Geek Reference Pool: Difference between revisions

{{quote|''[[Acceptable Hobby Targets|"A thousand stories, tens of thousands of families ... yet the newshacks couldn't wait to hustle up the dozen or so real freaks in costumes, the literally .001% that gave them what they wanted. Not even the kids in the [[Harry Potter]] outfits, or the Japanese anime kids, or even the clever unfolding [[Transformers|Transformer]] rigs -- no, they found every empty-eyed overweight forty-five year old [[The Flash|Flash]] or flab-rolled part-time stripper [[Catwoman (comics)|Catwoman]] and latched on tight for the creepy interview. In the American media there are two constants. [...] [[Acceptable Hobby Targets|In '''culture''', anyone who decides to poke their head out of the cultural world of the CBS primetime line-up is a sad, basement-dwelling loner]] screaming into his [[Hello Kitty]] pillow as crackling video dubs of [[Spider-Man (1967 TV series)|the original Spider-Man cartoon]] flicker on his television."]]''|Screenwriter '''[http://kfmonkey.blogspot.com/2007/07/sdcc-07-wonderland-monkey-and-boing.html John Rogers]'''}}

And by nerds, we mean [[Most Tropers Are Young Nerds|us]]. In the course of [[Acceptable Targets|mocking us endlessly]], the media seem to have developed an interesting [[Hollywood Nerd|set of stereotypes]] about the common geek. No, not the glasses or the acne or the pocket protectors or [[Always Male|the phalli]], I mean the things we actually get geeky ''about''. For some reason, Hollywood seems entirely ready to accept the idea of a person developing an interest in something that is not as popular with the mainstream as it is with their own little group.

Unless, of course, that thing is ''not'' ''[[Star Trek (Franchise)|Star Trek]]''.

There is a very specific set of interests that Hollywood ascribes to anybody who self-identifies as (or is identified by others as) a nerd, dork, geek, dweeb, [[Totally Radical|spazzoid]], what have you. Not only is that the Holy Canon of Geek Interests, but for some reason, ''every geek'' is obsessed with not one, or some, but ''all of them''. The only time ([[One of Us|mostly]]) any shows [[Subverted Trope|subvert]] that last part, it's to make a joke where [[Hypocritical Humor|one stereotype calls another stereotype a dork]] for liking one geeky thing instead of another geeky thing ([[Truth in Television|* cough* ]] [[Internet Backdraft|* cough* ]]), which of course ''never happens in real life'' ([[Cough -Snark -Cough|* cough* ]]).

As noted, "exception to this trope" is nearly synonymous with "show [[One of Us|written by geeks]]". If you notice a work where you think one applies but not the other, either check the credits again or ask your nerd friends if they really do speak Klingon ([[The Masquerade|they do, seriously]]), because you're missing something. And there's actually a reason for that; if we weren't into things nobody else had ever heard of, we wouldn't be very good geeks, now would we? It's basic math: the more devoted fans of X are, the less of them there will be, and more importantly, the less normal people will even ''know what X is''. It's like [[The Law of Conservation of Detail]], but applied to popularity. And an actual ''law of nature'', apparently, because it is ''very rarely broken''. The only exception is, again, mockery; some things are the sole domain of such Eldritch cabals that they become famous solely because people like making jokes about them so much. ''Somebody'' has to be buying all those [[Dude, Not Funny|-trails off-...]]

This is a [[Sub -Trope]] of [[Small Reference Pools]] and exists for the same reason that trope does. Namely, the show is targeting a general audience with only limited familiarity with geeky and nerdy interests.

=== [[ComicsComic Books]] ===

* There are no [[X-Men]] other than Cyclops, [[Wolverine]], Professor X, Nightcrawler, Storm, Jean Grey (A.K.A Ms. Marvel), and, if we're lucky, Gambit and Rogue. Because everyone remembers [[X -Men (TVanimation)|the animated series]] and some people saw [[X-Men (Filmfilm)|the movies]]... more often than not, however, [[Wolverine Publicity]] wins out every time. There exist no X-Villains besides Magneto, Sabertooth and Mystique, and they are always affiliated with the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. <ref>Mystique was in '''a''' Brotherhood only once and it quickly turned into the government-sponsored Freedom Force. She mostly operated solo after the 1970s ended, Sabertooth never was in ANY iteration of the Brotherhood, with or without the name, but [[Chronic Backstabbing Disorder]] does not make good referential jokes, does it?</ref>

=== [[Film]] ===

* ''[[Star Wars]]'', which is ''[[Critical Research Failure|not the same thing]]'' as ''[[Star Trek (Franchise)|Star Trek]]'' (''Star Wars'' is the one with an actual ''war'', and on ''Star Trek'', they're actually ''[[Viewers Areare Morons|on a trek through the stars]]'' <ref>except for ''[[Deep Space Nine]]'', anyway</ref>). Tends to be more popular than the alternative, so expect its fans to be portrayed less negatively, mostly due to how stunningly obsessed most Trekkies are portrayed as being. Also expect:

** A ''[[May the Farce Be Withwith You|massive]]'' number of visual and dialogue references to scenes from the original trilogy, mostly because every living human being has seen them.

