All The Tropes

Proud to Be a Geek: Difference between revisions

Page Discussion

Proud to Be a Geek (view source)

Revision as of 01:24, 8 April 2014

239 bytes removed ,  10 years ago
m
Mass update links
VisualWikitext
m (Dai-Guard moved page Proud to Be A Geek to Proud to Be a Geek: Lowercase prepositions)
m (Mass update links)
Line 35:
 
* ''[[Revenge of the Nerds]]'' has what amounts to being the most well-known epiphany speech, where at the end, in front of all the fraternities, the geeks go on about how great it is to be a nerd and how empowering they feel. In front of a giant room filled with fraternity men, no less.
** Toby Radloff in ''[[American Splendor (Comic Book)|American Splendor]]'' feels much the same way and was quite empowered by the movie. Indeed, he had a brief but memorable [[Fifteen Minutes of Fame]] based on his popularity in the comics for his forthrightness.
*** Ironically, all of this comes up largely because Harvey Pekar, writer of ''[[American Splendor (Comic Book)|American Splendor]]'', felt very strongly the opposite way about this trope. He dismissed the nerds in the movie as being [[Hollywood Geek|Hollywood Geeks]] and saw the whole thing as insulting to "genuine" nerds like Radloff, who didn't go to college but had built his own computer over one summer through true grit.
* The film adaptation of ''[[The King of Fighters]]'' is trying to invoke this trope in actor interviews, in a desperate attempt to attract fans of the games. [[Did Not Do the Research|It fails miserably.]]
* Mr. Fantastic's speech in ''[[Fantastic Four (Filmfilm)|Fantastic Four]]: Rise of the Silver Surfer'' counts as this.
{{quote| '''General Hager:''' [to Reed] Let me make this clear for you and your pack of freaks. I'm the quarterback, you're on my team. But I guess you didn't play football in high school, did you, Richards?<br />
[Hager starts to walk away]<br />
Line 46:
'''Susan Storm:''' [to Reed] I'm so hot for you right now.<br />
'''Johnny Storm:''' [hugging Reed and switching powers] [[Even the Guys Want Him|Me, too!]] }}
** This was, of course, taken word-for-word from an exchange with Nick Fury during [[Ultimate Marvel|the Ultimate Galactus]] storyline. (But it was much more badass because, among other things, he was saying it to ''[[Samuel L. Jackson|Nick Fury]]'').
* ''[[Pirates of Silicon Valley (Film)|Pirates of Silicon Valley]]'' has some elements of this, especially with the relationship between [[Hollywood Nerd]] Bill Gates and [[Wacky Fratboy Hijinks|drunken fratboy]] Steve Ballmer, and all the money Bill Gates scores when signing the MS-DOS licensing deal with IBM.
* In ''[[Sydney White]]'', the title character, running for student body president, gives a speech that explains how everyone is a dork in their own way. Several people in the crowd then stand up one at a time and explain what makes them a dork. By the end, of course, everyone cheers for Sydney.
* Pretty much everyone in ''[[Real Genius (Film)|Real Genius]]'', except the main character Mitch, who has to grow into his geekdom with the help of his more worldly roommate, Chris.
 
