Geek

Geek culture. It certainly is not new, but heck, I am still sometimes not sure what it is really supposed to be. I think it’s one of those things that can’t be easily pinned down.

So I found this article titled “Five Reasons Geek Culture Should Go Away”, and quite understandably, it immediately caught my attention. Peter Smith, the author outlines his reasons as follows.

1. Geek culture is escapist.
2. It’s simplistic.
3. It’s dogmatic.
4. It’s sexist.
5. All of this stuff was better when it was cheap.

After having read the article several times – and going through a roller coaster ride of thoughts ranging from “WTF?” to “Indeed!” to “I couldn’t care less.” – I feel like putting these reasons plus my two cents on the table and inviting you to share your own thoughts. So let’s take them one by one.

Geek culture is escapist.

Peter’s premise: geeks want to mentally and emotionally live in some fictional world and never want to leave. I have no arguments against the escapist attitude. Assuming I can be considered a geek, then yes, when I get lost in the world of Westeros or Middle Earth, then I have a temporary escape from the mundane. Sure, I may want to never leave those worlds, but that doesn’t mean I won’t return to reality, does it? The idea of fictional worlds may be escapist but who does not need an escape every now and then?

It’s simplistic.

Peter hits out at stories like The Dark Knight, Star Wars, The Lord of The Rings, and Harry Potter. His main point: they only see things in black and white. The worldview is of good and evil, no in betweens. He could be right, but I think he is being too limited in his view of geek culture if he highlights these things alone. Sure, there is the ultimate battle between good and evil (as in many other stories and in real life), but let me point out George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire as the prime example of fantasy being a mirror of real life. There is good. There is evil. And there are so many shades in between. There are good people who have their horrible sides. And there are bad people who have their moral attributes.

It’s dogmatic.

Peter might just be right. We all know fans of whatever book/movie/character who go up in arms at the slightest criticism. I might even be guilty of this every now and then.

It’s sexist.

Sigh. It’s the “s” word again. It always comes up, and he might have a point about Marvel Studios having only one female lead in their movies. As I read the lines “You could say this reflects the culture at large, but in geek culture it’s often a little worse, because it’s more fetishistic. And don’t get me started on the ass-kicking-lady-elf-in-a-plate-mail-bikini thing; that’s almost more patronizing than the standard Mary Jane”, images of anime ladies came to mind. Then again, these things have their fair share of women fans. Does that matter one bit?

Personally, I think that there may be sexist undertones in many stories considered as part of geek culture, but with the number of women being active in this arena, I question the statement that geek culture is sexist. To be fair, Peter said “not all of it, but a lot of it”. Then again, can’t the same thing be said about the real world?

All of this stuff was better when it was cheap.

I couldn’t agree more!

All I can say is that I will continue watching/reading what I enjoy, whether or not it’s considered to be part of geek culture. What do you think about Peter’s reasons why geek culture should go away?

Oh, and here’s another interesting piece about geek culture from our own archives.

Photo via Pillowhead Designs

When comics convert from print to the screen – be it silver screen, little screen, or computer screen – the results are often disastrous. We’ve become so accustomed to this fact that as comic book lovers, we follow the news of every comic adaptation’s progress as if it was life or death. Universally.

We obsess over every little detail, but in sheer acceptance of our fate, preordained by movie & TV studios, we rarely ask the big question: should a comic be adapted? Is one comic more worthy than another? Is one comic so strong that it’ll survive any and all mishandling it’ll inevitably receive once it hits the studio’s hands? Or is it a comic that should never, ever make the transition?

Let’s examine some comics that haven’t deserved their 15 minutes of Hollywood fame, and a few comics that should be given a chance to demonstrate their full glory on the silver screen.

Kick-Ass: Kick-Ass. What can I say? Mediocre comic, mediocre film. Soon to be a mediocre sequel! Taking up valuable box office space and studio dollars and cents while other movies that deserve to be made languish in the wings. Movies like…

Deadpool: As one of Marvel’s most unforgettable characters, Deadpool has been crying out for a good movie of his own. And fans are crying out alongside him. This is a movie that would be well watched regardless of whether it was made wonderfully or made like crap. Deadpool’s story is an endless supply of amusing source material for a first rate movie plot. And the film is “in the works” – except it has no director and very little in the way of a firm cast. Ryan Reynolds is meant to reprise the role, but back-to-back Green Lantern projects mean that a Deadpool movie is so far on the back burner it’s freezing over.

RED: RED is a three part comic with one main character who’s quite capable of launching a killing spree all by his lonesome. There is no real supporting cast and, in my ever so humble opinion, the comic isn’t terribly good. But the movie looks a whole lot more promising. The cast of supporting characters that are mostly nonexistent in the source material is nothing short of amazing, so what have they done with the comic that the original creative team didn’t? We shall see…

Ant Man: Edgar Wright appears to be doing everything short of enlisting a witch doctor to get an Ant Man movie made. This is a character who’d have legs (there’s a pun just waiting to be made in there, somewhere) on the big screen. There’s plenty of story and plenty of cast surrounding Ant Man, which equals lots of opportunities for good writing to shine. It’s a no-brainer, really, so why isn’t Ant Man getting his time in the spotlight?

Runaways: I’m 100% behind the making of a Runaways film. But I am 100% against the destruction of the Runaways story, as would certainly happen if rumors came true. The current gossip is that Marvel and Disney plan to tweak the Runaways tale to make it more appealing to the “tween” audience that is so grossly enraptured by Twilight that it makes me yearn for the days when Harry Potter was a prepubescent sex symbol. A Runaways made for Twilight fans is not a Runaways I want to see. Period.

Are there any comics you’d like to see make the jump to film or TV? Any that absolutely should never have crossed over? I’d love to hear your thoughts, just drop a comment in the box.

And while you’re at it, check out Unreality Check here at ForeverGeek.

There’s a reason for that, Steve. No-one else would be silly enough to put that feature on their players – and even if they did, they wouldn’t shout about it.

OK, it’s a lot smaller as well, but it’s only a 4GB player so, really, what’s the big (or should I say small) deal there?

No, the amazing feature is that Apple is using VoiceOver technology (presumably in the same irritating voices that come in Mac OS X) so that the shuffle can tell you the name of your tracks, artists and playlists.

Of course, the main reason that you’d need this is because the shuffle has no display. Seriously, though, is anyone going to put on four gigs of music onto their shuffle and really not have a clue what they’re listening to?

Part of the problem is that the shuffle is trying to compete with higher capacity models. Back when it only had 512MB, it was unlikely that you were going to need to worry about playlists and huge swathes of songs. Now it’s got 4GB, it’s more complicated to find out exactly what’s on the SSD when you’re away from the computer.

I can see this being used for practical jokes by renaming playlists and songs on iTunes and then giving it to an unsuspecting friend who then gets sworn at by their new toy. Or, imagine if the shuffle could get viruses (I think it’s impossible, but just imagine) – something a bit like that virus that appeared on PCs that told computer users they were idiots, then farted at them. Now that would be much more fun.

Still, if you like the idea you can get the new shuffle for $79. You don’t have to turn VoiceOver on.