=== [[Literature]] ===

* Thanks to the movies, ''[[The Lord of the Rings]],'' ''[[Harry Potter]],'' and ''[[The Chronicles of Narnia]]'' exist. Fanboys can be heard occasionally complaining about someone named Tom Bombadil who was apparently cut from the movie. More often, they can be seen clutching some prized collectible and calling it their "precious", but that's [[Rule of Funny]]. The main thing known about ''Harry Potter'' is that dressing up as the title character consists of drawing a scar on your forehead, putting on round glasses, and constantly raving about being a wizard.

=== [[Live-Action TV]] ===

* ''[[Star Trek (Franchise)|Star Trek]]'' has turned [[Gene Roddenberry]] into some kind of patron saint of [[Nerds Are Virgins|male virginity]]. Every geek in fiction can speak Klingon, name every species in the Federation, draw a diagram of the original Enterprise freehand, and fight with a Bat'Leth ''if you know what that even is'' .<ref>It's a Klingon blade weapon</ref>. Expect:

** References to notable moments from [[Star Trek: theThe Original Series (TV)|the Original Series]] and/or ''[[Star Trek II: theThe Wrath of Khan (Film)|The Wrath of Khan]]'', also known by television writers as "the ones I've seen" (or [[Popcultural Osmosis|seen parodies of]]).

* In more recent shows, ''[[Battlestar Galactica]]'' may replace ''[[Star Trek (Franchise)|Star Trek]]'' as the go-to reference for something geeks take too seriously.

* For a period somewhere roughly between 1980-2005, giving a character an interest in ''[[Doctor Who (TV)|Doctor Who]]'' and its trappings was to the United Kingdom what ''[[Star Trek (Franchise)|Star Trek]]'' is to America; the best way to create a character instantly identifiable as a hopeless, socially awkward geek. The popular success of the new series has largely returned the show to its pre-1980 mainstream status, but the image of the ''Doctor Who'' geek does linger on in several ways.

=== Mathematics and Science ===

* All geeks can do calculus in their heads, have the periodic table memorized, have ''pi'' [[Mouthful of Pi|memorized to four hundred places]], and know what [[E Equals =MC Hammer|those weird symbols you see on the blackboard whenever a science or math class appears on television]] mean. You only need a high school education or [[Genre Savvy|a background in troping]] to know what any of them mean: on most shows, [[Did Not Do the Research|absolutely nothing]].

=== [[Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game|MMORPG]] ===

* The only MMO Geeks ever play is ''[[World of Warcraft]]''. Older shows will occasionally do something loosely parodying ''[[Ever QuestEverQuest]]'' or a more general parody, but...well, as expected, any video or computer game parody will be [[Pac -Man Fever|to a real video game what]] ''[[Pac Man Fever|A Trip to the Moon]]'' [[Pac Man Fever|is to the Apollo program]]. They might as well just call them ''[[Seltzer and Friedberg|Video Game]]''. Judging by subscriber stats, this one is borderline [[Truth in Television]].

=== [[Music]] ===

* The song [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9qYF9DZPdw "White and Nerdy"] by [["Weird Al" Yankovic]] shows a fairly comprehensive list of the Geek Reference Pool. It's sufficiently over-the-top, thatbut it pokes more fun at the stereotypes than the nerds though.

=== [[Tabletop Games]] ===

** Since the writers will have [[Did Not Do the Research|no idea]] how the game is actually played, depictions will vary wildly if characters actually play on screen instead of just refering to the game, but there are a few constants: expect players to wear costumes and use elaborate props (at the very least the Dungeon Master, if there is one, will wear [[Robe and Wizard Hat|a cape or pointy "wizard" hat]]), speak in [[Ye Olde Butcherede Englishe]], and engage in ritualistic behavior like chanting "all hail the Dungeon Master!" at the start of each session (if a non-geek regular character has been dragged to the game -- whichgame—which one probably has, or we wouldn't be seeing the scene -- thescene—the geeks will be confused or outraged that they don't know or want to take part in this behavior).

** ItsIt's also common to depict the death of a player's character as having an unusual level of finality to it. There is no resurrection ([[Death Is Cheap|very common in D&D]]) or even rolling up a new character. Similar to the way when your character dies in ''[[Super Mario Bros.]]'', the cartridge permanently self -destructs and you kill yourself out of grief. This is getting better with the widespread popularity of MMO'sMMOs and Console RPG'sRPGs helping more writers and audience members realize how ridiculous this is.