 
== Live Action TV ==
* Spencer Reid of [[Criminal Minds]] could be argued to be this. He certainly makes no secret of the fact that his brain is of a higher order than the average person.
* [[Heroes (TV series)|Hiro Nakamura]] openly, and proudly proclaims his geekiness at nearly every opportunity, regardless of how inappropriate. He is dedicated to being a superhero and cites actual comic books as his guide - he never strays from his mission even when faced down by his disapproving father who clearly sees Hiro's attitude as being, well, kind of shameful.
** Eagle-eyed tropers will notice that in Hiro's first scene, his desk at work is littered with popular manga figurines. This is at work. Where he's the son of the company's president.
** Hiro also refers to himself and his comrade as being "on the team of good guys"... this is the source of the utterly incomprehensible English translation issue, where his friend says "We?" in a very querulous tone.
** Hiro also appears to refer to that sword as if it was [[Slayers|Gourry's Sword of Light]] (aka something uniquely his and a part of him). This also doesn't come through in the English, at all. I swear, heroes was written with a much more international audience in mind.
*** The actor, Masi Oka, based much of Hiro's geekiness on his own.
** Hiro has a blog, and he once wrote there that he wants to fight evil like [[Jo Jo's Bizarre Adventure (Manga)|JoJo]].
* In ''[[Family Matters]]'', Steve Urkel was like this most of the time, except when they wanted to give (or [[Broken Aesop|screw up]]) [[An Aesop]] about being happy with who you are. Most of the time, however, he seemingly didn't give a rats ass that everyone referred to him as a nerd, especially since he was probably the coolest person in the school despite his labeling.
** His being a complete klutz, however, ruins a lot of the coolness.
Line 78:
* A less sympathetic example is [[The Office|Dwight Schrute]] who is obsessed with archaic weapons, ''[[Star Wars]]'', and ''[[Battlestar Galactica]]''. Recently, he created Recyclops as a mascot for recycling, but his geekish tendencies have given Recyclops a bizarre and tragic narrative to the point that Recyclops now seeks vengeance upon the environment.
* Gus of ''[[Psych]]'' tries to deny it at first but eventually has a [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] explaining to Shawn how cool geeks are and how proud he is to be one in "Shawn Vs. the Red Phantom".
* Subverted rather unsympathetically in ''[[Beverly Hills, 90210|90210]]'' where the [[Lovable Alpha Bitch]] Naomi fell in love with the geeky Max and had to put up with a lot of crap from his similarly geeky friends because her tastes were more mainstream.
** [[Completely Missing the Point|Well, maybe if she had taste, she wouldn't get ragged on in the first place]]
* The entire point of ''[[QI]]''. If you're not prepared to show off your bucketloads of useless knowledge... You're on the wrong show.
Line 86:
* A number of bands take this route. See the page quotes.
* ''[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLBb58iHiRA The Nerd Anthem]'' by Marian Call.
* The "White and Nerdy" video by [["Weird Al" Yankovic]] is so upfront about geeking out that it actually makes geeks seem ''cool'', despite superficially about a guy wanting to embrace thug life.
{{quote| "When my friends need some code ''who do they call?''"}}
** The popular web music video for [[Lemon Demon]]'s [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbDV1afDSn0 "Geeks In Love"] is a stellar example of the 'geekiness is an expression of individuality and helps you find what truly makes you happy' viewpoint. Good song too.
Line 95:
* Rapper ZeaLous1 in his songs [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5M2XnT9VbI&feature=fvw Level Up] and [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v91AFb2-NqM Headshot].
* The members of [[Machinae Supremacy]]
* [[Devo (Music)|Devo]] probably originated the trope among mainstream bands.
** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBCWsZX4u3I Here they are proving it while hawking cherry-red Honda scooters.]
* [[Tom Lehrer]] was the musical geek of the 1950s, having written songs to show off his knowledge of the chemical elements, math, and physics. He even put on a [http://www.haverford.edu/physics/songs/lehrer/physrev.htm stage show] with several colleagues at Harvard, entitled ''The Physical Revue'', which consisted of his own parodies and original songs about science.
Line 104:
** Chameleon Circuit, the band that started time lord rock.
** ALL CAPS (made up of two people from wrock bands) have many love songs, between people such as Ron and Hermione, Katniss and Peeta, Ash and Misty, robots, and zombies.
** [[The Protomen (Music)|The Protomen]], who are creating a rock opera based upon what little plot the [[Mega Man (Videovideo Gamegame)|Mega Man]] games have.
* [[Lady Gaga]], whose videos have included shout-outs to [[One Piece]] and [[Dune]].
{{quote| "I am very nerdy every day. Right now the Haus of Gaga and I are in the middle of trying to extract the effect the smell of blood has on people. [[Cloudcuckoolander|We really want to know."]]}}
Line 125:
** What do you mean, "[http://www.pvponline.com/2008/07/01/welcome-back/ except] [http://www.pvponline.com/2009/01/13/time-and-relative-dimension-in-office-space/ Jade]?"
* http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20000604
* <s> Ethan</s> Everyone from ''[[Ctrl +Alt +Del (Webcomic)|Ctrl Alt Del]]''.
* Gabe and Tycho from ''[[Penny Arcade (Webcomic)|Penny Arcade]]''.
* [[Weregeek]] is all about Mark, a closet geek, being teased out of his closet by a group of quite shameless geeks.
* The cast of ''[[Full Frontal Nerdity]]'' fits this trope to a tee, as you may expect from the title.
* Quincy from ''[[Precocious (Webcomic)|Precocious]]'' is quite proud. He once refers to a baseball bat as a [http://www.precociouscomic.com/archive/comic/2009/11/22 "Wand of Awesome Power"]
* [[Obfuscating Stupidity|Walky]], and [[Character Development|eventually]] [[The Pollyanna|Joyce]] and [[Handsome Lech|Joe]] from the [[Walkyverse]]. Also, nearly the entire cast of ''[[Shortpacked (Webcomic)|Shortpacked]]''.
 
