The Geek Trope, Explained

Get 20% off Brilliant: brilliant.org/TheTake/ | Geeks have come a long way. How did they grow from rejected outcasts to an empowered community? Can they still be considered Geeks? In this video we dive deep into Geek culture. If you like this video, subscribe to our channel or support us on Patreon: / thetake
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We are The Take (formerly ScreenPrism).
Featuring:
24 (2001-2014)
A Wrinkle in Time (2018)
American Graffiti (1973)
American Horror Story (2011-)
American Splendor (2003)
Animal House (1978)
Avengers: Endgame (2019)
Back to the Future (1985)
Black Panther (2018)
The Big Bang Theory (2007-2019)
"Birdhouse in Your Soul" (1989)
Brooklyn Nine-Nine (2013-)
"Buddy Holly" (1994)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003)
Can't Buy Me Love (1987)
Can't Hardly Wait (1998)
Comedy Central Presents (1998-2011)
Community (2009-2015)
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2000-2015)
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931)
Family Matters (1989-1998)
Freaks and Geeks (1999-2000)
Friends (1994-2004)
Game of Thrones (2011-2019)
Ghostbusters (2016)
Grease (1978)
Hackers (1995)
Happy Days (1974-1984)
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2 (2011)
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001)
"In Bloom" (1992)
Iron Man (2008)
"Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)" (2011)
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999-)
Mallrats (1995)
Mean Girls (2004)
My So-Called Life (1994-1995)
Napoleon Dynamite (2004)
Never Been Kissed (1999)
Nightmare Alley (1947)
ParaNorman (2012)
Parks and Recreation (2009-2015)
Pixels (2015)
Portlandia (2011-2018)
Ready Player One (2018)
Revenge of the Nerds (1984)
Saved by the Bell (1989-1993)
Scooby-Doo (2002)
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010)
Scream (1996)
She's All That (1999)
Sixteen Candles (1984)
Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018)
Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Spider-Man (2002)
Star Trek: The Original Series (1966-1969)
Star Trek: Picard (2020-)
Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017)
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019)
"Stay (I Missed You)" (1994)
Stranger Things (2016-)
Terminator: Dark Fate (2019)
The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005)
The Avengers (2012)
The Breakfast Club (1985)
The Goldbergs (2013-)
The Good Place (2016-2020)
The Mandalorian (2019-)
The Nutty Professor (1963)
The O.C. (2003-2007)
The Simpsons (1989-)
The Social Network (2010)
The Office (2005-2013)
Ugly Betty (2006-2010)
Veronica Mars (2004-2019)
Weird Science (1985)
"White & Nerdy" (2006)
Wonder Woman (2017)
X-Men (2000)

[@thetake]

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[@nunotorres6314]

Nice

[@trinaq]

Please cover Mondler, or the Fat Girl stereotype! 💘

[@angierose1428]

The girl and boy duo trope

[@caelmack]

I'd love to hear your response to the general takedowns that I've seen from Wisecrack and Pop Culture Detective on The Big Bang Theory. It actually sucks. I know you touched on it in this, but the issues run deep.

[@alrune8]

Also the Subservient Asian Girl trope.

[@adammyers7383]

I personally consider “geeks” to be more about pop culture and absorbing other creative content while “nerds” are more about academics and/or general learning. I personally identify as both.

[@muskaan3711]

Yes that's what I've thought too

[@laisfrederick5470]

And that's the definition. Spock is not a geek. Even thought He's the hero of the geek

[@the.realjimboslice]

Yeah me too

[@theheroesofcrash311]

I was under the impression that a geek is a fan of something, while a nerd is a geek who lacks social skills. But the two are used so interchangeably, it seems a lot of people either have the own definitions, or don't differentiate between the two at all. Btw, I like your Get Smart avatar. That was a funny show. :-)

[@Udontkno7]

Yeah, I’m more nerdy if anything

[@teodora9280]

In the past I had never realized it was undesirable to be a geek. My parents are geeky, I went to a school where everybody around me was either an aspiring academic or artist or geek OR anything in between. It was cool to be different and to read and have strange hobbies etc. I seriously thought that all these movies and tv shows were some fabulations, or something that was true in the past, or that it was a uniquely American issue. I couldn't possibly grasp why somebody would be bullied for being sincerely passionate about stuff. I mean of course the media representations are somewhat exaggerated, but still. I'm really grateful I grew up in a positive environment.

[@josicruz88]

Same here! I've been raised by a nerd who married a geeky nerd and we grew up being encouraged to follow our passions, to be academic, to do what we liked. Comic books and "nerdy" movies and topics were how we bonded as a family. And they still are.

[@lavieenrose7925]

I believe the greatest contribution to the oppression of “nerds” is the state-funded public school system. It’s their bottom-line duty as an institution to creat a one size fits all system where exceptionalism, creativity, and genius are unsupported and the lowest common denominators usually rule through might

[@dreamyanon5151]

I grew up in a similar way? I knew geeks weren't cool but tbh a geek at my school wasn't someone smart, the popular kids were smart, a geek really referred to lack of social skills, being odd, and being negative towards others.

[@Frosting1000]

back when i was in highschool i felt a blend of both. there was a growing admiration, acceptance, and desire to be really smart and reading comic books and stuff. on the flip side I would see people be aghast at things like anime, although it probably is less so now. so i do think it took a cultural shift, and things that people once hated on are "cool" now. plus people who are naturally more shy and awkward will always have a harder time fitting in regardless.

[@alejandrovargasaguilar6180]

Same here. Raised by a geek family(two teachers on my family) but i was bullied at school but in high school the geek culture hit everyone.

[@TheLeah2344]

I was a nerd and I remember back then comic books, anime, etc weren’t cool. I excelled in school and even graduated Highschool early. I read all of the books in school that they even threw a party for all the nerds who read a certain amount of books. Unfortunately black female nerds were completely ignored like we didn’t exist. We weren’t even represented on tv until Issa Rae came along. I also was into dancing, hiphop, and sports as well and wore nice clothes and took care of my hair but nerds were portrayed as ugly with bad hair and ugly clothes in the media. The truth is we are multifaceted. You can do good in school and like comics and anime as well as wear nice clothes and be into sports and popular music.

[@malena5026]

And don’t forget the typical nerd glasses ...

[@TheLeah2344]

Malena Sander Yup and I remember back then I was bullied for being the “teachers pet”.

[@awesomelycurious2740]

As fellow black female nerd, I concur and thank you for writing this!

[@icecreamhero2375]

Sterotypical popular kids and sterotypical nerds don't really exist that is just in movies.

[@SamaraTrollero]

Isn't there a difference between geek and nerd?

[@cybersquire]

According to hollywood, the tips to be a 'successful' geek are: 1. Look like an attractive actor 2. Profit.

[@mujerforalibre]

don't forget rampant misogyny redefined as "cute" and "sympathetic."

[@mujerforalibre]

@fermented crab big bang theory, nerds movie series

[@miaazlan2412]

love how community has been getting more attention ever since it was put on netflix :)

[@maggiemcfly5267]

Me too! I hope we can get the movie now, we've been waiting long enough.

[@trinaq]

Indeed, as it should! 😍 It was such a clever show, and deserves more love! 💕

[@lorrainezea7988]

yasss it's criminally underrated!

[@Acidfunkish]

6 seasons and a movie!

