When Did Nerdiness Become Cool?

[Mr. DS]

Or maybe I was always cool to begin with?    Seriously though, while watching coverage of ComicCon the other day, I was amazed at the amount of A-list celebs that show up to it.  Maybe I'm wrong but weren't these conventions at one point reserved for people such as Lou Ferrigno?  

I also recall growing up that people who were addicted to video games were considered nerdy and social outcasts.  Now it seems mandatory that everyone has the latest home video game.

Then look at cinema, zombies appear everywhere along with other supernatural creatures.

Maybe its just my skewed reality or my surroundings growing up but these activities were reserved for nerds only back in the day.  Now it seems to have exploded into mainstream culture.  Maybe people were closeted nerds all along?  Thoughts?

[Trevor]

Or maybe I was always cool to begin with?  

I think so, yes. 

I've always been OK with being called a nerd or a geek and people realize quickly that this particular nerd likes his sports and the outdoors too. I've always been different and I'm cool with that too. 

[Doggett]

I think the 'A-Listers' are "encouraged" by the film studio to turn up.
There are some vids where you can tell they really don't want to be there. Its a place where you can promote your film easily, thats why comic-con has become popular.

Its pretty much a giant advert for all the studios to promote their big movies as they tend to be sci-fi, fantasy, horror based. If the A List goes then they get more press.

[Cthulhu]

As far as I know, it didn't.

[Newt]

Maybe people were closeted nerds all along?

Yup.  Everybody has at least some degree of nerdiness.  There is not a person alive who isn't aware of their nerdier aspects.  Some revel in it; some need encouragement to release their inner nerd.  

Still, I cannot rule out the possibility (and I do apologise for the cynicism) that the studios have done the math and are courting the nerd market.

[Derf]

Having grown up as the social outcast nerd/geek who was picked on by group after group through high school, I almost resent the "cool nerd" thing going on now. I look at pictures from these comic-cons and say, "These aren't real nerds. They're just the people who aren't cool enough to be in the 'cool' crowd, so they call themselves nerds so they can fit into a group." Thing is, nerds in my day weren't a group, so there wasn't any fitting in, even among other nerds. I guess I'm just an elitist, old-school nerd who shuns the whole idea of nerdiness being in any way, shape or form "cool" or "trendy." I have yet to find a group I feel a true part of, so maybe I'm just a tad bitter, too.

Yay me! I'm a cynical, bitter nerd snob!  But I'm also too nice to let much of that show. Go figure.

[The Gravekeeper]

Yes and no. While it's perfectly acceptable to enjoy nerdy things, it's still very uncool to be, well, the Comic Book Guy from the Simpsons. You know...the kind of person who obsesses over things that really don't matter and believes themselves to be so high above everyone else because of it.

As for celebrities being nerds, some of them really are (like Vin Diesel), but plenty of them just play the part at conventions and in interviews because the studio and/or their agent told them to in order to try to attract the nerd demographic.

[Rev. Powell]

Nerds became cool once corporations figured out they spend A LOT of money on video games, computer equipment, comics, movies, etc.... 

[Flick James]

I guess you could trace it to the 80's. Revenge of the Nerds kind of brought nerdiness to the mainstream. Also, nerds started getting exposure on shows like David Letterman. Little by little, people began to start embracing their inner geek and being comfortable with it. Everyone has something geeky about them, some sort of obsessive topic about which they are nerdily knowledgeable. Is there really a fundamental difference between a comic book nerd and a guy who's obsessed with motorcycles? Not really. Gearheads are geeks too, whether they admit it or not.

[sideorderofninjas]

Don't think that nerdiness has reached the promised land of coolness yet...
Yes, some have been denying their nerdosity for years or just discovering it for the first time.  It is easier to "nerd" than years ago. 

[Jack]

I think the traditional domains of the nerds - computers and video games - have become much more prevalent in society.  Everybody is on the internet, and I guess video games are taking a good chunk of profits away from Hollywood.  As far as the celebrities, they're in attendance because the studio / their agent told them to go for the publicity.  They pretend to know about comics and games, but that "knowledge" is paper thin, probably picked up from a few 1 minute conversations with some real nerds in attendance.  They're just hoping no reporter actual asks them anything more than the most fluffy, softball questions. 

