Thursday 23 September 2010

GEEKDOOM?


An interesting article on soundblab about the rise of the geek which ends with a warning:

The geeks have already made it, let's hope they haven't got too light-headed by their sudden rise to the top.


Now I've always been a geek. Wither films - from being blown sideways by the blockade Runner and the screen being swallowed by an Imperial Star Destroyer, through the grim tech-noir of Blade Runner to the sheer lunacy from Simon Pegg and Crew; to TV - with the good Doctor, Blakes 7, Star Trek etc; or to books and comics I have embraced my geekdom.

However, as a cultural meme it has me worried. The successes of the last decade or so have dragged the Geek from their pub meets, comicons and internet into the blinking glaze of that carniverous whore that is popular culture.

At the moment Doctor Who is the most watched family programme excluding soaps, teenage girls are snapping up vampire fic and manga, and you see Green Lantern t-shirts (of all things) around the park.

But, as with all pop culture, have we hit the crest? Is the only way down?

There are a plethora of superhero films on the horizon, which will be the Heaven's Gate of the genre?

How long before we scuttle back to our darkened rooms, remembering the time when we were in the sunlight, waiting for the next time the circle turns again?

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