[@nicanornunez9787]

The world is allways streets behind

[@milfsfilms]

I thought it said "Greek" trope and it'd be about the weird dialogues Yorgos Lanthimos gives his characters

[@FunnyLittleFrog]

Lmaooo

[@VictoriaHatzson]

would love to see that

[@ieatgremlins]

Lol

[@trinaq]

The Geek is the fraternal twin to The Smart Girl. One thing I've noticed is that while male Geeks are usually portrayed as gawky, socially inept klutzes who exist to be relentlessly mocked, their female counterparts are usually more savvy and adept. They typically cast conventionally pretty actresses to play nerds, and give her glasses and frumpy clothing, when she's far more glamorous in real life. 👓📚🧠

[@toomuchinformation]

Because women are meant to be more socially adept than men, which is why women on the autistic spectrum are often missed. Naturally the Smart Girl will be attractive underneath all of her cleverness. She'd barely be portrayed if she wasn't.

[@davestevens6283]

Guess it has a lot to do with the notion as a man, access to money and power is a far more important trait to your social desirability rating - if you're far enough up those scales, you can "make up" for your physique, far more than the female equivalent.

[@ShaudaySmith]

Girl geeks, when not innocent and selfless to their loved ones, are often portrayed with an edge, sarcasm, and general agitation. The girl geek has rarely been portrayed as emotionally stunted as guy geeks in film history. I might contest that most emotionally immature women portrayed in media are selfish slackers, on the freaks end of the Freaks and Geeks spectrum.

[@fiona_6714]

That or the geek girl is portrayed as gross or undatable. In that case she's usually seen as creepy to the main characters and often will stalk them...

[@1MegArbo]

Yeah. And then they give her a "makeover" and make her "hot"

[@meggriffin5382]

*geek starter pack: glasses, braces, bad haircut*

[@Hopebestman]

Yeah yeah. Shut up, Meg.

[@AxxLAfriku]

HELP!!! Everybody at my school cyberbullies me because they say my videos are extremely BAD!!! Please help me, dear meg

[@sarahcoleman5269]

Only middle-class geeks get braces, orthodontics is expensive.

[@meggriffin5382]

AxxL *shut up, Axxl. they’re right*

[@senaitgoshutekleyesus3009]

That doesn't sound realistic... add acne to that equation!

[@akknight1046]

The geeks have evolved into the nice guy

[@squidwardtentacles7144]

Mind blown😳🤯

[@anyanwuwildseed4023]

Except Sheldon. 😒

[@davidegaruti2582]

That was their downfall , they couldn't handle the power of *the discurse* © , which meant they fell into the pleasures of the flesh , becoming simps that have sacrificed their mental state their money and their social status to the being they swore to destroy , the t-Witch , or realised their inerent weakness , the fact that they won't bang until they go to uni , growing into a simbiotic relationship with the CHAD who shall inerith the earth for he respects others as he respect himself ... And we should not talk about the nice guys that got in the wrong places while attempting to get out of theirbself imposed friendzone , for they became a creature which should be feared for the hate and spite and bitterness they old inside their harth : the incel

[@sooryaganesh6370]

@@davidegaruti2582 I had a stroke reading this.

[@ThanksHermione]

I've heard some women say that sometimes when they mention liking stereotypical male things like video games that some men get defensive. "You're only pretending to like it to make money off of it" or claim that she won't appreciate it as much since she's female. How come they can't genuinely like or appreciate it? That doesn't mean you'll never meet a trend chaser, but don't assume it.

[@nosoynadaoriginal]

that happens yes. I'm a gamer and watch anime, and I grew up with Star Wars and the like. To me they either putt me on a pedestal and want to get in my pants cause "wow a geek girl!" or they start to question my knowledge on the subject so I can prove that I'm a "real" geek. This runs so deep that I'm afraid of wearing shirts about anime or comics or something like that, as I will get questioned about it, and if I get it wrong, I'll feel like I'm giving a bad press to other geeks who happen to be female. I'm also scared shitless of playing online cause of the harrasment.

[@razielhernandez2849]

@@nosoynadaoriginal i was going to comment the same. I love Star Wars and my dad as well so I grew up with it. Same with Lord of the Rings, and as soon as I mention it to a guy that I know a lot about it, they just brush it off because they think that I am saying it either because I want to pretend I like those stuffs for them to like me or they think I don't know enough to discuss that with them. Of course, not all men are the same since I have a lot of male friends that I can geek with, but still. Sometimes is in fact hard to geek as a woman.

[@laurenalexander3472]

“Oh you like *insert band, game, etc*? Name 10 of their songs! And not *names song* because that’s obvious” I find many females fans have to prove themselves before believed to be “real” fans

[@serenityjoy1872]

Oh, I remember the horrible rise of the "fake geek girl ". It's such an arrogant trope, like a girl can't like something for her own personal enjoyment. People like what they like at various intensity.

[@pheonixrises11]

it’s stupidly funny to associate video games with boys/men when they’re just games on a console/pc. as if girls/women don’t like having fun or playing games. totally. yeah.

[@chowyee5049]

I don't know about the rest of you, but plenty of the top students I know are also accomplished athletes. In fact, I find the discipline that exercise fosters actually translates very well to the determination that studying requires. You don't have to choose between your mind and your body, more often than not, developing one requires at least maintaining the other.

[@bruna8778]

I remember having that realization when my high school calculus class was full of popular kids who were cheerleaders, field hockey players, soccer players etc. media used to really try to make us believe that they couldn't be both

[@elizrebezilmadommdo1662]

Yes! They don't even allow students to join or stay in sports teams when they're not at least passing all of their classes. Whenever I was in any of the L level classes, most of the students there weren't in any sort of athletic team, but whenever I was in a K level, AP, or duel credit class, that's where I would meet all the "jocks". They were all very smart and ended up going to some nice colleges (not Harvard or Yale, but places like A&M or UT). They also tend to be the class clowns and were pretty easy-going.

[@clarasundqvist6013]

The fact that many top students are academically gifted shouldn’t be a surprise, despite what media says. I attended the sports program in high school and many of my friends, and myself, had high marks. We learned how exercise and healthy lifestyles help you learn because it increases among other things, blood circulation and brain stimulus, and at the pace we were going (at most I had 8 scheduled practises/week, and I was at the lower end of the spectrum at my school). And, as has been stated, the discipline that often comes with elite sports really helps finding a structure that works for you, I can see it in how I conduct my school work now when I’m at uni and stopped playing sports

[@mohamedaminehadji6415]

I would say it depends on the country. In Europe, sports & school are independent, and it's a very common choice that you have to make: if you want to be an athlete, you have to give up school at a certain point

[@emc246]

I feel like perspective on this depends a lot on school size. Larger schools generally have more shared students between athletic and academic groups than small schools. For example, in my middle school class of

[@winonacrvz]

Jesse Eisenberg was born for this trope though

[@trinaq]

Indeed, as was Michael Cera, even though he's mostly faded into the background, because it seems that he's forever been typecast by Hollywood as "The Token Nerdy Guy".

[@laurenconrad1799]

I was just gonna say, so was Michael Cera. lol. I remember the first role he had where he wasn't super meek. I was like, what? And then the more I watched it, I was like, good for him! lol

[@winonacrvz]

Trina Q oh yeah definitely Michael Cera delivers the role so effortlessly too

[@FunnyLittleFrog]

There's something about Jesse Eisenberg's roles that makes me wanna punch him in the face 😅

[@edabakb]

@@FunnyLittleFrog the social network effect 😂

[@luisguilhermeoliveira5794]

Pop culture portrayed geeks as good but awkard people and the internet showed a huge portion of them is just as awful as the people who bullied them.

[@trinaq]

Concurred, two wrongs don't make a right, and if they choose to heckle those who bullied them, and they're really no better. 😢😔

[@Sunny-gy3jv]

Thank you for pointing it out. I have experience the some of worst sexism in geek subcultures. But I have also met some of the most progressive and wonderful people there.

[@christianmoss6464]

I think the lesson is that most people in general are awful when given the chance without many repercussions.

