You aren't a 'geek' if you like the most popular film franchises in history, amirite?

I got made fun of a lot when I was younger for being into things that are mainstream and generally well-liked today. It's been an odd evolution.

by Anonymous 8 months ago

Yea I was literally bullied for liking Anime, Emo and Metal and now look at teens today lol

by Anonymous 8 months ago

Yeah no teens still get bullied for liking that lmao

by Anonymous 8 months ago

I feel like there was a cultural switchover that happened in the late 90s/early 00's. The Star Wars prequels, Harry Potter books, and Lord of the Rings trilogy all came out in the span of a few years, and suddenly being into sci-fi/fantasy was a lot more mainstream than it had been before.

by Anonymous 8 months ago

Dude right? Doesn't it kind of piss you off?

by Anonymous 8 months ago

Yeh, someone else pointed out the Star Wars Kid as an example. It's a very interesting switch.

by Anonymous 8 months ago

Yeah, but I'm a Star Wars fan and I made fun of that kid. Have you seen the video? He is a geek no matter what he was pretending to be doing, or where his fandoms lie. See, *he's also a big dorky nerd...*

by Anonymous 8 months ago

And specifically with Star Wars, it was always popular. Nobody made fun of anyone for just liking it. It was being obsessed with it that was seen as weird. Other "geeky" things like D&D or Star Trek or anime decades ago were seen by many people as inherently geeky even without someone being obsessed by it. Even being into computers was seen as geeky in the 70s and 80s because most people had no experience with it so it was just owned by nerds. But Star Wars was a monster hit right off the bat. Nobody got teased for going to see it. They might have gotten teased for going to see it 50 times and buying the action figures at age 30.

by Anonymous 8 months ago

Gatekeeping being a geek lol What a nerd.

by Anonymous 8 months ago

Not a nerd, an edgy normie.

by Anonymous 8 months ago

Ouch, I'm bleeding. Must be from all of OP's edginess

by Anonymous 8 months ago

Pff that's something only a dork would say

by Anonymous 8 months ago

Sounds like dweeb talk to me

by Anonymous 8 months ago

Go back to Weenie Hut Jr

by Anonymous 8 months ago

No true geeksman

by Anonymous 8 months ago

Geekkeeping

by Anonymous 8 months ago

Haha what a loser.

by Anonymous 8 months ago

![gif](giphy|xghFgmOKbk0G4)

by Anonymous 8 months ago

Calling people a nerd. What a dweeb haha

by Anonymous 8 months ago

Calling people a dweeb, what a goober

by Anonymous 8 months ago

Calling people a goober. What a dufus.

by Anonymous 8 months ago

Calling people a dufus, what a dingus.

by Anonymous 8 months ago

Calling people a dingus, what a dork

by Anonymous 8 months ago

Calling people a dork, what a scruffy looking nerf herder

by Anonymous 8 months ago

Calling people a scruffy looking nerf herder, what a smeckledorf

by Anonymous 8 months ago

calling people a schmeckledorf, what a bully 😭

by Anonymous 8 months ago

calling people a bully, what a fustilugs

by Anonymous 8 months ago

Calling people a scruffy looking nerf harder, what a s'wit.

by Anonymous 8 months ago

Calling people a S'wit, what an N'wah.

by Anonymous 8 months ago

Hey! That's OUR word!

by Anonymous 8 months ago

Calling people dufus, what a Ben 10…

by Anonymous 8 months ago

Now this is lame

by Anonymous 8 months ago

Nuh uh

by Anonymous 8 months ago

I wish it was more gatekept and for the outcasts to have their safe space culture still.

by Anonymous 8 months ago

That's not what a safe space means

by Anonymous 8 months ago

It is to me reeeee

by Anonymous 8 months ago

Okay so you'll be fine discussing how Eru Iluvatar cried Ea and created Arda?

by Anonymous 8 months ago

Yeh, if you enjoy discussing that thing and are passionate about it, it's good to see. I certainly wouldn't consider myself knowledgeable about the things I listed.

