Geeky Turn On: Difference between revisions
replaced: [[Lord of the Rings → [[The Lord of the Rings
m (revise quote template spacing) |
(replaced: [[Lord of the Rings → [[The Lord of the Rings) |
||
| (12 intermediate revisions by 6 users not shown) | |||
Line 1:
{{trope}}
[[File:
{{quote|'''Grace:''' Wood doesn't actually burn.
'''Joan:''' That's insane.
'''Grace:''' What burns is the gas released when the wood gets hot. Therefore the reaction would have to be gasification, through oxidation reduction, then combustion.
'''Luke:''' It is so hot that you know that.
|''[[Joan of Arcadia]]''}}
Welcome, viewers, to ''Nerd Hunter''.
[[Geek
Today we will examine one particular peculiar oddity; when choosing a mate, the wild Nerd and Geek are not as impressed with physical features, but with spectacular displays of [[The Smart Guy|intelligence]] and [[Nerds Are Sexy|geeky knowledge]] in potential mates. Unlike in the wild, when Hollywood casts non-geeks in the role of potential mates, said potential mates will be at worst [[Hollywood Homely]]; in written fiction they are likely [[Suetiful All Along]].
Line 21:
Compare [[Nerdgasm]].
{{examples}}▼
▲{{examples}}
== Anime and Manga ==
* In ''[[Black Lagoon]]'', Greenback Jane is massively aroused by watching Benny break a tricky encryption. The fact that breaking the encryption resulted in her getting a ''lot'' of money probably didn't hurt either. And soon they become a sort-of [[Official Couple]].
* ''[[Battle Programmer Shirase]]'' gives us a female Programmer who tells the main character that seeing the way he coded "Made me a little wet..."
* The Witches Five in ''[[Sailor Moon]]''.
* ''[[Full Metal Panic!]]'':
** Sousuke tends to get ''very'' happy and enthusiastic whenever he engages in conversation with anyone who's as enthusiastic about [[Humongous Mecha]] and battle tactics as he is. The fastest way to gain friendship with him is to be able to speak on equal terms as him.
** On the other hand, Nami is ''definitely'' shown to be this way with him. When he first surprises her and starts talking Arm Slave jargon, her overwhelmed reaction pretty much equates to "What a man."
* The first ''[[Tiger and Bunny]]'' Drama CD shows that, back in high school, Kotetsu Kaburagi and Tomoe Amamiya (the future Mrs. Kaburagi) were rather antagonistic towards each other... until she saw him trying to come up with a superhero name for himself.
Line 37:
== Comic Books ==
* Yorick being attracted to girls with obscure interests is a bit of a [[Running Gag]] in ''[[Y: The Last Man]]''. A shining example is when he, upon learning that that a woman named her boat after the ship in ''[[Kurt Vonnegut|Sirens of Titan]]'', [[Engaging Conversation|instantly proposed to her]]. Yorick's sister Hero [[
{{quote|'''Hero''': "Yup, you're definitely the sort of chick my brother would bone."}}
* ''[[Spider-Man]]'':
Line 48:
'''Peter''': Well, I'm sure it won't be the last time. }}
** The Ultimate version of Mary-Jane Watson. Which, considering her mainstream counterpart is a cheery, party-girl/glamour model, is a bit of a surprise. And of course, [[Heroes Want Redheads|she's a redhead]].
** Mainstream MJ presents us with something of a one-sided varient. While there's no character A says x geeky thing and character B says y geeky thing, it's was pretty clear that during their marriage to each other MJ considered Peter's science talks a turn on. [Insert obligory griping about [[One More Day]] ruining everything here].
* This trope explains about 50% of the interaction between Oracle and Blue Beetle in ''[[Birds of Prey]]''. At least from Ted's side, anyway.
* In ''[[Watchmen]]'':
** Silk Spectre is turned on by the Nite Owl when he goes in-depth about his ship, his costume, his gadgets...
** Dan himself being turned on by wearing/seeing Lauri in the tights may count as well.
** Of course if we go down that road we may have to face that Hooded Justice, the original superhero who started it all, did it because he liked to beat up people. [[Alan Moore|LIKED liked]].