== Web Original ==
Line 140:
== Western Animation ==
 
* Comic Book Guy from ''[[The Simpsons (Animationanimation)|The Simpsons]]'', is a notable example of the rising popularity of geekdom. In the eighth Simpsons Halloween special (aired in 1996), just before dying, he sadly realizes he wasted his life. In the 2007 movie however, when he believes he will die, he looks over his collection, and happily concludes he had a perfectly worthwhile existence.
** Lisa usually follows this trope, though many episodes involve her giving in to peer pressure and trying to act "cool" or otherwise reinventing her social persona. They always end with an [[Aesop]] about being yourself, and with Lisa regaining her geek pride.
*** Played with in "Lard of the Dance," where Lisa is pressured to both give up being nerdy and to act like an adult. She ends up making a speech about how she's not ashamed of her geekiness, and that she wants to enjoy being a kid while she still can. Which is a bit of a [[Broken Aesop]] since Lisa will ''always'' be a kid.
* The title characters of ''[[Phineas and Ferb (Animation)|Phineas and Ferb]]'' and most of their friends, if you think about it; at the very least nobody ever objects to having the title bestowed on them. In "Nerds of a Feather" the only characters who seem embarrassed at their geekiness are Candace (who fears being outed for her love of a childish toy) and Buford, who uses his "[[Punch Clock Villain|bully]]" label as an excuse for [[Cosplay|Cosplaying]] at a sci-fi/fantasy convention:
{{quote| "I'm sure you're wondering why I, Buford, have taken a leadership role in such a geek-centered enterprise. Well, take a look around. This place is crawling with nerds! I'm like a kid in a candy store! Plus, [[One of Us|I relate to the character of Odar Underhump]] [[Hidden Depths|and his complex emotional inner journey]]."}}
* Gretchen Grundler from ''[[Recess]]''.
Line 151:
== Real Life ==
 
* Donald Faison's (of ''[[Clueless]]'' and ''[[Scrubs]]'' fame) admitted to seeing [[Star Wars|The Empire Strikes Back]] over 300 times, and has apparently been working on his Dr. Evazan impression. He was mentioned in the [[VH -1]] special "undateable" by one of his girlfriends as to partake in long, multihour [[Dungeons and Dragons|D&D]] sessions
* Vin Diesel once related a story about how, during the filming of ''[[Riddick|The Chronicles of Riddick]]'', he and Karl Urban (both D&D fanatics) were discussing games, when out of the blue Judi Dench came along and started a conversation about the campaign she regularly GMs for her grandchildren. Turns out the [[Cool Old Lady|old broad]] was as much a D&D geek as the two guys were. And let's face it: A campaign narrated by '''[[Incredibly Lame Pun|D]]'''[[Incredibly Lame Pun|a]]'''[[Incredibly Lame Pun|m]]'''[[Incredibly Lame Pun|e]] Judi Dench would be ''awesome''.
* [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4616592653905673144 The "I Am A Gamer" keynote speech at the 2007 Penny Arcade Expo, courtesy of Wil Wheaton]. There's a reason he's known as King of the Nerds. Wheaton is such a geek icon and so proud of it that he has redeemed himself in the eyes of nerds even though he was [[Star Trek: theThe Next Generation|the original]] [[Creator's Pet|Wesley.]] He openly admits that when he [http://www.tvsquad.com/bloggers/wil-wheaton/ views] a ''[[Star Trek: theThe Next Generation]]'' episode, he never misses a chance to yell "Shut up Wesley!" at his younger self.
* [[Seth Green]] has a huge collection of action figures and has written a few comic books. Said collection was featured in the "White and Nerdy" video, if I recall correctly. He also turned his love of action figures [[Robot Chicken|into a popular TV show.]]
* [[Joss Whedon]] is pretty geeky, as are almost too many of his characters to list.
Line 167:
** She also wrote, directed and starred in a ''[[Dragon Age]]'' web series.
* In the commentary of the first [[Resident Evil]] movie both Michelle Rodriguez and Milla Jovovich talk about their love of video games, especially the [[Resident Evil]] games.
* Lewis "Linkara" Lovhaug of [[Atop the Fourth Wall (Web Video)|Atop the Fourth Wall]] is a proud comic book nerd, [[Star Trek]] fan, and [[Power Rangers]] fan.
* [[Megan Fox]]. No, ''seriously,'' she is a major anime fan. And it's confirmed in COSMO of all places.
* Gene Simmons of [[Kiss]] and [[Gene Simmons Family Jewels]] is a proud comic book geek. He has even based his costume off of Black Bolt, Godzilla, and various stuff.
Retrieved from "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Special:MobileDiff/878435"