsy drafts (basketball, baseball, football etc) big tough guy hollywood actors and athletes play MMOs (WoW for example) so exactly what kind of backlash could exist when this current genertaion actually embraces the nerd culture. In my opinion if you get called a geek or a nerd or considered as such its probably because of your physical appearance, not what your hobbies are.

It's true that MOST people are relatively mature and broad-minded about it, I guess it's just the vocal minority that bug me. There's an annoyingly sizable group of people who persist in labeling things that they're not into as "nerdy" or "geeky," and instantly redefining those terms so that anything THEY like is excluded.

Example: It used to be that all video games were considered more or less equally nerdy. But now that they're breaking more into the mainstream, among certain circles there's this arbitrary hierarchy positing that stuff like sports games and shooters starring beefy meathead space marines are somehow less nerdy than, say, J-RPGs or MMOs. WTF?

Or you look at how films are categorized in rental stores. Where do you find stuff like Spider-Man? More often than not, under "Action." Now, tell me, how is Spider-Man, a film whose plot heavily involves the fictionalized side effects of failed genetic engineering experiments, not categorized under "Science Fiction"?

I'll tell you why: because the mainstream enjoys Spider-Man, and and the mainstream would much rather it be categorized with stuff like Die Hard (less nerdy) than stuff like Star Wars/Trek (more nerdy). The guys who made fun of Star Trek nerds in high school don't want to admit that they are now every bit as nerdy as the Star Trek nerds ever were.

It's ridiculous, and it needs to stop. What makes someone more/less nerdy is not a function of what they're nerdy about. It is a function of how much perspective they're able to maintain about said thing, and how much they let their obsession with it affect their ability to function normally in the rest of life.

[Speedy Boris]

It's true that MOST people are relatively mature and broad-minded about it, I guess it's just the vocal minority that bug me. There's an annoyingly sizable group of people who persist in labeling things that they're not into as "nerdy" or "geeky," and instantly redefining those terms so that anything THEY like is excluded.

Example: It used to be that all video games were considered more or less equally nerdy. But now that they're breaking more into the mainstream, among certain circles there's this arbitrary hierarchy positing that stuff like sports games and shooters starring beefy meathead space marines are somehow less nerdy than, say, J-RPGs or MMOs. WTF? While I don't agree with certain games being classified as more nerdy than others, I can sort of see where they're coming from. RPGs, at least from what I've played, are generally single player experiences, not really a social experience. Now true, MMORPGs have you interacting with others, but not in the same room like, say, a FPS deathmatch against friends. The stereotype is that nerds are anti-social, so the (flawed) logic goes that any game emphasizing single player is for anti-social people, such as "nerds".

But, like I said, I don't agree with this logic. Because after all, games with multi-player (such as sports or FPSs) can still be played solo. And a couple of people I knew in college played these genres by themselves all the time, which I'd argue is just as geeky as someone being by themselves playing an RPG.

Or you look at how films are categorized in rental stores. Where do you find stuff like Spider-Man? More often than not, under "Action." Now, tell me, how is Spider-Man, a film whose plot heavily involves the fictionalized side effects of failed genetic engineering experiments, not categorized under "Science Fiction"?

I'll tell you why: because the mainstream enjoys Spider-Man, and and the mainstream would much rather it be categorized with stuff like Die Hard (less nerdy) than stuff like Star Wars/Trek (more nerdy). The guys who made fun of Star Trek nerds in high school don't want to admit that they are now every bit as nerdy as the Star Trek nerds ever were. True, but Spider-Man also contains plenty of action, so it's not inappropriate in that category. It's not so much that video stores are trying to downplay its sci-fi elements to make a film appear less geeky; it's that the inherent nature of video stores makes it difficult for films that could be in multiple genres to fit into a specific one.

Do you put Men in Black under comedy? Sci-fi? Action? After a certain point, it's pretty much an arbitrary choice, not a deliberate "we don't want to have our customers embarrassed to browse the 'geeky' section".

And honestly, I can't imagine a store would think that someone would be embarrassed to browse sci-fi anyway, and deliberately arrange their movies in that way. Frankly too, anyone who looks down on you for simply browsing a section is the real problem.

[Ahiru-kun]

I don't think there's really a backlash towards nerds in general. It's more specifically a backlash towards fanboys/fangirls. These are the nerds that give other nerds a bad name. They're the type of people who have a particular interest that borders on obsessive, and they have a tendency to impose their will on others. Since they're the most extreme type of nerd, they get the most attention, and for some reason, people define the many by the few or the one (e.g., Republicans are evil, Japanese are weird, etc.).

[purplehairedwonder]

I don't think there's really a backlash towards nerds in general. It's more specifically a backlash towards fanboys/fangirls. These are the nerds that give other nerds a bad name. They're the type of people who have a particular interest that borders on obsessive, and they have a tendency to impose their will on others. Since they're the most extreme type of nerd, they get the most attention, and for some reason, people define the many by the few or the one (e.g., Republicans are evil, Japanese are weird, etc.).Now, now, we're not all that bad. I mean, we all know about my major fangirl tendencies, but my peers are quite surprised to find out what a huge nerd I am. Then again, there is a girl I have some classes with who is so obsessive about gaming and anime that she has no perspective about what should come first (like, I dunno, class?), and she comes close to making me feel embarassed about my hobbies. I'd say there is a backlash against her type... but I don't think that's anything new. She's pretty much the stereotype that's always been looked down upon--the extreme sort of fan.