* Done ''very'' poorly in a [[Friday the 13th (film)|Jason X]] comic series. Where after two lovers stumble upon a crater left by what seemed like a meteorite, the woman says "science makes me ''horny''." The two promptly begin having sex right there as the guy starts spouting out scientific equations.
== Film ==
* One of the factors in Doc Brown falling in love with Clara in ''[[Back to The Future]] Part III'' is a shared interest in the works of [[Jules Verne]], the prototype for [[Science Fiction]] as we know it.
* One of the reasons Denys fell so hard for Karen Blixen in ''[[Out of Africa]]'' was her ability to tell stories... really, really good stories.
* Mikaela in the live-action ''[[Transformers (film)|Transformers]]'' films manages to make both Sam and Leo fall for her with her detailed knowledge of cars and engineering. But then, that pales in comparison to her other assets.
Line 69:
* In ''[[Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs]]'', Flint falls for Sam when she starts showing off her geeky side, and he eventually convinces her to embrace it.
* In ''Mozart and the Whale'' Isabel is turned on by Donalds math abilities.
* In ''[[The Sorcerer's
== Folklore ==
* Little actual historical information is known of [[Romance of the Three Kingdoms|legendary]] Chinese strategist Zhuge Liang's wife, but popular folktales characterize her as a plain-to-unattractive woman who was extremely gifted in astronomy, strategy, and geography. According to the tales Zhuge Liang asked for her hand in marriage specifically upon hearing of her great intelligence, and he was particularly impressed by her numerous mechanical inventions... making this one [[Older Than Feudalism]]. (A different version of the story claims that she was actually quite beautiful but spread rumors of her own ugliness as a [[Secret Test of Character]] for potential suitors. Zhuge Liang was the one who passed. This can still be considered a
* Many [[Impossible Task]] stories, such as the variations on the "peasant girl saves her father from the whims of a capricious king by answering his bizarre riddles; he's so impressed that he marries her" theme. In some versions it even saves the
* [[Celtic Mythology|Cu Chulainn and Emer's]] first meeting was essentially two [[Hollywood Nerd|intelligent supermodels]] having a conversation so full of riddles that ''nobody else could understand them''. [[Up to Eleven|And in modern times, not even THE AUDIENCE can figure it out right off the bat.]]
== Literature ==
* Early on in Jim Butcher's ''[[The Dresden Files|White Night]]'', Murphy quotes ''[[Monty Python and
{{quote|Harry: And you're really turning me on with the Monty Python reference, Murph.}}
* Admiral Alexander didn't realize his feelings for [[Honor Harrington]] until she embarked on a passionate defense of new weapons systems proposed by her on a board headed by his archrival.
Line 84:
* If any readers had the slightest doubt whether or not [[Lord Peter Wimsey]] and Harriet Vane were made for each other, it was dispelled the minute they started quoting the classics at each other; the only person who didn't catch on immediately was Harriet.
* In ''[[The Silmarillion]]'', Feanor's wife Nerdanel. Considered 'not the fairest among her people', the Noldor widely wondered what the canonically gorgeous king's son and prodigious [[Renaissance Man|polymath]] wanted with her, but Nerdanel became widely renowned for her wisdom, being the only one who could 'restrain Feanor' in the beginning. She also was a skilled sculptress, whose more abstract works escaped comprehension. Both of these things perhaps comprise an acceptable example of elven geekdom.
** ..."''[[Meaningful Name|Nerd]]''[[Punny Name|anel]]"...?
* According to comic-esque novel, ''The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian'' by Sherman Alexei, the main character's new nerdy friend gets metaphorical boners from books.
* Scherarzade in [[Arabian Nights]] won the heart of a psychopathic tyrant-and cured him of his psychopathy-by telling hundreds of stories while [[Talking in Bed|making love.]]
Line 97:
* ''[[Stargate Atlantis]]'': Dr. Weir distracts a scientist by talking about ''[[World of Warcraft]]''. Incompetently.