by Anonymous 8 months ago

Well this is Lord of the Rings and it doesn't make me a geek apparently

by Anonymous 8 months ago

I hate the narrative that these things are only mainstream now. Star Wars for example has been mega popular since the 1970s, it's always been mainstream.

by Anonymous 8 months ago

Yes of course, but of the 70% of people who watched it and contributed to it being a success, there were 30% for whom it changed their lives forever and they went down a rabbit hole of geekdom

by Anonymous 8 months ago

That doesn't change the fact that Star Wars was, is and always has been mainstream though. Every fandom has pockets of hardcore fans that take it way more seriously than the rest.

by Anonymous 8 months ago

you wouldn't exactly be the popular guy in highschool if you went around saying you loved star wars when it first released though. Star trek, comics and more hardcore stuff would just make you a excluded from the popular group of kids

by Anonymous 8 months ago

The first trilogy didn't even finish until 1983, it certainly wasn't popular in the 90s like it is today. My grandad had to force me to watch it, I fell in love with everything Star wars as a kid but there was absolutely nothing related to it available - no toys, no TV shows, no reference. It wasn't until the prequels that it kicked up again. You either weren't around then or your parents were geeks.

by Anonymous 8 months ago

True for Star Wars but much less so for stuff like Star Trek or D&D or anime, comics, etc. A lot of that stuff was seen as dorky kids stuff and you could get away with it if you were 8 but if you were a grown adult you definitely got looked down on for it until somewhere in the 90s/early 2000s. Star Wars really is the franchise that helped make all that more acceptable. It crossed over to all kinds of demographics and showed the entertainment industry that there could be a market for sci fi/ fantasy.

by Anonymous 8 months ago

I think all fandoms are geekisms. You should see the jocks flip out when I call them "sports nerds" when they go geeky into player and team stats. "Tell me again about your favourite ~~Pokémon~~ pitcher"

by Anonymous 8 months ago

Youre completely discounting the fact that nerdy stuff has become cool in the past 10ish years and that a lot of people, myself included, were basically social rejects for liking these things growing up or as young adults

by Anonymous 8 months ago

Led Zeppelin was singing about LotR in the 70s. Star Wars toys were insanely popular in the 70s and 80s. The Prequel Trilogy had crazy ticket sales in the 90s. The LotR movies had crazy ticket sales and midnight showings in the 00s. This stuff has always been super popular. What's changed is, that it's cool to obsess over it now.

by Anonymous 8 months ago

This.

by Anonymous 8 months ago

"playing DND doesn't make you geeky" Like I don't care for marvel in the slightest, but geeky doesn't have to mean fringe, if everyone enjoys maths that doesn't mean there suddenly aren't nerd, then we're just all nerds

by Anonymous 8 months ago

Kind of depends on *how* into it you are.

by Anonymous 8 months ago

I don't think you know what a geek is... Just cuz things are mainstream doesn't mean they're not nerdy/geeky. The hyperfixation is what makes someone a geek/nerd, hope that helps.

by Anonymous 8 months ago

Liking the movies isn't nerdy. Knowing every detail of the comic books and arguing online about the franchises is what makes someone a nerd.

by Anonymous 8 months ago

Tell me you don't know what a geek is without telling me you don't know what a geek is.

by Anonymous 8 months ago

There's quotation marks for a reason...

by Anonymous 8 months ago

Because 30 years ago when we liked those things they were not " mainstream " xD

by Anonymous 8 months ago

Well Iif someone has only watched the SW trilogies, they're not geeks. If they read the comics, played the video games, watch the series etc., they definitely aren't normal fans.

by Anonymous 8 months ago

What if you like the Star Wars holiday special?

by Anonymous 8 months ago

Then you are a connoisseur of the arts, my friend.

by Anonymous 8 months ago

It's more about level of being a fan. Casual fan or do you know everything there is to know about it?

by Anonymous 8 months ago

Liking those franchises doesn't make you a geek. Being fluent in any of the languages made up for any of those franchises is a sign that you're a geek

by Anonymous 8 months ago

casualty likening a franchise doesn't make you a geek. having a bookshelf of action figures does.