[@cnashford2]

Reminds me of Pop Culture Detective's video, "The Adorable Misogyny of 'The Big Bang Theory.'"

[@FunnyLittleFrog]

Thank u for pointing this out!

[@josepharmstrong1788]

Here's a good one; Parks And Recreation: Ron Swanson; The New Macho Man.

[@maudinapalmer5751]

I would love to see this.

[@jeanbutinfrench]

i think he is a great example of non-toxic masculinity

[@matheussanthiago9685]

also Terry Jeffords from b99

[@sonorasgirl]

matheus Santhiago yes!! I love him so much. He was one of my favorites

[@remytherat2929]

yes due!!

[@PetalsAndPlague]

Lol I like making the nerd the love interest. Badass lady monster slayer. Who does she fall in love with? The timid librarian. Loving, sweet, supportive and deeply interested in her way of life.

[@Applepopess]

Buffy falling in love with Giles??!!?

[@PetalsAndPlague]

@@Applepopess ummmmm kinda.... If Giles was younger than Buffy and Buffy was like 25 and it was set in Rococo era England... Also make Giles hella awkward.

[@cherusiderea1330]

@@PetalsAndPlague What do you mean by "make"? xD

[@PetalsAndPlague]

@@cherusiderea1330 that boy is charming as hell lol

[@JoaoPedro-gc8mw]

The strong victor and war hero girl. Who she falls in love with? The passionate revolutionary leader? No. She falls in love with the calm, sensitive, emotionally available baker.

[@anteres2123]

At first I thought it said “The Greek Trope”

[@trinaq]

Me too, though that seems like a fascinating idea that they could cover on this channel in the future! 🔮💡

[@chiefpurrfect8389]

@@trinaq Honestly, as a Greek person who keeps an eye out for that stuff I'd say if The Take tried to make a video on the tropes typically assigned to Greek people in American media it would be a pretty short video. With maybe some few exceptions that I don't recall right now, the Greek characters I've seen are very one-note. Men's tropes consist of middle aged, fat, sleazy, hairy taxi drivers or restaurant owners (or any other job typically assigned to immigrant characters). They are super loud and typically friendly to the point of hyperbole and those traits are usually utilized for comedic effect. Then there's the Adonis, he's young, he's got the body of a god and an exotic accent. Sometimes he's gay and afraid to come out to his father, who most often fits the first trope and holds conservative views. Women's tropes typically consist of the middle aged woman who is the wife of the middle aged sleazy man, usually working at their restaurant. She's also loud and fat and she can get pretty feisty with her husband who can sometimes be crass but don't worry 'cause she's totally into it. Other characters usually react to the implication of these two older and less conventional-looking people being sexual as something gross (usually because they are family members) and that's milked for comedy. Most of the narrative is focused on her identity as a mother and she's depicted as the mama bear kinda mom who will shower her children and their friends with affection but will woop anyone's ass if angry (including her children's). As to the female equivalent of the Adonis, I'm kinda stumped at the moment so if anyone has a suggestion, please do. The younger Greek woman is typically either absent or just is. Those I can recall at the moment don't have anything specific about them tied to their ethnic identity other than the typical loud, family-loving, overly friendly shtick. Also note that a lot of tropes associated with Greek characters overlap with those that are often associated with lower class immigrants and Eastern European characters at large.

[@gixnla]

@@chiefpurrfect8389 this is a really insightful comment. Would love to see a video about that.

[@veronicaaccouche1478]

The Geek trope mainly has teenage boys, well boys in general. Never been kissed and Amy Farrah Fowler are notable exceptions. Female geeks are often portrayed as highly sexualised like Charlie's Angels, James Bond franchise, Denise Heather as Christmas Jones and Rosamond Pike as Miranda Frost. British model Cara Delevingne as archaeologist June Moone / Enchantress in Suicide Squad. It's not realistic and presumes you have to have a really pretty to be in 'geek trope films. It's swung in the completely opposite direction, as before you were ugly if you were female and liked STEM subjects. Heather Matarazzo in 'Welcome to the doll house' but there her character was supposed to be 13.

[@muskaan3711]

I agree with you. Even when a girl geek is a love interest or the main character, she is gorgeous with model looks, or goes through a makeover to get the guy. I really like Amy Farah Fowler's character as she didn't have to change her looks or style to get a guy (even though her friends Penny and Bernadette always make fun of her clothes).

[@penelopeclaire539]

It's kind of disturbing how rare it is to find a female character that comfortably embraces being physically ugly, especially since actresses that aren't conventionally attractive are so rarely cast. It kind of subliminally tells little girls that they're allowed to unconventional traits as long as they prioritize beauty. And by ostracising unconventionally attractive female characters, it tells you that the world will not value you unless you're nice to look at.

[@SonicBadass]

@@penelopeclaire539 That's not too far from the real world unfortunately.

[@squidsinspace75]

And I do not agree, well not entirely. Because we have two extremes in geek/nerdy girls they mostly are or "super pretty" or "super ugly" (in a similar manner with nerdy boys, you know bulging eyes, braces, pimples, disproportionate body parts and everything pushed to the extreme like in caricature). And brother variety in the look of nerdy or geeky girls will be nice. You know not only these two extremes but just normal average girls. But totally excluding pretty actresses also will be harmful. Because I saw that quite many times in real life that normal/average or even good looking girl, could be convinced by other girls that she is ugly because she is not following the fashion journals and does not use makeup. And because of that, she acts as if she truly was ugly (and to be fair I also saw boys with the same problem too, but it is a topic for a different discussion). To be fair I had that. For most of my young life, I thought that I am ugly because other girls and some boys said so mostly because clothing I like to wear and the fact that I prefer books over fashion magazines. I was not haunted by it, I accepted this and still was happy with myself, but if somebody said to me that I am pretty I did not believe him (or her). I thought that people who complimented my look or just want to make fun of me, or that they pity me. For that reason, I immediately treated them suspiciously, even if they did not deserve it. Because of this, I sometimes behaved socially awkward too. Only quite recently (max 2 years ago) my boyfriend convinced me that I was wrong. I am certainly not gorgeous, but I either I'm not extremely ugly. And I did not need any transformation. So putting pretty actress in "stereotypical nerdy clothing" could help a lot of girls understand that problem is not in them but in people who judge them. And even if you will look different, even if you would be conventionally attractive, others still could shame you for not behaving like them. And to understand that opinion of people like this does not matter.

[@TheSongwritingCat]

The female characters you name aren't geeks. They're just smart. Geek girls are like... basically the protagonists of all the YA movies Netflix has been putting out lately.

[@bluebutterfly5062]

Being a "geek" isn't really a thing anymore. Like you said, since everyone is a "geek" now, it's so mainstream it's hard to put it into one catergory.

[@s-wo8781]

The only thing that's mainstream are the movies and tv shows, but this isn't even the first time comic book movies have made mad money. The 89 Batman movie did big when it released as well as the Superman movie and X-Men. Nerdcore is still an underground music genre and things like D&D, LARPing, cosplay, and Yugioh are still niche.

[@ManiaMac1613]

I do agree that movies featuring geeks that end up with attractive women are pure wish fulfillment, but that's also true for EVERY OTHER romantic movie.

[@Linklex7]

That’s true. Female movies do this too. They do it even more

[@Melodymist]

I think an aspect that needs to be brought up when it comes to the traditional geek stereotype is that hyper-fixation and social awkwardness are also neurodivergent traits.

[@keithhorning7753]

Now I have to look that up.

[@SofiaCalotti]

Yes!! Same goes for the 'weird girl' trope.

[@miamafalda1118]

Tfw in actual "geek" spaces, neurodivergent people are constantly made fun of and berated.