** Well it's actually deliberately incorrect writing. Both Weir and the scientist are using the correct words, but completely out of context.
** He said he had a Level 75 Mage [[Blatant Lies|before it was even possible to]]
*** Well, it ''is'' [[Fridge Brilliance|a Science-Fiction series]] after all.
* ''[[Step by Step]]'':
** The geeky child and his date have the geek version of [[Slap Slap Kiss]]: Going back and forth trying to stump each other with increasingly difficult trivia questions turns into a make-out session.
** Another example might be JT falling for [[Tomboyish Name|Sam]] because of her [[Wrench Wench|skills as a mechanic]]. [[Viewers Are Goldfish|Now where have I heard]] ''[[Viewers Are Goldfish|that]]'' [[Viewers Are Goldfish|before]]?
Line 120:
* In ''[[The Middleman]]'', Wendy Watson and her boyfriend find an ultra-rare, frequently banned video game. $17 worth of quarters and a victory later, they can't keep their hands off each other.
* On ''[[Veronica Mars]]'':
** Mac and Max get into an "Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better" conversation about whether Mac can take down Max's term-paper-selling website. Logan picks up on the subtext and wonders if he could sell tickets for this "hot nerd-on-nerd action."
** When Mac sees the supercomputer, she remarks "Hello, lover!"
* On ''[[Chuck]]'', the title character and his girlfriend Jill turn each other on by communicating a time for a meeting through a chemistry-based code to avoid surveillance.
Line 126:
* ''[[Sports Night]]'' has Jeremy and Natalie. "Say some computer things. Right now." Subverted in one scene, where Natalie gets hot and bothered over Jeremy's [[Techno Babble]] until she gets mad that he obliviously keeps rambling instead of playing "phone sex" with her.
** In Season 2, when Jeremy and Natalie have broken up, Jeremy is over at a bar one night, and becomes attracted to a woman named Jenny because she corrects him about the parallelogram he's trying to make, and she's turned on by the fact he works at "Sports Night". Subverted again when it actually doesn't go anywhere (though nothing to do with the geeky turn-on; he finds out she's a porn star).
* ''[[Criminal Minds]]'': The [[Dueling Hackers|hacker battle]] between [[Playful Hacker|Garcia]] and Kevin,<ref>who is played by [[Buffy the Vampire Slayer|Xander]]</ref>
{{quote|"Oh, you seriously not trying to backhack me!"}}
* In the last episode of season 5 of ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'', Anya comes up with some very helpful suggestions to win the day. Xander's worshipful comment of how hot smart girls are prompts [[Unlucky Childhood Friend]] (now gay) Willow to remark somewhat wistfully, "You couldn't have figured that out in tenth grade?"
* On ''[[Angel]]'':
** Wesley responds to Fred's description of a demon's life cycle ("A Hole in the World") with "Are you trying to turn me on?"
** While Willow just briskly explains that she's seeing someone already, to Fred's bewilderment.
** Cordelia's taste in men is wide-ranging. She's been turned on by financial analysis, Xander's goofy wit, and pretty much everything Wesley said before their disastrous first kiss.
Line 148:
** Or "Process Stories," when Bartlet, Leo and Bruno Gianelli all flirt with their womenfolk using data from that night's landslide election victory.
{{quote|'''Bartlet:''' I won the Dakotas. The Badlands. The Black Hills. But let's go down, way down, to the Deep South and the humid bayou of Louisiana and its nine electoral votes. What manner of man it must take to win the state. Which by the way is the only one operating under the Napoleonic Code of France, and I still don't know what that's all about, but back to me...
'''Abbey:''' Hon, this is like, [[Lampshade Hanging|nerd hot talk]]?
'''Bartlet:''' ''(handing her a drink)'' Who's your commander-in-chief?
'''Abbey:''' ''(taking it)'' You are.
'''Bartlet:''' And do the women like him? Oh yes... to the tune of fifty-eight percent! }}
** In the second half of 20 Hours for America, Mallory (Leo's daughter) admits to Sam (with whom she has some [[Unresolved Sexual Tension]] from the first couple of seasons) that she was "weak" after hearing a speech that Sam wrote.