by Anonymous 8 months ago

Gatekeeping is cool

by Anonymous 8 months ago

geek and mainstream arent mutually exclusive by definition tho

by Anonymous 8 months ago

You must understand that being a fan of Star Wars in the 70s and 80s carried a stigma, like most sci-fi. People were indeed referred to as nerds and geeks for being sci-fi fans.

by Anonymous 8 months ago

Something being popular in no way disqualifies someone from being a geek about it lol

by Anonymous 8 months ago

Wow, who crowned you king of the geeks? 😅

by Anonymous 8 months ago

so you are gatekeeping what a geek is? wowzers

by Anonymous 8 months ago

No. Words have meanings.

by Anonymous 8 months ago

Meanings change. Also, who are you to say who is and isnt a geek?

by Anonymous 8 months ago

Yes you should try and learn them.

by Anonymous 8 months ago

Thanks for the advice.

by Anonymous 8 months ago

But what if they dress up as a character to go see the premier?

by Anonymous 8 months ago

What? Being a geek is about depth. Everybody knows what football is, it's the most popular sport in the world. But only fans know all teams in the Bundesliga or who won the DFB Pokal 2-3 years ago. And only Geeks know the transfer history of obscure left winger of Darmstadt 98, Mathias Honsak. You can geek out about the most popular things.

by Anonymous 8 months ago

I wouldn't say your a geek for just liking Star Wars, you're a geek if you like Star Wars and have read the comics, watched all the shows, played the games, and watched all the movies. Geeks are obsessed while fans are just interested.

by Anonymous 8 months ago

Fan used to mean obsessed. It literally comes from "fanatic"

by Anonymous 8 months ago

I guess my issue is more with people who act as though it's somehow unique and special to like these things when actually they are quite mainstream. Think I could just be miserable haha

by Anonymous 8 months ago

Ok

by Anonymous 8 months ago

To me being a geek isn't about the popularity of what you like, it's about being completely unapologetic and unreserved about being freakishly into it.

by Anonymous 8 months ago

not really big into movies myself but it's pretty obvious that enjoying watching them casually is not the same thing as being obsessed about their lore

by Anonymous 8 months ago

Yeah those are all normie films.

by Anonymous 8 months ago

Clearly, you were born after 2001. These franchises are now very popular, but before you were born it was much much different

by Anonymous 8 months ago

AKSHUALLY....

by Anonymous 8 months ago

I think you'll find

by Anonymous 8 months ago

The real question is who cares if you're a geek or not? Live your life, watch what you like, who cares what people decide to label you as?

by Anonymous 8 months ago

I've met people who can quote every single line and who can forget the "Virgo broke his toe" stuff. You can absolutely be a geek for these major movie franchises.

by Anonymous 8 months ago

Harry Potter girls, ugh. One mainstream thing and then making it their whole identity.

by Anonymous 8 months ago

I disagree. That being said, these nerddoms made geekiness cool.

by Anonymous 8 months ago

As a kid, I saw nerds/geeks as misunderstood saints with the intellect of God, mistreated just for being "different" or "too ahead of their time". It wouldn't be until my adult years that I realize there's no biological correlation between "intellect" and "having to wear glasses". Looking back, my entire worldview of nerds/geeks was limited to Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network. The fact that I unironically related to these characters furthers how abusive everyone around me in my life was. I now try to avoid those words in my personal vocabulary. Not only that, but anyone that leans in their direction has grown up to be arragont, ill-tempered, power-abusive douchebags who hates everyone that isnt a girl willing to get in bed with them (and more prone to mental health issues). Fact is, everyone grows up to be a miserable corner-cutting privilege-abusive adult who are bent on only money and sex, and will just biasly favor some people more than others, while treating others like complete wastes of space, just like everyone else. "Geek/nerd" is not a label to be proud of. What's different for women is that no matter their social stance in highschool, guys will line up to get in bed with her, simply because she is female.

by Anonymous 8 months ago