Editorial: The Importance of Geekdom
The Importance of Geekdom
By Nick Kovari
I live in England and last month I attended the London Film and Comic Con. After the convention, my friend and I got on the bus back home. Sitting in front of us was a woman in her twenties. She was speaking on her phone to her boyfriend. She was what we would call in England a “chav.” She was arguing with her boyfriend, was very aggressive, and used incredibly poor language. We could tell quite clearly that she was an idiot. This made me incredibly sad for some reason. I soon realized why. At the convention I had had a brilliant time. I had browsed the hundreds of stalls. I had played demos of video games that hadn’t been released yet. I had seen a Q&A with Alex Kingston from Doctor Who and met Kenny Baker and Jeremy Bulloch, one of the most pleasant people to whom I have ever talked. And I had seen thousands of like-minded people, some cosplaying, some not. While I didn’t really talk to too many of them, I had a certain amount of respect for everyone in the building. It was like I had escaped into a carefree world of fun and community. And now, seeing this woman on the bus, I had been thrust back into the regular world of school, work, and dislikeable people.
I am 14 and the majority of people at my school are terrible. While I have quite a few friends, I am not desperately popular and usually stay away from large groups. This is partially because of all the thuggish idiots that seem to surround me. It sounds very cynical, but I really do dislike my generation. The recent London riots only heighten my opinion. Which brings me back to the word “escape.” The convention had offered escapism from all this. And so does the world of geekdom and fandom in general. When you really love a particular franchise, whether it be movies, books, or video games, it can offer you an escape from the humdrum of reality in many different ways. If I’ve had a hard week at school, I know I can always rely on The Weekly ForceCast to bring me some enjoyment. I feel like I can connect with all the listeners around the world, thanks to this respective love we all have for Star Wars. Although I haven’t talked to them, I think of myself as part of their community. A shared love of Star Wars helped me to make one of my very best friends. If it wasn’t for George Lucas’ humble little film in 1977, I may never have known him so well.
In fact, The ForceCast combined with London Film and Comic Con helped me make a new friend as well, if only online. In the convention’s forums I set up a thread about The ForceCast, asking if anyone listened to it. A few people responded and said that they did. I also mentioned that I used to send in homemade comics to ForceCast.net called “ForceCast Comic Books.” To my surprise, someone my age said that he had read them. We got talking to each other and planned to meet up at the convention. Unfortunately, we could only go on one day each and they happened to be different days. But we still became friends on Facebook and still chat online. We hope to meet each other next year. But this never would have happened if it wasn’t for The ForceCast. Fandom of something certainly spreads far.
In my experience, geeks are among the nicest, most intelligent, and most friendly people in the world. In the Internet era, fans can connect in ways they never could before. They can talk on forums about movies they love. They can create videos, songs, and works of art devoted to their favorite franchises and share them online. They can become practically celebrities, just as cosplayers do at conventions. Shy people who avoid social occasions such as myself can find a new voice and confidence when talking about their fandom. If there was no such thing as Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Star Trek, Harry Potter, or Nintendo, then thousands of people would still be shy and antisocial. Thanks to these franchises, they have opportunities to break out of their shells. Geeky celebrities such as Seth Green, Simon Pegg, and Jaime King show us it’s okay to love something like Star Wars and still be awesome. Yet some people still don’t get it.
I don’t think that “nerd” is definitely a derogatory term. But it can certainly be used derogatorily. Despite the increase of geekdom in the media in the past few years, there are still those people who look down on us and claim we have “no lives.” They should look at Jason Swank and Jimmy Mac. They both host a podcast devoted entirely to Star Wars. They both know the movies pretty much word-for-word. Jimmy has a whole room in his house devoted to his Star Wars collection. But do they live in their parents’ basements? No. They are both happily married with children and have good jobs. And they both have a lot of friends, many of them because of Star Wars. Of course, a lot of geeks are sometimes lonely and can’t get girlfriends (or boyfriends), myself included. But this is not their fault. The idiotic teasing of people much less intelligent than them has made them this way. And anyway, why is an extensive knowledge of a popular movie series worse than having an extensive knowledge of sports teams and players? Why should people be laughed at for dressing up as their favorite characters at conventions when it is perfectly normal for people to go to football or soccer games with their team colors painted on their faces?
Again, this brings me back to “escapism.” A love of something like Star Wars lets geeks all over the world escape from bullies like this. Escape from work and school. Escape from politics and the many problems of the world. You are free to discuss things like whether Ben Quadinaros should be on The Clone Wars or what you think Ponda Baba’s chin looks like. You can express yourself creatively by making a fan film, parody song, or Slave Leia costume (there are never enough of these). You can go to conventions, make new friends, or just listen and laugh along with The ForceCast. If it wasn’t for people like George Lucas we wouldn’t be able to do these things. Think of how many thousands of conversations have been started over the years thanks to the simple quote “It’s a trap!” This is why geekdom is so important. It lets you escape.
The views expressed in this editorial are those of the writer and do not represent the views of the ForceCast team. If you have questions or comments about these editorials, please email ForceCast Senior Web Editor Eric Geller. The author of this editorial can be contacted with specific feedback at kovari@talktalk.net.
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