** What the hell is ''[[GURPS]]''?

=== [[Video Games]] ===

* When it comes to [[Video Games]], all geeks will play [[Ultra Super Death Gore Fest Chainsawer 3000]]. Unless they've caught [[Pac -Man Fever]] and still play 8-bit games. These days they've started mentioning ''[[Grand Theft Auto]]'' (for [[Murder Simulators|its bad influences]]) and ''[[Halo]]''.

=== Aversions: ===

=== [[Film]] ===

* In ''[[Spider-Man (Filmfilm)|Spider-Man]]'', Peter has a ''[[Magic: theThe Gathering]]'' poster in his room.

* In ''[[ET the Extraterrestrial (Film)|ETE.T. the ExtraterrestrialExtra-Terrestrial]]'', Elliot's older brother and his friends have a remarkably realistic session of ''[[Dungeons and Dragons]]''. (TabletopAt Game)|Dungeonsleast, andthey Dragons]]call it that. Careful attention will reveal that while it's a fairly realistic portrayal of a tabletop RPG, it's not ''quite'' D&D.) No funny clothing or strange language, just arguments about pizza and whether the [[Dungeon Master]] is allowed to bend the rules. They even have all the right sorts of dice. ''D&D'' hadn't yet caught the eye of [[New Media Are Evil|hysterical news pundits]] back in '82, so they had few negative stereotypes to work with.

=== [[Live-Action TV]] ===

* ''[[House MD(TV series)|House]]'': Kutner is depicted as a geek, referencing ''[[Harry Potter]]'' and comic books, collecting action figures and stuff. He also used to be quite a popular person and also a bully at school. Far from stereotype. It doesn't count as "made by geeks", does it? Considering how many Internet/meme references House makes on a regular basis (especially in the most recent{{when}} seasons), the show could be classified as at least "written by geeks" a lot of the time.

* ''[[CSI]]'' had an episode about a murder at a Brand X ''[[Star Trek (Franchise)|Star Trek]]'' convention, which may seem bizarre at first; CBS and Paramount, which owns the ''Trek'' rights, are both Viacom subsidiaries (sort of. It's complicated). Turns out they needed to obscure the name for plot purposes. Also turns out [[Shown Their Work|they did their research]] into ''Trek'' [[In -Joke|In Jokes]]s and culture, as well as cameoing ''[[Battlestar Galactica]]'' producer Ronald D. Moore and Ellen Tigh.

* On ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'', resident geek Hiro Nakamura usually stays within the [[Geek Reference Pool]] (which is a little odd, since he's Japanese and originally spoke no English, yet almost all his references are to ''American'' media). However, when he used his [[Time Stands Still|time-stopping]] ability to mess with Daphne, he taunts her by saying, "Muda muda muda", the catchphrase of Dio Brando, another time-stopping character from the very obscure (to Americans) manga series ''[[Jo Jos Bizarre Adventure (Manga)|Jo JosJoJo's Bizarre Adventure]]''.

** Hiro's [[Character Blog]] makes his geekery over ''[[Jo Jos Bizarre Adventure (Manga)|Jo JosJoJo's Bizarre Adventure]]'' more obvious.

{{quote| "Now I know how [[Dragonball Z|Trunks]] felt!"}}

{{quote| "She's the Mary Jane to your [[Spider-Man]]! The [[Chrono Trigger (Video Game)|Marle to your Crono!]]"}}

* ''[[Leverage (TV)|Leverage]]'' goes takes the ''made by geeks'' [[Up to Eleven]] -- including—including arguments about ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' raids and if CGI or puppet [[Star Wars|Yoda]] was better, [[Shout -Out|Shout Outs]]s to ''[[Star Trek (Franchise)|Star Trek]]'' when [[Wil Wheaton]] appeared as a [[Special Guest]], and using [[Fanfic]] vocabulary:

{{quote| '''Parker''': I really like Elliot slash Sophie. Could you do Nate slash me? No! Nate slash you!<br />

::(inIn fairness, she was talking about Hardeson's combining the photo-IDs used in their covers for different members of the team when he had to adapt one he set up for Elliot to work for Sophie).

* ''[[Freaks and Geeks]]'': Written by, well, freaks and geeks. Including, among other things, period-accurate ''Dungeons and Dragons'' played accurately. Interestingly enough it doesn't really stereotype any particular group with everyone from jocks to hippies to somewhat naively well-meaning guidance counselors all getting enough depth and understanding to explain them as more than just a poorly understood straw[[Straw manMan]] for their particular subculture.

=== [[Western Animation]] ===

* ''[[The Venture Brothers]]'', written by two tried-and-true geeks, to the point where almost everyone in the cast makes references far geekier than anything that would be considered geeky in another show. This is even mentioned in the commentaries during the episode O.R.B. From [[Aleister Crowley]], to [[Fantomas]], to [[Oscar Wilde]]. It's a love-letter to late-19th / early 20th century culture; or, as they say, "things that [[Doc Hammer|Doc]] likes."