[@r.h.6249]

thats the one thing i learnt watching american movies and TV when i got older that even you guys are taught discrimination from such a young age...to group and classify people based on their traits and make a hierarchy out of them to oppress and discriminate...its weird but no other country's culture in schools do this kind of stuff

[@satycastro6551]

That's truth I am brazilian,i know it

[@nandini1267]

Agreed. They also have this cafeteria groups and bullying is so much common in american schools.

[@CGZ26]

Agree, we don't have this "popular-nerds" types in schools in northern Argentina. Bullying only started to be a matter in the last couple of years

[@jaanggadelca2420]

They must place the topic of Discrimination in school

[@lilil9752]

It's funny that they are treated as the outcasts when in reality most people are,in fact, geeks.Just with diferent interest

[@Mibbitmaker]

What are "jocks", really, but "sports nerds" (though not as literally as, say, Bob Costas)?

[@CozieGhosty]

I do believe that some of the more toxic parts of media that pander to the "geek aesthetic" if you will, definitely empowered the "nice guy and nice girl" people out there. Because they consider themselves "outcasts" because of their likes, they think their different or even better than the normal public.

[@MariaKostyukova]

Do the chosen one trope next, for example, Rey from Star Wars, Harry Potter, Sabrina Spellman, Buffy etc.

[@enigmace9787]

Do you want to try out OSP's Trope Talk series?

[@CCLOSPINA]

Rey isn't the chosen one, neither Luke,was Anakin/ Vader.

[@Whatsinaname_]

Please do a video on the white savior trope. Thank you.

[@crzyprplmnky]

Woah

[@trashchild5945]

you want it, you got it

[@sarahcoleman5269]

Honestly, I feel betrayed by all the "Nerd Hero" Characters from the 80s and 90s that promised that my nerdy, poorly dressed, socially awkward, studious self would grow up to be ultra-successful and magically become super attractive because I blossomed or something. Unfortunately, I didn't invent post-it notes and my blossoming days are behind me.

[@penelopeclaire539]

In high school I was one of those girls who hung out in groups filled to the brim with "geeky" guys. I usually orbited around groups like that due to a low self esteem and a subconscious hope that liking the things they liked would make me more attractive and therefore valuable. A lot of that was due to the fetishization of the "nerdy girl" on the internet and in pop culture at the time. But being interested in nerd culture didn't make me hotter. Being physically hotter made me hotter. And after putting up with enough blatant sexism and toxic masculinity, I realized that I wasn't being valued for the right things. My better qualities were being overlooked. I was just as much of an insecure, sad person as everyone else in those circles but they were all so repressed and defensive about their insecurities (yet so simultaneously entitled) that I just wasn't going to connect with any of them no matter how hard I tried. So many of them were such angry, broken, toxic people. TV and movies make you think people that have suffered a lot will be sweet, but a lot of the time they were just assholes in need of some therapy. I learned a lot about anime, videogames and tv shows aimed at boys. And honestly now I associate a lot of that stuff with my shitty time and high school and it keeps me from bonding with people that like those things. I'm still working on that. I just think there's a problem with male role models in pop culture. There have been a lot of improvements in how female characters are portrayed. Aside from the concept of constantly needing to be conventionally beautiful, the structures that might limit a woman are fought a lot more than the structures limiting men. I'd like to see more aspirational men like ron swanson that ditch the more harmful aspects of masculinity and opt for the neutral/good ones. I think a lot of men struggle with how to be good (especially when so many awful men have traumatized the rest of us).

[@danielhart7435]

Because of course it’s all about you

[@penelopeclaire539]

@@danielhart7435 are you okay dude? You're free to share about your own experiences just as much as me.

[@FunnyLittleFrog]

Movies and tv shows referenced here: Wonder Woman Black Panther Rise of Skywalker Sixteen candles Ghostbusters Breakfast club Spiderman Spider man homecoming Harry Potter Deathly Hallows part 2 Sorcerers stone Prisoner of azkaban Scream The 40 year old virgin Grease Scott pilgrim The Avengers American Horror Story Stranger things Big Bang Theory Friends Brooklyn 99 Game of Thrones Weird Science Ready Player One Star Trek: Picard The Mandalorian The Office Freaks and Geeks Never Been kissed White n Nerdy Cant Hardly Wait Community Hackers Can't Buy Me Love Napolean Dynamite Nutty Profesor Saved by the bell Revenge of the nerds Back to the future Parks n recreation The oc Nightmare alley Csi The simpsons Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Family matters Happy Days American Graffiti star trek original Animal House Goldbergs American splendor Mallrats In bloom Birdhouse in ur soul Stay I missed u Buddy Holly My so-called life Buff the vampire Slayer The good place Ugly betty 24 Wrinkle in time Veronica mars She's all that Pixels Terminator dark fate Solo star Wars story R u nerdy enough Law & order Portlandia

[@whathell6t]

12:20 Mobile Suit Gundam (1979). Ironically, the creator, Yoshiyuki Tomino, is a military otaku (geek) who hates merchandise-consuming otaku. He also piss-off the Japanese ultranationalists; he really likes troll on them.

[@FunnyLittleFrog]

Not enough people talk about how much of an a-hole geeks and nerds could be... They're always victims in the people's eyes. I was bullied by them. Excluded Edit: Free Palestine🇵🇸 and Save Sheikh Jarrah. Pray for the people in Gaza 🙏

[@piyam5948]

They are often shown bullying other geeks rather than the "cool" kids. I think it comes down to the social awkwardness that forms the stereotype.

[@FunnyLittleFrog]

@Black Ninja yeah... Well it was kinda subtle. They just looked down at me like I was stupid just because I didn't know the things they knew. And gatekept the word "nerd". Passive aggressive behaviours.

[@ManiaMac1613]

A lot of geeks feel excluded from society and their peers because of their hobbies and interests, but really it's because they're assholes.

[@elizrebezilmadommdo1662]

Some of them are also kind of creepy too, but no one says anything because they seem "harmless" and "endearing".

[@elizrebezilmadommdo1662]

@@FunnyLittleFrog I had a friend like that too. She thought she was the shit and put everyone else down around her if they were making a B in one of their classes.

[@FranciscanGypsy]

I remember stopping to talk to a couple of guys who were talking comics in college (2005-2009). They seemed really shocked that I actually read comics and could talk about them. I guess that, in spite of my glasses, I didn’t look like a geek to them. I don’t really get that reaction about comics anymore. Everyone is familiar with comic book superheroes now due to the movies. I also was one of the few girls who played HALO with the guys my freshman year. I usually played campaign mode instead of the versus mode and so got killed a lot. They used to awkwardly argue about who wanted to kill me, lol. For a socially awkward college girl, it was fun and awesome. Playing video games isn’t that odd for girls anymore, come to think of it. I think that my knitting is now considered more odd than my geeky interests. So interesting how culture shifts.

[@RobinNicoagain]

High five to another knitter! :D o/

[@getoffmygrass4857]

Og nerd and gamergirl😁 let it be known sis

[@FranciscanGypsy]

Someone Somewhere high five!

[@sidneymorrison1272]

I still whisper Screenprism under my breath whenever you intro The Take lmao

[@abbiethebookhoarder6071]

Haha me too

[@lh9591]

Geek

[@frannyowen]

LOL I do the same thing every time

[@mohamedaminehadji6415]

As a geek/nerd, I was expecting this conclusion, which can be harmful in some way. See, one feature of the "geek" is their social awkwardness. My friends (way geekier than I am) don't like sports, parties, fashion... They lack "charisma". And I can see that this is what affects them. I saw people proclaiming themselves to be "geeks" and ostracizing some of my friends because they were too much into "weird" stuff, because they were ugly or just because they wouldn't understand them. Truth is, "geeks", especially "nerds", are trendy because we noticed they are the one making banks, so every one wants to capitalize on it. However, they still want to polish this image by being a "popular geek": someone who is into pop culture & science, but who's also fit, charismatic, handsome... Basically, it didn't become popular to be a geek, it just became advantageous for popular guys to have a geeky side.