* ''[[NCIS]]'': This happens every now an then when McGee [[Techno Babble
{{quote|'''Abby:''' ''(to Gibbs, who has just walked in)'' McGee is rewiring my hotbox.
'''McGee:''' That’s er, er, a nickname for a bundle of receptors in the firewall. That regulates the flow of energy throughout the system. See when stimulated correctly it sends waves and waves of rhythmic pulses ''(Gibbs can't even look at McGee at this point)'' waves, waves that er that hypercrank the er transfer speed, er, that digitised infor- Abby? }}
* Obligatory ''[[Star Trek: The
* From ''[[Castle]]'':
** "Vampire Weekend". They're investigating the murder of a comic artist.
{{quote|'''Castle''': He was good. His stuff reminds me of early [[Frank Miller]].
Line 167:
'''Castle''': ''Sexy''.
'''Beckett''': You should hear me say [[Getting Crap Past the Radar|"fallacious."]] }}
* In ''[[Dollhouse]]'', both Topher and Bennett end up essentially [[Squee
** Not to mention [[It Makes Sense in Context|both Tophers']] reaction to her wearing glasses on a chain.
* In ''[[Top Gear]]'', pretty much whenever James May talks about physics, like during the Winter Olympics where he explained gravity is pretty much a constant around the world. It gets flung right back at him when, during a challenge, he drives a group of people home from the pub and talked shop with the woman who owned the car. (She knew more about the car than he did.)
* In the ''[[iCarly]]'' episode "iSaved Your Life", Carly tells Freddie that his computer talk is geeky and cute at the same time, leading to her coining the combination word 'cukey'.
Line 202:
== Music ==
* The song ''Conventional Lover'' by Speck, describing a romantic date in geek terms. And no, "conventional" here does ''not'' mean "stereotypical." It means...well, if you don't know, you're probably on the wrong trope.
* At the end of one concert performance of "In A Little While", after showing footage of the space station, Bono sings "Space travel turns me on." several times.
* The song ''Geeks in Love'' by [[Lemon Demon]] is completely about this trope.
Line 211:
== Theater ==
* In ''[[Fiddler
**It is an agricultural town and everyone has to survive. That said, they are Jews and marrying a rabbi is as good among them as marrying a noble among gentiles.
* In the musical version of Disney's ''[[Beauty and The Beast]]'', it turns out that Belle and the Beast are both huge fans of fantasy books. This scene was first shown in the movie (cut but then restored), however the musical version expands on their conversation more.
* in Steve Martin's play [[Picasso At The Lapin Agile]], when the countess arrives and finds Einstein, she says: "Now what's that you were saying about it being impossible to distinguish motion produced by an outside gravitational force?" and Einstein says aside: "God, she's sexy!"
Line 231 ⟶ 232:
== Western Animation ==
* The ''[[Futurama]]'' episode "How Hermes Requisitioned His Groove Back" combines this with an [[Insult Backfire]]. The Central Bureaucracy inspector Morgan Proctor finds out that Fry is a slob, and in her own words...
{{quote|'''Morgan:''' Admit it, Fry: You're a slob. [She kisses him.] A dirty, filthy slob. [She kisses him again.] Dirty boy! Dirty! Dirty! Dirty!
'''Fry:''' What the hell's going on? I thought you were anti-dirty, not pro-dirty.
Line 242 ⟶ 243:
'''Lisa:''' "Pertaining to a process involving a randomly-determined sequence of observations". [they make out] }}
* The same thing happens in an ''[[Arthur (animation)|Arthur]]'' episode, but this time within a (perhaps slightly) [[Romantic Two-Girl Friendship]].
* On ''[[Total Drama Island|Total Drama Action]]'', [[Sassy Black Woman|Leshawna]] seems to secretly enjoy watching her nerdy love interest, Harold, practice his weird yo-yo tricks. [[Ship Tease|As does]] [[Alpha Bitch|Heather]].
