You're Not such a Nerd: Commodification of Nerd and Gamer Sub-culture
87 replies, posted
Eh half and half on this one. To be honest I always saw TBBT as a typical TV show that exaggerates what they're trying to portray in order to be entertaining.
[editline]23rd October 2012[/editline]
I mean, would TBBT be half as successful as what it is currently if it made jokes that only dedicated gamers/"nerds" understood? It's just appealing to a mainstream audience.
[/opinion]
[QUOTE=imasillypiggy;38133745]No its obsessing over them. You could obsess over things that don't require much money if any.[/QUOTE]
[video=youtube;Mx57XDHvvUw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mx57XDHvvUw[/video]
[QUOTE=Jacknife;38135512]But why should that annoy everyone - it's a show feature.[/QUOTE]
I can't tell if you're serious or not. Please let that be a joke.
To me, geek has always meant someone who is just very interested in a particular subject to the point they obsess over it. I think it's nicer definition just because it means I get to call people that are way too into football geeks.
Nerd has just always been socially inept, would rather be studying that socialising.
[QUOTE=thisispain;38135476]i dislike the assertions here
pretending that a teenage girl who likes highlights and is angsty is somehow beneath being a nerd shows how you're more concerned about having a boys club than an actual sub-culture. part of what defines a culture is how it interacts with with other cultures and if "nerd/geek" subcultures can't have a proper discourse with mainstream culture then it's going to be run into the ground pretty quickly.
punk and hip-hop survived by mutating beyond the mainstream and turning into something different, if nerd/geek subculture is something more than just sales pitches and identity politics it will evolve.
but i don't think so, i think ultimately any kind of geek/nerd subculture will die off simply because you can buy into it. a teenage girl who likes highlights and shows angst (uh which teenager doesn't show angst?) buying into nerd/geek subculture isn't any different from any other self-proclaimed nerd/geek
ultimately the guy in the OP is just doing exactly what hipsters do, lamenting the fact that their little club is losing its mysterious cool.[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=Killuah;38135859]This is so much full of shit. "Gamer Culture" being a "commodity"?
Yes lets ignore that gaming culture is a multi-billion industry since the late 80's.
This video basically says "please stay out of my subculture"
[editline]22nd October 2012[/editline]
What people miss: This only works for people who don't know the matter and thus fall for the same shit.
If you rage about a girl buying 4$ glasses just to look smart and how she just buys in you are suggesting that reading glasses actually DO make you smart and that's superficial and just the same way the teenage girl thinks, except you use it to somehow define yourself by imposing some differece that does not exist.
"Glasses don't make you look smart because you can't look smart, smartness has nothing to do with look" really is the only valid opinion regarding this.[/QUOTE]
Sorry, didn't mean to sound like I was sexist/prejudiced, just trying to paraphrase the video, thus the "I think the idea behind this is essentially . . ."
The whole thing seems to get pointlessly melodramatic anyway; to get angry over "nerd culture" being generalized proves that you've refused to move past that social rejection that gave you the label in the first place, and that you'd rather just tout your bitterness around like some sort of medal.
[QUOTE=DiscoMelon;38144558]Sorry, didn't mean to sound like I was sexist/prejudiced, just trying to paraphrase the video, thus the "I think the idea behind this is essentially . . ." [/QUOTE]
yeah i figured so, my post is pretty much directed at the video
[QUOTE=thisispain;38133427]the hilariously offensive comparison to black-face also sucks. black-face was used to denigrate and stereotype black people as buffoonish, as irritated as some people might be by Big Bang Theory it really isn't comparable as ultimately you're meant to sympathize with the main characters[/QUOTE]
He says that it's a claim that others have made and that it's not quite correct, but not that far off. And I agree. Whatever good intentions they had behind BBT toward 'nerds' has, at least in my experiences, backfired.
Many times I've had people compare me to BBT characters or tell me that they now 'understand nerds' because of that show. People who don't understand the 'nerd culture' think that BBT is a window into that culture, and they feel like they're being educated by the show. It only perpetuates what this guy is talking about, and it's extremely irritating when people claim they know all about this shit when really all they know about is a stereotype (and a pretty bad one, at that).
Now I'm not some idiot who parades around with the 'nerd'/'geek'/whatever titles; that's not why people have talked to me about the show. I've always just naturally been really socially reclusive and indulgent in hobbies. I've gotten a lot more social in recent years, but for the most part my association with those titles was only to the extent of other people labeling me as such and often belittling me for it. My own family did this, and after years of trying to repair that and become more sociable and outgoing, here comes this show that misrepresents the type of person that I am and along with it comes its fans who are now turning around and applying what they learned from the show onto me and others like me. It's frustrating.