[@26yd1]

Couldn't have put it better!

[@Silvercentipede]

"I don't need another friend, I already have two"

[@killabarbie4923]

“I wear these glasses to see”🤓 that embodies me. Every time my husband puts on his fake ones he looks gorgeous but I squint my eyes and say how dare you! 🤣🤣

[@sumoyeebasu4771]

I love the trope series. Can you do comic relief next? Or the wise elder role?

[@keithhorning7753]

Do you mean the paragon?

[@ZaxorVonSkyler]

Or mentor?

[@enigmace9787]

You may appreciate Overly Sarcastic Productions' Trope Talk series. They've done both Mentors and Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass, as well as Paragons.

[@Udontkno7]

I would love a burnout/loser kid trope. That’s me in a nutshell

[@jasminecrawford42]

@@Udontkno7 Truly, the slept on trope when WE ALL know atleast one person just like that 😂.

[@RandomPerson-tz7wk]

Fyi, geek normally refers to someone who is interested in sci-fi or fantasy concept/media. whereas a nerd is someone who is academically smart. both tend to lack the social skill to interact or integrate into other social groups. they can overlap, but in life tend to be oneway. a nerd who likes sci-fi/fantasy can be considered geeky. but geek who isn't smart is not nerdy. a smart person is a nerd who has social skill. niche person is geek who has social skill. an artist produces art, whereas geek consumes it.

[@Interfaune]

"I'm not a nerd, Bart! Nerds are smart..." -Millhouse van Houten

[@966aAad]

l am not first Not last But when l see Abed Nadir l am fast

[@johnypanta6208]

"Nerd culture is mainstream right now. To use the word Nerd derogatorly means that you are the one who is out of the zeitgeist" that pretty much sums it up. I grew up being a nerd and didn't really felt I fit in, but as time passed, everything I was interested in gradually became mainstream. Life got easier 😉

[@sarahellis6703]

I wish people could just...enjoy things without being attacked as a fake geek

[@SillyMonster94]

Same. But I do wish geeks were free to enjoy things without being called racist, sexist or bigoted.

[@sapphic.flower]

Geeks are either portrayed as laughing stocks or “nice guys/girls” that are owed respect or love

[@inescastellano7960]

Geeks from the past who were bullied and taunted walked so the geeks who are "cool" now could run.

[@Kelaiah01]

Years ago, back when I was in high school, I was at the public library and overheard some other teens in conversation as I was walking out, and heard an exchange I shall never forget. One of the boys told one of the girls, "You're such a geek!" To which the girl replied loudly and proudly, "I'm not a geek! I'm a NERD!"

[@MalloryNewcomb]

As a 23 year old American female, this has made me think a lot about how much the perception of geeks and nerds has changed in the course of my short lifetime. I felt like people saw me as a nerd when I was a kid. I didn’t really fit in and I thought that might be why, but I don’t really know. It’s hard to have social rejection and in your formative years because sometimes it’s not about anything you did. I came to embrace it when I was 14 and I started listening to Queen. I had something of my own and I loved it. Also I met a bunch of people at church camp that year. Part of what made them wonderful is how extra & weird they are ... but not like they’re trying to be, they’re just having fun and being themselves. I felt like I found my tribe, my ‘framily’. I went nearly every year until I was 18 and aged out of being a camper. Last year, I got my degree ... in Biochemistry. I think back to the fascinated girl in 5th grade asking all kinds of questions about protons and electrons & I am so proud. I’ve feel like I have a great purpose in life, to help the world get a little closer to finding the cure for cancer and I’m gonna do it. I also went back to my camp last year to reconnect with my friends and my spiritual base. I worked on staff as the photographer for the teenage session and the Director had the most interesting query when the campers did “speed dating” one night: three words to describe your emotions during Avengers Endgame. I was in awe of how popular this has become: I haven’t seen it so no spoilers but man... but I realized it’s been a long time since I saw liking superheroes as nerdy. It felt good to reconnect with those fears I had as a kid and see how many have abated but now I still have a bit of that anxious person in me that doesn’t want to be seen as the freak of nature type of geek. This is on the internet and I feel vulnerable so I may delete it... but it felt good to reconnect with that aspect of my childhood and reflect. Maybe this will help me make peace with it Tropes are wonderful because as being a geek has become harder and harder to pinpoint, it’s been harder to identify why I feel concerned about being an outcast and what it is about me that is ‘unusual’. This makes it a lot clearer Thanks the Take

[@victoriagillan7525]

One thing I think gets left out of a lot of conversations of geek culture and the impact of the geek trope is how that affected real life geeks. It's great that geek culture is opening up, but at the same time, hearing the people who bullied me for my interests and being on the spectrum (they'll never actually come out and say it but we all know that's the truth) publicly affirming their geekiness rankles. It's great that they're finding joy in traditionally geeky media properties, behaviors, or subcultures, but it still feels rather intellectually dishonest when I remember the things they said and did to me for loving the exact same things about a decade ahead of the curve. Geek culture expanding is great, but we shouldn't forget that until this cultural shift happened, for a lot of people it was really not fun to be a geek. Discussions about gatekeeping are important to have, but we shouldn't suggest that older nerds and geeks just shut up about our scars to make everyone else feel comfortable with the fact that so many of them made those scars in the first place. I know it's not fun to be confronted with the reality of how awful you were when you were younger (even though everyone was awful in their own special way- side effect of being in the process of developing empathy), but those are also some of the long-overdue conversations that we need to be having. As you can probably guess by now, geek culture is extremely important to me. As an autistic woman, those communities and subcultures, back when they were still considered very fringe, represented a lifeline. Those communities were the first places where I met other autistic kids and realized that I actually wasn't alone, and that the things I was going through weren't new. They were also the places where I met publically autistic *adults*, actual grown adults with families and jobs and hobbies and autism all at the same time, and realized that I there was actually a future out there for kids like me, which to this day is the single most cathartic experience I've ever lived. Those subcultures were a safe haven for the neurodivergent. I know we'd all like to think that the world is more accepting now and we don't need spaces like that anymore, but that's not true. Not by a long shot. With the rise of social media, I would say that it is even more easy (and commonplace) to mock people who have tendencies that other people find offputting for no good reason. The TL;DR of this, I guess, is that as a "legacy geek" or whatever you want to call it is that I wish that there were a way to have both: a widening of geek culture as well as safe places for neurodivergent people to kick back and be themselves without having to worry about what neurotypicals do or don't find palatable. Unfortunately until a whole lot of people are ready to a) open up about their experiences, b) have some truly uncomfortable conversations about their own past actions and current prejudices, and c) treat others with kindness and genuine empathy, that isn't going to happen. It's sad to say, but the more geeky stories and narratives seem to dominate the cultural zeitgeist, the more the voices of the core members of our community (note: core, not loudest) seem to fade into the background.

[@marinmilevoj4829]

Funny thing is, as I come from Croatia, which is in the Balkans, geekdom here is still kinda seems as weird ad it used to be, but at the same time most of the media we consume doesn't treat it as such. So it's just that everyone knows a little about geeky things, but it's not like in America from what I see where everyone knows about Harry Potter houses for example, or had even ever heard of star trak and stuff.

[@livlaughloveanime]

I'm so happy you guys mentioned the entitled nice guy aspect of geek culture. A lot of geeks feel they're better than the "jocks" despite being just as misogynistic

[@JinaAn-zs1qn]

Maybe submissive asian trope next??? ps. Love your channel! Keeps me happy while quarentine :)

[@konraddygudaj257]

Theoretically, each of us is a bit of a geek.

