Why Being A Geek Isn’t As ‘Uncool’ As We Thought | By Nur Farahin Zulkurnain
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| Illustration by Eve & Jia Xin |
I can’t remember the first movie I watched that brainwashed me into thinking that people who are good at computers are ‘uncool’, but I can certainly remember plenty that strengthened this belief in my teenhood. I even found a bunch of the so-called ‘geeks’ at my secondary school. All I could say was, they were nothing like what I saw in the movies.
Geek Pride Day is exactly what it sounds like. In fact, 25 May 1977 is also the day that the first Star Wars film, Episode IV: A New Hope was released. Such a day exists to appreciate and promote geek culture. Yet geeks always seem to have a bad name—or at least, we were taught to believe so. On some level, I suppose I am a geek myself, but finding friends with mutual geeky interests was not as difficult as I thought. Let me convince you why you shouldn’t be ashamed of being a geek, nor should you shame others for being one.
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| Illustration by Rachid Lotf on Pinterest. |
The term ‘geek’ was once associated with carnival workers whose job was simply to bite off the heads of live animals. Common characteristics of a geek stereotype include being good at studies and computers, being obsessed with video games and medieval franchises, hoarders of gadgets and so forth. I get why the term may be confused with ‘nerd’, which is associated with people who are portrayed as socially awkward and highly invested in academics, but I think the line that distinguishes them is fairly transparent.
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| Photo on Pinterest. |
Western teen movies seem to have a habit of portraying geeks as a ‘boring, unpopular and unattractive’ bunch that ‘normal’ people would distance themselves from. This isn’t to say all media portray them in a bad light. Even so, not all social rejects are geeks and not all geeks are social rejects. Let’s have a look at a popular example of geek representation in the media: The Big Bang Theory. The representation may be subjective but its popularity came from an audience that are able to relate to the passions and interests, as well as social struggles the show’s characters possess and work through.
Nowadays, it seems that a lot more people are in fact ‘geeks’. Interests and hobbies that would have been deemed ‘geeky’ are now popular culture. According to CNBC, the highest grossing franchises as of January 2021 are the Marvel Cinematic Universe ($22 billion), Star Wars ($10 billion) and Harry Potter ($9 billion). Furthermore, ‘geeky’ jobs are in fact among the most demanding now, such as those in the fields of IT and computer science.
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| Photo on Pinterest. |
On top of franchises, there is the rising popularity of technology itself, clearly exhibited when iPhone collectors willingly camped outside to await the new model amidst a queue of hundreds and thousands. In some ways, this is because technology is now so much more ubiquitous, thus our need to understand and engage with it. Markus Persso, the founder of Mojang that created the beloved Minecraft, is now worth $1.7 billion. Overall, the video game, technology and gadget industries have shown an extraordinary rise in geek culture.
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| Photo by Flickr on Pinterest. |
Of course there is such a thing as an unhealthy obsession, typically when members of the geek community start prioritising their hobbies over daily necessities and overspending. But other than that, people are free to enjoy what interests them. There is also the narrative that geeks are unpopular simply because they take more interest in studies and hobbies than climbing the social pyramid.
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| Illustration on Pinterest. |
So, is the media getting better at portraying geeks? The stereotypes are not as prominent as they once were. You don’t see characters with taped glasses and checkered shirts as much as you used to. Moreover, a wider portion of the geek community is now more comfortable in their geek skin than they would’ve been back in the 90s. Cliques certainly continue to occur naturally, simply because people will commonly be drawn towards those who share similar interests. The term ‘geek’ is rarely thrown around anymore, but there still seems to be a stigma for those who take interest in such franchises and hobbies. Personally, I enjoy geek culture myself, and while it has its downsides like any other community, they’re generally a lively and passionate bunch. Don’t be afraid to express your geekiness!
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