[wickednick]

Its largely the gaming market and the massive influx of comic book movies that have helped nerdiness go mainstream. Now days even hard core jocks play video games and salivate when the next Madden is ready to come out.When it comes to comic books, its the awesome movies like Iron Man that have helped to introduce people more to comics and make them mainstream.
Nerds now days are not like the nerds of old. Back in the day the term nerd was used for very smart, tech savvy people, that dressed in slacks and a white shirt, like Bill Gates. You had to be smart to figure out how to use a computer back then , but now computers are so easy to use, you no longer need to be a nerd. We are so surrounded by technology that we need the more nerdy types to help keep things going, so the harmful stereo type has dropped.If you want to get really technical what we think of nerds are not really nerds, but geeks. Geeks are the more obsessive type with collecting and memorizing things from movies, comics, books and games.Thats what we usually see at comic con and gen con.
But there are still people who have negative view points against nerds, just look at some of the comments SYFY channel made when they changed their name:
"The name Sci Fi has been associated with geeks and dysfunctional, antisocial boys in their basements with video games and stuff like that, as opposed to the general public and the female audience in particular...We spent a lot of time in the '90s trying to distance the network from science fiction, which is largely why it's called Sci Fi."- Tim Brooks, founder of Sci-Fi
Nerdiness also varies even with in the culture, Larpers and D&D enthusiasts are still on the fringe element of nerdom and they usually tend to be your true hardcore nerds, that even get made fun of by other nerds.
I agree also that most people who say they are nerds and geeks are posers and just say that because they are social out casts. A true nerd/geek will dump his girlfriend to play more Warcraft, or talk s**t to people because they bought a computer instead of building their own.

[Jim H]

I think the traditional domains of the nerds - computers and video games - have become much more prevalent in society.  Everybody is on the internet, and I guess video games are taking a good chunk of profits away from Hollywood.  As far as the celebrities, they're in attendance because the studio / their agent told them to go for the publicity.  They pretend to know about comics and games, but that "knowledge" is paper thin, probably picked up from a few 1 minute conversations with some real nerds in attendance.  They're just hoping no reporter actual asks them anything more than the most fluffy, softball questions. 

A large part of it was the later Gen Xers and Millenials becoming adults - the people who grew up using computers and playing video games heavily.  Now that we're becoming a huge market, nerdiness became a lot cooler.  I'd also say the self-esteem movement, for better or for worse, has played a part - people don't abandon the stuff they loved as kids as much as they used to.

[HappyGilmore]

I think it's a combination of a lot of things, actually.  But, I think I can trace the current trend of nerds being cool to this one event:
"White and Nerdy" by "Weird Al" Yankovic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9qYF9DZPdw
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.  This somehow became quite popular and an anthem, and has been viewed something like, 54 Million times.  This made it cooler to be a nerd.

I think some things have helped make nerds cool.  With the success of White and Nerdy, people have started to embrace being 'nerdy' and stopped being a 'victim', so to speak.  Instead of being 'looked down upon', nerds took the reigns and said, "Hey, we're nerds, and damn it, we're proud."  And, movie companies, record labels, and tv studios started catering to the nerds.  They realized that if nerds become fans of something, they aren't just 'fans.'  Case in point: Comic Book fans or Star Wars fans.  Comic fans don't just 'read' comics, they're infinitely familiar with the inner stories, they're infinitely familiar with the writers and artists, and don't just buy the issues, but they also buy back-issues, special issues, t-shirts, action figures, etc.  Bottom line, money is to be made, and it means catering to the nerds. 

Also, there seems to be a sort of backlash of sorts against the whole 'jock' thing, where there's a rising of sort of kids who'd rather take computer classes or play chess as opposed to entering the high pressure world of high school sports.

[Mofo Rising]

As far as I can tell, the definition of "cool" in the mainstream has always involved either an obsession with money or f**king. Basically, status symbols. I don't think that's changed, or will change.

However, from the 20th century forward, at least in American culture, there has been an increased obsession with entertainment. The aristocracy in America is now entertainers, and like aristocrats of old, people now obsess about their lives over their own. It used to be a focus on sports figures (and I consider sports fanatics nerds), but it has slowly morphed its way over to movie stars.

As for the definition of nerd, I apply it to anybody who has an overriding interest in a hobby other than money or sex. But the popular nerdiness we see these days usually applies to an entertainment. Don't get me wrong, I value a knowledge of the minutiae of "Star Wars" or "Lord of the Rings" as much as the next person. But knowing a lot about those two topics will get me a lot more notice than my knowledge of abstruse chemical concepts. Unless, of course, I suddenly find a way to make a lot of money off those concepts.

That's a bit cynical. The revolution of communication that is the internet has allowed multiple subcultures to spring up, people all fascinated with the same thing (say, bad movies). But they're usually entertainment obsessed, which is now a major money maker. "Firefly" may have sprung up a cult audience, but you don't see electrical engineers being celebrated in the mainstream media.

There's a scene in the film "America Splendor" where one of the characters watches "Revenge of the Nerds" and finds solace in the triumph of the nerd. Harvey Pekar spends a large amount of time decrying them as not being true nerds, just rich kids playing at being outcasts.

By the way, looking up webpages for this post was the first way I found out Harvey Pekar had died recently. That makes me very sad.