[@charlotteh9742]

i've always thought this - even the people who were seen as 'cool' kids were usually geeks about something, whether it was sport, film, music, fashion, etc. everyone has something they're interested in to an extent that other people might consider a bit obsessive, right?

[@konraddygudaj257]

@@charlotteh9742 Right

[@DorianCairne]

Especially nowadays. With how pervasive and omnipresent pop culture is nowadays, it's pretty much impossible to find someone who doesn't have some level of "geeky" obsession with some form of pop culture, unless they're a total workaholic or something.

[@squidsinspace75]

Admitting that is som geekiness or nerdiness inside everybody would be nice if it results in not shaming, not bullying, and not attacking people who were originally called geeks and nerds, and replacing that verbal and physical abuse towards them by the kindness and at least some understanding. But it does not have that result. It ends up with that, that people like me or similar to me which were bullied in school for being nerdy, and geeky, now are still bullied by the same people who bullied them in the past, but now this bullying aims to banish them from their last comfort zone, and from the community in which they previously found safety, friends, and support, after all these bad experiences.

[@jadziawynter9241]

Please do the witch and girly girl trope

[@skellymom]

Check out their video on the Weird Girl. It covers witches, too.

[@juliatoczko5152]

@@skellymom yes but the witch trope is very specific and often gives woman a lot of power and independance, so the weird girl is just a part of the witch persona. And I need more talking about Sabrina and Bellatrix.

[@oliviadellava4380]

Yesss I would love a witch trope

[@oooh19]

do the punk trope, hippie trope, jerk w/ a heart of gold trope, tomboy trope, tomboy grown up into girly girl trope, maybe a take on sister relationships, brothers, friendships (do stand by me and It. how different people can be close friends. also conflicts/power struggles/disagreements at times but still loyal), the jock trope (im surprised this wasnt covered)

[@alyzu4755]

Im a middle -aged geek. I became onsessed with Doctor Who in 1982, when i was 13. From there i did a deep dive into Science Fiction and Fantasy. Conventions in the 80's were great: Everyone was made to feel welcome and no one was challenged on their fandom. And you could get everything for the admission price, which was usually around $20. 😊

[@noeliasellestorregrosa8626]

Omg I love your videos, Could you do the trope of Luke from Gilmore Girls, that mysterious guy that love the protagonist but at the same time is kinda mean to her, I don’t know the name of the trope, I just read it and watch it a lot in movies

[@calisha1889]

Its probably a type of bad boy trope but they should do more Gilmore Girls videos anyways

[@amgm1996]

i think being called geek sounds "cooler" today but the nerd is still a nerd.

[@sarahcoleman5269]

I'm pretty okay with being a nerd. In my head, the "nerd" is more academic, while the "geek" is more about pop culture and fandoms. Dorks are just socially awkward, but, dorky-cute is still a thing. People can be one or the other, or just a mixture of all three.

[@biancalizardo2544]

@@sarahcoleman5269 these are the definitions n understanding I grew up with. It still bothers me when i hear "nerd ", in place of "geek".

[@emc246]

In the last decade the word "nerd" has gone through a similar transformation as the word "gamer". Both went from something that was used as an insult to something that people claimed for themselves to be "different". As more people outside of the original use of the word claimed it, the word lost its meaning to the point that people who would fit the original definition don't fit the new one.

[@getoffmygrass4857]

I always wish I was a nerd... but I'm just a dumb otaku that's looking forward to the finale season of attack on titan.

[@MalloryNewcomb]

I agree. We’ve just blurred the lines of what is normal and what is nerdy

[@Jazzisa311]

Thanks for at least mentioning how geeks are now no longer the ones who are timid and scared of the popular crew; now they're the ones who can be extremely scary to other people. Don't get me wrong, I think it's a good thing that being smart is now considered cool, and let's face it: comic books, super heroes and sci fi are just awesome, it's time everyone admits it instead of having to hide your 'geeky' tastes... But yeah, it does feel that this group is now in charge and instead of using this power to create a new world order, a lot of them have just become bullies themselves...

[@ilsagita5257]

Writers , comic artist make me feel good and proud as human beings ..like the creativity and how much our brain can think are write is so dope ..i am so glad they exist

[@fchow20]

Love your videos especially these trope videos! Will you be using your influence and platform to address Black Lives Matter and racism? There's a lot of racism and lack of representation in cinema and TV which you've mentioned in some videos. Would be great to have a whole video on your Take to raise awareness and highlight movies to watch.

[@jessicavictoriacarrillo7254]

Please do the mostly ethnic Overbearing Mom, the not so Happy Homemaker, and explore the Southern Belle

[@Silvercentipede]

Aw I always felt so sorry for Eugene in Grease

[@flutenanyidk1806]

Geek culture has been on the rise as society discovered some things that geeks have known for a long time. 1. Being smart is cool and/or attractive. 2. "Geeky" interests are super cool. 3. While stereotypes can be accurate, judging people based on their hobbies is just mean. 4. Standing up for yourself and having confidence in what you love and believe in is an indication of emotional strength. 5. Sometimes, people just need to work on their social skills and that's ok.

[@swatikoulsk]

"UGh I aM a GEeK, tHe PopULar giRLs shOULd bE wiTH mE, tHey OnlY like tHE JocKS" YOU ARE JUST AS PROBLEMATIC, AT LEAST THE JOCKS ARE PRETTY OOPS

[@tochiiii]

😂

[@MrWhiteVzla]

@@danicemarielobrin Funny enough, for as much as I dislike TBBT they did a good job a showing the "geeks" as homophobic, bully, assholes, and misogynistic as the "jocks." The entire (male) main cast were what traditional "jocks" are thought to be on TV, but with nerd/geek things sprinkle all over to make them adorkable, I guess. And that does align very well with what you said, and how some of my friends in high school behaved. People are people at the end of the day

[@ManiaMac1613]

Hell, I know a lot of 'jocks' who are wonderful people, just as I know plenty of beautiful nerds. I've come to believe that there is zero intersection between one's interests and how good of a person they are.

[@MrWhiteVzla]

@@ManiaMac1613 Absolutely, hence why I specified the TV portrayal of a jock, which is something that has also upset me. I have been an athlete my whole life, but I'm also pretty nerdy. So I hated being labeled a "dumb jock" or a "virgin nerd" growing up.

[@swatikoulsk]

@@ManiaMac1613 absolutely and that is why the entertainment industry needs a better representation for them!

[@jyotektosgaimur]

"The Geeks were finally becoming the heroes of their stories" and then the Big Bang Theory happened.

[@alrune8]

As a former female geek, I bear witness to the change. Geeky girls have always been seen as weird and I was often called a "nerdslut" because I liked being around geeks and nerds. Today, it's a very common thing to see girls in these circles. But that whole "entitlement" thing is agrandized for shock value. I've never been around geeks who thought they were "entitled" to me or to any other woman. The men who behave entitled are completely different people altogether.

[@elizrebezilmadommdo1662]

You definitely see them in the internet a lot. Just look on Reddit or 4Chan. I wouldn't say that I see a lot of entitled nerds irl, but I've met a few who I could say for sure were a little creepy (worst case scenario). Not in a full on incel kind of way though, I don't think.

[@alrune8]

​@@elizrebezilmadommdo1662 incels are very different creatures from geeks and nerds, even though they often gravitate around them. Actual geeks and nerds are a bit too smart to behave "entitled" from my experience. You will always find a creepy one from time to time of course, but that's not a "nerd thing", that's a human thing since I've come accross creepy women and creepy 'jocks' as well. Incels and MGTOW however are the ones acting entitled for real and these are the ones you should be wary of.