* In an episode of ''[[Totally Spies!]]'', Alex falls hard for a TV character, but then is crushed when she discovers that he is a computer-animated virtual character. However, she immediately falls for the computer programmer who created the character.
* In ''[[Danny Phantom]]'', whenever Maddie Fenton kicks some ghost butt, husband Jack will say, "Man, that's hot!"
== Webcomics ==
* Popped up at least [http://www.galactanet.com/comic/view.php?strip=287 once] in ''[[Casey and Andy]]:'' A "geek knowledge" quiz, where Casey mostly scores the big points, while Mary provides slightly blander replies. Then she gets an extremely obscure question about the ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' 'verse right, and Casey replies, ''"It's so hot that you know that."''
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20171012144259/http://www.dominic-deegan.com/view.php?date=2002-09-06 This] was what caused [[Dominic Deegan]] to ''really'' start falling for Luna.
* ''[[Narbonic]]'''s Helen Narbon is particularly susceptible to those.
* In an example which might border on [[NSFW]], Gus of ''[[Rooster Teeth]]'' was [http://www.roosterteeth.com/media/viewItem.php?id=555 very]{{Dead link}} [http://www.roosterteeth.com/media/viewItem.php?id=556 happy]{{Dead link}} when his wife started playing ''[[World of Warcraft]]''...
* This is one of the chief recurring themes of ''[[Xkcd]]''. [http://xkcd.com/289/ This strip] is a good example.
** [http://xkcd.com/474/ And another.]
Line 259 ⟶ 260:
* ''[[Unshelved]]'' has an excellent [http://www.unshelved.com/archive.aspx?strip=20050526 example of this].
* [http://www.reallifecomics.com/archive/080818.html This example] from ''[[Real Life Comics]]''.
* Random Guy (it's his name, really) is immensely attracted to Jayden from ''[[Jayden And Crusader]]'' when Jayden is talking about [[Futurama]] in a geeky fashion on [https://web.archive.org/web/20110810104720/http://www.jaydenandcrusader.com/2009/02/16/page-111/ this page]
* This one from ''[[Ardra]]'' while her brother and his [https://web.archive.org/web/20130310234446/http://www.ardracomic.com/comic/219 girlfriend] are visiting.
* Particulates: [http://www.particulatescomics.com/index.php?i=57 "Sorry, I just got the biggest boner of my life right as I was swallowing my drink. It kind of caught me off guard."]
* Repeatedly occurs in ''[[Girl Genius]]''. It seems that the best way to impress Agatha (or any Spark) is with a fully-equipped workshop. Not a euphemism.
** Or [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20100906 a project they can really sink their teeth into]. Again, not a euphemism.
** Or it [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20080827 overlaps] with [[Love At First Punch|more belligerent excitement]].
* ''[[Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal]]'' [http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=1318#comic mocks the concept].
* In ''[[Something
* Meta Example: Mel'arnach of ''[[Drowtales]]'' suffered several major redesigns both to her attire and her personality. With each remake, she became less insane and more dressed. In a scene that takes place before the reveal, she is shown as completely sane, fully dressed, and discussing clan politics with one of her guards. The fans were delighted.
* ''[[Dovecote Crest]]'' provides an example [https://web.archive.org/web/20130311024846/http://dovecotecrest.com/comic/short-histories/inklings/ here].
* ''[[Dumbing of Age]]'': [[Alternate Universe]] Amber has started screening potential boyfriends thanks to [http://www.dumbingofage.com/2011/comic/book-1/05-media-rumble/screening/ her particular Geeky Turn Ons].
* ''[[Sinfest]]'' [
* In ''[[Tripping Over You]]'', Milo's interest in Liam began during an extended conversation about [[Cavemen vs. Astronauts Debate|time travel paradoxes]].
* Marten and Dora do [http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=586 this] in ''[[Questionable Content]]''.
== Web Original ==
Line 286 ⟶ 287:
[[Category:Dialogue]]
[[Category:Indexed and Nerdy]]
[[Category:
| |||