In Defense of Geeks

[moragmacpherson]

Because there's something else that brassed me off about last night's Supernatural episode.

Inspired by Kalliel's post about writing posts emphasizing all the awesome things that Supernatural fans do that aren't related to fandom.  I'm gonna take a slightly different tack.  I defend my fan-girl status.  Because being a fan-girl (or fan-boy)? Does not automatically turn you into a horrible person. We come from lots of different backgrounds.  Not all fan girls and fan-boys were picked on in high school. Some of us have engaging social lives and/or successful careers and/or sex with attractive people without resorting to black magic. Sometimes we even have interests outside of the things we're fans of. And watch out: we have a habit of taking over the asylum eventually.  So here's a few examples of awesome people whom we can count among our own ranks.


Viggo Mortenson performs slight of hand while Stephen Colbert recites all of the names of Aragorn
(I think that counts as a double-get for geekdom.)

Simon Pegg's love for Star Wars had its limits, but he also knows which minor character in A New Hope is responsible for everything that happened in the original trilogy.

Molly Simon offers Stephen Fry a modest proposal

And oh, by the way, Mary Jo Pehl is funnier than you are (and if you know the comic she's talking about and the ultimate fate of Supergirl which has her so upset, you're a fangirl/fanboy and you are awesome and you are one of us.)

And all of them are huge friends with that greatest geek of them all, Mr. Wil Wheaton (who's a moderator over at Fark.com and a really nice guy about the whole thing.)


He's also the author of Wheaton's Law, which is featured as a sticky post on my journal, but, in light of last night's episode, bears repeating:

DON'T BE A DICK!


This applies to all of us, geeks or not, fangirls or fanboys, but especially to Mr. Dabb and Mr. Lofflin, who between their script for Yellow Fever and the episode they penned last night, have not quite mastered the subtleties of this rule.

Comments

[weimar27.livejournal.com]

I embrace being a geek. I think this writing team seems to really enjoy making fun of geeks.

Also stephan colbert's enthusiasm for LOTR fills me with joy.

[moragmacpherson.livejournal.com]

It gets better. Viggo showed up as Aragorn to deliver Anduriel to Stephan personally.

[weimar27.livejournal.com]

that was awesome.

[kalliel]

Lovely post with great videos, bb!

Though to clarify my stance I'll re-post what I said to i_speak_tongue: I think what I'd like to perpetuate is not so much 'I have a life outside of fandom' so much as 'I have a life outside of fandom; I have a life inside fandom; both are laced with traces of the other, and they complement each other gloriously.' Because otherwise I feel like I'm presenting fandom as something I need to compensate for. (neverrrrrr! XP)

As I did indeed spend a good deal of yesterday very happily writing fic, reading fandom stuff, watching Show, and thinking about Sam apropos of absolutely nothing! :PP

[moragmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Totally understood. I'm hoping to compliment your idea: not just can life be intertwined with fandom, but also, fandom can help shape your career, and many of our biggest heroes are fan-boys and girls themselves.

And I'm still thinking about that Arthur/Eames piece where they're both enormous NPR fanboys. =D