[@26yd1]

@@alrune8 Yeah, first time I see someone mentionning "too smart", but I pretty agree with it as a total nerd guy with a "morbid" obcession for the internet far-right and manosphere (what I escaped in a nutshell), and to me it really comes out of the amount of cultural capital your possess. Incels and the broader alt-right could be said "geeks by default", thay are first defined by their social position at the bottom of the capitalist and masculine hierarchy tied with introversion, locked in anti-intellectual vicious circles that maintain them into the pseudo-rebel violent/virile part of mainstream geek videogames, movies etc... usual pop culture geeks will already overlook them, and those inheriting the highest cultural capital like me will thrive in smartass elitist stuff (queer social cyberpunk philosophical thrillers haha) and have lots of disdain for them (which can be a crappy attitude too). In highschool, what I can tell is that being along the "high-enough cultural capital geek and nerd groups", anything overtly sexual would be too taboo until girls were into the group, and overall we could probably be potentially cringy nice guys at worse, but less sexist than the socially fitting guys that were vocal about it, also we had no issues "believing" in guy-girl friendship (or possibly not aware at the toxic masculine trope about its ethereal existence, me at least) and had mixed groups at times.

[@lordcamembert863]

Alrune La Brune My girl drops F-bombs on me when I table talk too much during a game of Agricola. I’m so lucky!

[@alrune8]

​@A Round Orifice in Nothingness So? Thoughts aren't a crime, unless you want to instate thought crime which would get half the planet, men and women included, executed, jailed or severely punished. What counts are the effective actions, not the thoughts. You can't really quantify a person's thoughts. If a man has ever harboured feelings for me that he never showed or acted upon out of respect or out of shyness, I'm not gonna chastise him for it, that would be needlessly cruel and unfair treatment.

[@robchuk4136]

And the rise of geek power was also due in no small part to the rise of technology and those who understood it. Young people like Zuckerburg getting rich off ideas like Facebook, the influence of Silicon Valley, etc. Now the generation after us, grew up with this as the norm in school. So the result is geekdom everywhere. It's great, but... It gave rise to nostalgia culture, which is basically studios preying on geeky fandoms in a way. It all connects (and I'm not sure it's a good thing- fan outrage is the worst in this era than its ever been; Basically a magnified version of the old school yard geek debates, but now on a national pop culture scale). It's exhausting.

[@TheNightmareRider]

One of the earliest memories of geeks in pop culture for me was Lex, from Jurassic Park. Despite being terrified out of her mind, she still manages to fall back on her hacker knowledge to fully reboot the island's computer systems. Though this portrayal of the pro hacker is a little dated by today's standards, it's something that's stuck with me as an atypical portrayal of geek archetypes :).

[@malubarroso]

Oh my god! A clip from ParaNorman! This movie is so underrated that just seeing a clip from it brings me tons of joy! Also, great video as always!

[@BakuSudoku]

Growing up at the 90's I've lived this trope

[@trinaq]

Ditto, it wasn't until the 2010's that it became more acceptable in society to embrace intelligence, and that nerds weren't made the butt of every single joke.

[@Silvercentipede]

I was born in 1993 and I was soooo embarrassed for my high academic achievement. My teacher congratulated me for getting the highest score in something in a middle school class and I just wanted to die of embarrasment. I was shy and awkward anyway. So when I got to high school I purposely didn't try or do fuck all work. To me smart equaled uncool. It was so sad really, and don't get me wrong I do take some responsibility for reacting in this way, but it was just so sad looking back on. Zack Morris is the perfect example of this. We idolised and crushed on a lazy, stupid, underachieving slacker. Whereas Screech who was highly intelligent, hard-working and dedicated to his hobbies and interests was to be ridiculed and just a comic relief character. I'm so happy that attitude's have changed now, but god I wish I could have experienced it for myself

[@wdmassey1734]

@@Silvercentipede well that's because screech was basically a all round nice guy nerd and would've been more dependable and while zach was technically someone that would've been someone that would've been a jock that would be more of like the kind jock would come to visit you and having some food out your refrigerator that would look like a Steve hale from full house

[@jessicavictoriacarrillo7254]

Orgins of "Geek": so metal. Eugene from Grease is underrated. I mean in the end he proved to be more athleticly adept then the T Birds and gets offered a spot in the baseball team by the coach. Revenge of the Nerds have pluses and minuses. Tori Spelling's geek is adorable. Also has anyone noticed that a lot of girl geeks tend to be more quirky with their fashion choices?

[@lucypreece7581]

I was called a geek in high school. when i was 12 just going into year 8 i started wearing glasses and my family were careful with money meaning i couldn't have all the latest games consoles or wear cool clothes and i didn't play sports and i wasn't a trouble maker. i wasn't rebellious in any way. i was a goody goody. People used it to bully me. i was going through high school not knowing i was gay, not knowing i was living with Dyspraxia and i wasn't cool enough for the cool kids or edgy enough for the alternative edgy kids. i was floating around on my own. really lonely. it wasn't fun. British Schools are rough. you have to do damage limitation. minimize the things the kids can use to bully you except with me it seemed me just being me and just existing made them bully me. i got used to no speaking up and keeping my head down and blending into the background trying not to draw attention to myself. i didn't want to but it was the only way to survive.

[@oooh19]

im sorry you went through all this. hopefully youre treated better now. people can be rude and mean for no reason.

[@lucypreece7581]

@@oooh19 honestly American teens think they have it hard try spending one week in a British Working class high school. Be the biggest culture shock ever. The people are dog rough. Its not fun. And yeah i am treated better now and i am stronger for having lived through all that.

[@alarcon99]

☝🏼Excuse you! “Geek” and “Nerd” are not interchangeable. You can be both (as I clearly am) or one or the other 🤓

[@aleandra3945]

yeah i think the same too. im a geek, not a nerd in my case

[@cnashford2]

What's the difference(s)? I've never seen a great explanation.

[@knottynumbers44]

Un a dork. Not a nerd, not a geek. There are distinctions between the three.

[@anoni6108]

Normal people do use them like in this video because 🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️

[@anoni6108]

@@cnashford2 Geek an unfashionable or socially inept person. a performer at a carnival or circus whose show consists of bizarre or grotesque acts. Nerd a foolish or contemptible person who lacks social skills or is boringly studious. "I was a serious nerd until I discovered girls and cars" Basically the same thing imo

[@thevirtualjim]

Interesting take on this. I feel like geek culture becoming mainstream ended up having the mainstream people taking away all our power over our own likes and fandoms. Like the idea of liking geek stuff is now 'cool' but us geeks ourselves are still not.

[@wdmassey1734]

I kinda agree on what your saying about geeks being part of mainstream culture and having the real bullies taking the staying power from them because that's what happens to the nerds in the part in revenge of the nerds where they get booted out of their dorm rooms

[@oliviagomesmartins2225]

I was severely bullied for being a geek and now I'm thriving. This video made me so happy.

[@jolanka3746]

The Lone Wolf trope next

[@Silvercentipede]

What was so bad about being born in the early 90's was that I grew up being ashamed of my high IQ and academic achievements in school :( I thought it made me a nerd and that people would bully me for it :( when I was in secondary school (high school to Americans) I used to purposefully not listen or do anything in an attempt to be "cooler" It's so sad really, but I feel attitude's have changed and now it's cool to succeed academically, but I just wish I could have grabbed younger me and shaken her

[@33afterM]

I think it really depends on where your from. Communities can differ from place to place. I grew up in the south (USA) a place not known for their belief in the goodness of being intelligent and I felt horrible about my place in society. It's probably easier now, but I doubt that they really embrace nerds/geeks/intelligent still. Whereas other schools in other areas it will be different. I remember even when I was exiting highschool there was all this talk about how nerds were the new cool and I was thinkign what the F are you people talking about? It might be changing in popular culture but for the average person the oddballs and nerdy are still treated with disdain.