I'm also not trying to sound angsty and dramatic and I'm definitely not saying it's a fair comparison to black-face. It's not a huge problem that has destroyed my life or anything close to that. But it sure is annoying when people who watch that show think they have some kind of social power over me or think I'm pathetic or weird because of the connotations and stereotypes that the show attaches to the hobbies I like. And it's happened more often than I'd like.
I didn't know I was an actual nerd.
[img]http://niggaupload.com/images/LWTyU.gif[/img]
I dunno. I kinda like this new meaning of being a "nerd".
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/H3bQP.gif[/IMG]
So when will the hot girls join my lan parties?
lovin the people clamoring to denounce the uprising of "nerds trying to be exclusive"
like smaller concentrated groups is a bad thing, thats what we need, more things going mainstream and become casualized mmm give me more iphone games and farmville and dragon age 3 and halo 4
This whole faux nerd shit is annoying as hell. I spent years trying to get my brother to try shit, play games or watch movies (he refuses to read out of dumbass pride) that I knew he would like. He always dismissed me as being a nerd or a geek, then it becomes trendy and he wants to watch Game of Thrones, and play CoD and facebook games with his girlfriend and suddenly he's so nerdy.
I have no problem with people getting into nerdy shit, hell I've been trying, as I've said, to get people into nerdy shit for years. It's just this trend of "lol I'm such a nerd" and rim-only glasses, where they only ever skim the surface, only ever learning just enough to barely hold a conversation. It annoys the shit out of me that people who mocked me or whispered about how wierd I was are suddenly coming up to me for infomation about "the new nerdy thing" and acting like they understand or give a shit.
In 5 years faux nerd culture will be dead and all that'll be left is a bunch of pissed off nerds and a handful of decent superhero movies. Actually, I might take it back, maybe it's for the best that nerd culture is picked apart now, lets the pop culture vultures have their fill, then they can fuck off and leave us alone.
Who the fuck ever wore the term nerd as a sense of pride before it became "mainstream"
That's probably the biggest issue I have with it becoming mainstream, they don't even try to get into the meat of it. They wear thick glasses, play some sub-par game and call it a day.
The same as with Hip-hop. It's not so much a bad thing that more people get into the culture, but when most of them talk like Jesse Pinkman and put among their favourite artists Pitbull, it can be infuriating.
I generally dislike anyone who plays up stereotypes to be a "Unique" individual, whether it is people wearing thick frame glasses, watching the big bang theory, etcetera to be a nerd; or some wannabe wearing a backwards hat, sagging their pants, and blaring pop hiphop to be a gangster.
It is obvious when someone is trying too hard to fit into a subculture, it just seems ridiculous to me.
Personally I loathe "gamer culture"
Okay, you love to play madden/CoD whatever. I don't really care all that much and that's what you are into.
It's this type of stuff that I can't stand:
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7MDMdfcRfI[/media]
I mean really? Hyper glorification of "video games because they r COOLS", to the point of where people take marketed characters from games and make them some kind of gaming icon.
I like Halo for its interesting fiction/aesthetic and the ability to cause really fun all-nighters. I like Supreme Commander because giant armies of robots. I like huge worlds I can explore and get into. I like games that give me experiences. I like games that I can get unpredictiable levels of fun out of.
I don't like games for it's "culture", and I don't like people who just jump on the latest popular game trend as their only means of enjoying what games are, and then make that their identity and the culture they promote to others because its cool? It's just stupid. At best it's borderline awkward.
Okay fuck the large argument.
I think the guy in the video is a whiny bitch that needs to shut the fuck up. There's nothing wrong with something becoming more popular. If you don't like the people who act like they're 'hardcore nerds' because they watch Big Bang and wear thick rims, just fucking ignore them.
[QUOTE=Cureless;38158990]
And after all that, if all geeks and nerds really wanted, was to be accepted and treated like everyone.. They got it. It's cool to be a geek, it's cool to be a nerd. You're finally the in-crowd and I hope you enjoy it if you're a member.[/QUOTE]
not necessarily, or at all really, you can toss around the title of Nerd [I]Like[/I] it's cool, but you will find very quickly that Nerd in it's raw form can differ wildly from it's applied and accepted form and those that differ from the accepted confines of the pop-culture definition of Nerd receive all the social alienation negatives without being able to use the Nerd title in it's popular sense and actual be socially popular and accepted.
