Age of the Geek (eBook)

Kathryn E. Lane is Associate Professor and Chair in the Department of English at Northwestern Oklahoma State University, USA. Lane founded the Geek and Popular Culture area at the Southwest Popular/American Culture Association Conference in 2012. She has published an article on BBC’s series Sherlock, presented on The Big Bang Theory, Scorpion, and Blindspot. 

Preface 5
Contents 7
Editor and Contributors 10
Chapter 1 How Was the Nerd or Geek Born? 15
Bibliography 29
Part I What Did You Call Me?: Defining Geekdom 33
Chapter 2 A Nerd, a Geek, and a Hipster Walk into a Bar 35
I Am a Nerd (Just Not That Kind?) 36
The D4 36
Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? 37
You Say That, Like It’s a Bad Thing 37
6F6273657373696F6E0D0A (Obsession) 38
Studying Never Stops… 38
Oversharing 39
Mimicry 39
The Spectrum 40
Geek vs Nerd (Round 1) 41
Geek vs Nerd (Round 2) 41
Social Lubrication and Niche Populations 43
Green 43
10 Forward 43
Socially Awkward, Party of One 44
Beards, Scarves, and Pabst Blue Ribbon (PBR) 46
Identity on My Sleeves, or Why Hipsters Ruin Everything 47
Costume Pieces 48
Gift Wrap 50
Thou Shall Not Covet Thy Neighbors’ Social Acceptance 51
A Little Too Ironic? 52
Bibliography 54
Chapter 3 Mediagasms, Ironic Nerds, and Mainstream Geeks: A Multimethodological Ideographic Cluster Analysis of & lt
Ideographs 58
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Twitter and Method 63
Analyses 65
Chi-Square Results 65
Ideographic Cluster Co-occurrence Analysis Results 67
Media-Related Slippage 70
Conclusion 73
Bibliography 76
Chapter 4 Changing Faces: Exploring Depictions of Geeks in Various Texts 80
Bibliography 100
Part II In or Out?: Defending Nerddom 102
Chapter 5 Geek Metafiction: Nerds, Footnotes, and Intertextuality 104
A Working Definition 105
Super Nerds and Secret Geeks 106
On Footnotes and Beyond 111
Intertextuality as Hypertext and Hypertext as Intertextuality 115
Post-Apocalyptic 117
Bibliography 122
Chapter 6 Ich Bin Ein Nerd!: Geek Identity in Insider and Outsider Media 125
Bibliography 139
Chapter 7 Geek Is the New Jock: The Relationship Between Geek Culture and Sports 141
Bibliography 157
Chapter 8 Geeking Out and Hulking Out: Toward an Understanding of Marvel Fan Communities 160
Bibliography 175
Part III I Saw It on TV: Depictions of “Other” Nerd/Geek Stereotypes on Television 177
Chapter 9 How Is It Okay to Be a Black Nerd? 179
Bibliography 200
Chapter 10 That Geek Look: Beauty and the Female Geek Body 202
The Binary Problem of the Big Bang Theory 203
Spencer Reid V. Penelope Garcia: The Geek on the Team V. the Geek on the (Computer) Screen 208
Doctor Who and the Regeneration of Female Companions 211
Conclusion 217
Bibliography 219
Chapter 11 Modern Nerd: Alex Dunphy and Growing Up Geeky in Modern Family 221
Not a Family Affair 224
“Girls Who Wear Glasses” 228
Beyond the Screen 232
Bibliography 237
Part IV I Am A Nerd!: Depictions of the Nerd/Geek Stereotype on Film 239
Chapter 12 From Zero to Hero and Back Again: Nerd Nobodies, Magic Makeovers, and the Power of the American Dream in Four Teen Films 241
Can’t Buy Me Love (1987) 244
She’s All that (1999) 248
The New Guy (2002) 251
The DUFF (2015) 253
Bibliography 258
Chapter 13 The Geek as Rake: Roving Masculinity in Contemporary Film 259
Bibliography 276
Chapter 14 The Horror of the Geek: The Geek Archetype in Slasher Film 277
Introduction: The Slasher Film Subgenre 277
Geeks and Slasher Films—The Geek Archetype 280
Randy from Scream (1996) 282
Myles from Halloween: Resurrection (2002) 284
Marty from the Cabin in the Woods (2012) 286
Epilogue 288
Bibliography 291
Chapter 15 Survival of the Smartest? 293
Bibliography 300
Index 301