[@Silvercentipede]

@@33afterM to be fair I think the fact I was really shy, and so ugly didn't help 🙄 if I was attractive and confident it probably would have been cool but because I wasn't I was called a "boff" and that (English slang 😂) (Don't worry I'm quite comfortable in how I look now, I just looked very different growing up. But those things make you beautiful as you get older anyway and trends change so weirdly my appearance is really in style now 🤔) This is quite evident in Saved by the Bell, with Kelly and Jessie their smarts are really admirable because they're attractive. Yet Screech's same amount of intelligence and dedication to his studies and hobbies is nerdy 🙄 And ahh god I know! To be fair we all know they aren't talking about true nerds though, and are really talking really hot girls who happen to have read Harry Potter 🙄😂

[@xhxrricane1328]

It’s so funny seeing how nowadays it’s cool to like everything that was considered nerdy back in my middle and high school days is now popular. Don’t get me wrong, it’s cool having a lot more people to talk about things I like, like Star Wars and video games. Besides liking all those things along with comic books and knowledge in general, personally, Bones was the series that made me like my “nerdy” side. It showed me how cool knowledge is, because here in Mexico, society is a bit too toxic and they have a certain idea of how men should be (drunk, violent, party animals), and not calm, kind and such.

[@nowwhat8209]

It has been pointed out, but it's odd how geeks (male ones) are often sold as guys that avoid masculinity, and even expected to be nice because of that, when in fact many of them have destructive masculine attitudes such as desire to control women, or feeling entitled to women's attention, or desire to humiliate others. They are not usually more likeable than the bully "jocks" or other negative male stereotypes.

[@jenandjuice_]

21 Jumpstreet does it perfectly. Seeing the 90s and the 2000-2010s shift in what was considered popular and how it changes. I always think we tend to go for the opposite of what the generation before us finds “cool”

[@Hallows4]

I want to see an analysis of the feisty old woman/grandmother trope. Not exactly a classic archetype but one that’s found a lot of manifestations over the last 20 years; Grandma Fa (Mulan), Dorothy Zbornak, Violet Crawley, Olenna Tyrell, the possibilities are endless!

[@Leto85]

01:09 Seriously, he's a freakin hero in my book! George Mc. Fly faced his fears and owned them. That IS the definition of heroism.

[@matthewmcneany]

One think that went unmentioned (what put it in mind though was the use of the ableist slur spaz in a early part of the montage) is the tendency for nerd characters to sometimes be coded ASD (Autistic spectrum). It's not universal but also not uncommon for the nerd. Over time I feel like this has diverged away from the general geek affectation: the interests, the technical prowess etc. have become mainstream, whilet it's still the case that people who are neurologically atypical still tend to be make for more uncomfortable characters for most people. It's far better than it was and it's way more common for people to be more accepting of this atypicality, but I think the discomfort is still there with regards to people who have an atypical behaviours, I think we rarely if ever see the harsh realities of this in pop culture because it would not make for interesting or pleasant viewing even coded ASD characters like Sheldon in TBBT will often act in decidedly unrepresentative ways if it will drive the plot.

[@miamafalda1118]

You are SO correct! I've found that modern "geek" spaces have become very unforgiving to neurodivergent people as well. Geek culture becoming more mainstream is good in some ways, but it seems that neurodivergent people are now getting kicked out of spaces that were largely created by and for them.

[@MrDemicio]

Great video once again I've been wondering have you guys ever looked into the martial artist trope

[@VictoriaHatzson]

Make a video on the Career Woman trope! And I would also like to see one on the Preppy Girl trope, has a lot to it

[@belrsb5788]

i love these videos so much and how you girl always put it on the right perspective

[@wolf1066]

I'm old enough to remember being beaten up for being nerdy/geeky. Once I was made fun of for being interested in computers, now you pretty much need one to do the most basic things and everyone has at least some level of familiarity - and people like me who know lots about computers are put on speed-dial by the sort of people who didn't want to be seen in the same corridor as me at school.

[@saifsufian4286]

God I’ve always hated the cliche of the Nerd and the Geeks. It’s by far my least favorite Cliche in history.

[@kelleyceccato7025]

I was a nerdy teen in the 1980s, and I never saw myself in the nerdy characters on the big screen. They were all guys. It wasn't that I could never identify with male characters, but I couldn't help noticing how often they were obsessed with girls whose personalities began and ended with "pretty." I wondered if "pretty" was all girls were expected to be. It wasn't until Anne of Green Gables aired on PBS in 1985 that I finally saw myself represented. I don't think Anne gets quite enough credit for her role in the (at last) advent of the girl nerd.

[@carmin.]

Finally - an analysis of my psyche

[@RandomU5erName]

That niche thing nerds had deep interest in has evolved into fanboying soulless brands. Identity revolving around the pop culture one consumes, so when others criticize it they take it as a personal attack on their own identity.

[@oooh19]

some people are "nerds, geeks etc" and think they're superior just like some rich kids, athletes, etc

[@loftilofi9678]

@@oooh19 I see this sometimes on the internet. Some praise themselves for their critical, untethered minds, which pursue truth and reason, in contrast to the "sheepy" Everyman, who mindlessly consumes mass media. I sometimes see themes of being "misunderstood", "different", "intelligent", "special", or enlightened. I see similar instances in myself but often I found this most glaring and blatant in the comment sections of anti-SJW KZbin content

[@silverstarlightproductions1292]

Can you maybe do an essay on the Forbidden Love Trope? It's one of my favorites!

[@edanursahin4857]

yes a new the take video to watch in this awful times! thank you:)

[@blazehaze233]

I'm glad Community is getting more attention. It's a gem

[@willmassey-ft8qs]

I would disagree with the notion of nerds being toxic because technically in the context of gatekeeping it`s more about like keeping control on what is the popular opinion within your nerd circle of friends and to correct someone if they were wrong about a topic. And it`s also a way of discerning of what is the proper behavior amongst your circle of friends

[@jethrotejano2013]

I hope you'll have a Marshall Eriksen vid coming up! Great to see him and Lily in Freaks and Geeks and Buffy!

[@anoushkahook2745]

I feel like we’re always meant to sympathise with the geeks because they’re either bullied or ostracised by the popular crowd for being “weird” or whatever but I think that some geeks are actually quite mean? I’ve definitely encountered some geeks who act like they’re more superior than me because they’re good at maths and science, it’s really subtle too. That’s why I appreciated the Big Bang theory for actually showing that some geeks can be just as mean as the people who bullied them for being geeks.

[@loulie1997]

I’d really love to see an analysis of the Mad Genius trope, if you have time

[@jazzjas13]

Keep up the great content!! I was thinking that a take on the white savior trope would be interesting.

[@rudylabsilica2286]

15:28 “I’m an actual nerd. I wear these glasses to see.” OH SNAP!!

[@williamchadwick7948]

I'm old enough to have seen how the parameters of Geekdom and Nerdiness have changed. I recall a time when a Geek or a Nerd was someone who basically lived inside his head * to the detriment of their social skills. Someone who spent almost all their time reading or studying or watching movies, unbalanced by real-life experience. As America got dumbed down over the decades, it seems like the words refer to anyone who reads more than one book a year. (*Or "her" head, although they usually were male)

[@anthonydjuan]

I LOVE this channel! Thank you!

[@carolinehieber8228]

Another great video! If you haven't seen it yet, I'd love to see your take on crazy rich asians! It's one of my all time favs but no pressure! :)

[@rowanashley5873]

I wanna see one on the gentle giant troupe!

[@robhousehold]

How about the bully / frat boy trope?