Example:
I am a massive sperg for military vehicles, specifically Aircraft and Armored Vehicles like Tanks, I could go on for hours about the damn things and I think they're the fucking coolest thing ever, but that isn't COOL nerd. I'm still weird to the 'in' crowd no matter what the fuck they're calling themselves today and I reap no such benefits from the accepted definition of Nerds said hipsters use even if it's the toast of the town this evening.
it basically is Blackface.
how is that in any way blackface???
[QUOTE=thisispain;38159369]how is that in any way blackface???[/QUOTE]
taking the simplest and most ignorant form of something and making it popular, but the people who are typically associated with this thing do not reap the benefits of it's popularity because they differ in practice to the simplified understanding and therefor still appear weird to people who accepting the oversimplified understanding.
Compare a normal Black person to a stereotypical Blackface character.
first of all that's not what black-face is. black-face is a caricature of black people rooted in racist and bigoted ideology. there's no re-appropriation in black-face, it's not even close to being the same.
second of all there's no difference in practice in what being a nerd is. the term is so loose and linguistically insignificant that trying to explain it is a huge waste of time.
you being a "sperg for military vehicles" has fuck-all to do with anything nerd related. nerd and geek specifically refer to a subculture that was supposedly built by socially-awkward americans between 1970-2000 and that's the subculture that is supposedly being re-appropriated and commodified.
there's no "nerd in its raw form".
[QUOTE=Squeaken;38135524]I love how 'nerd culture' is suddenly an exclusive club.
If someone wants to call them self a nerd who gives a shit.[/QUOTE]
i don't think that was the point of the video.
i've always been socially isolated because i was interested in subjects nobody else cared about. the few "friends" i had when i was a kid made fun of me constantly for being passionate about science and video games. now, the people who isolated me when i was younger are pretending to be passionate about the same things they made fun of me for to make themselves look intellectual and cool.
[QUOTE=thisispain;38159468]first of all that's not what black-face is. black-face is a caricature of black people rooted in racist and bigoted ideology. there's no re-appropriation in black-face, it's not even close to being the same.
second of all there's no difference in practice in what being a nerd is. the term is so loose and linguistically insignificant that trying to explain it is a huge waste of time.
you being a "sperg for military vehicles" has fuck-all to do with anything nerd related. nerd and geek specifically refer to a subculture that was supposedly built by socially-awkward americans between 1970-2000 and that's the subculture that is supposedly being re-appropriated and commodified.
there's no "nerd in its raw form".[/QUOTE]
Nerd in it's raw form is being obsessive about any one thing to the point where it strays out of the social norms.
Nerd in it's popularized form is someone who obsesses about science and video games in particular but nothing ever more detailed than that.
someone can still be under the nerd umbrella and not adhere to the popularized understanding and not receive a bonus from it being "popular" all of a sudden.
Take the name, but leave the negatives right where they are.
[QUOTE=goon165;38159549]Nerd in it's raw form is being obsessive about any one thing to the point where it strays out of the social norms.[/QUOTE]
yeah but that's not really what this thread is about. it's about the nerd/geek subculture, not its dictionary definition.
[QUOTE=thisispain;38159570]yeah but that's not really what this thread is about. it's about the nerd/geek subculture, not its dictionary definition.[/QUOTE]
Cureless's post basically said that everything is sunshine and rainbows for everyone because Nerd culture is the trendy thing to like now.
And it isn't strictly because of disparaging gulf between everything that can be consider grounds for social alienation which one would typically label Nerd and the Popularized definition of Nerd which has become said trendy thing to like.
this is what I was getting at, and I'll admit that the Blackface comparison is a bit haphazard.
[QUOTE=thisispain;38159468]first of all that's not what black-face is. black-face is a caricature of black people rooted in racist and bigoted ideology.[/QUOTE]
Blackface is a horribly stereotypical simplified version of something in the same way something like the big bang theory simplified "nerds". Obviously less offensive but still pretty bad and ignorant.
blackface isn't a simplified version of anything. it's literally just a racist caricature.
it's not like big bang theory at all, i don't know how big bang theory is somehow creating and reinforcing negative stereotypes about an ethnic group
I don't like BBT because it popularizes very negative stereotypes about nerds.
such as?
[QUOTE=thisispain;38160410]such as?[/QUOTE]
All 4 of the main characters are "intellectual" elitists lacking in common sense and completely incapable of a normal relationship. Penny exists to find common sense solutions to their stupid problems and contrast them as a "normal" person. One of them even lives with their grandmother.
The punchline to every joke (if they even count as jokes) is a stereotype.
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