Revenge of the nerds

Originally, geeks were circus performers whose show consisted of biting a head off a live chicken. Today, some see geeks as dorky little feebs who couldn't get laid in a morgue. But whatever social skills some might think geeks lack, they more than make up for with vast knowledge concerning a particular topic -- film, music, video games, comic books, whatever.\n"I would consider myself a 'Star Wars' geek," says Aaron Steele, a graduate student in art history. "I have the foresight to look past things and can use information for my own means. This is a galaxy far, far away -- it doesn't need to blow my mind." \n"Geek" bands such as Weezer are breaking into the mainstream and maintaining a mass fan base. Films by "geek" directors such as Wes Anderson ("The Royal Tenenbaums") and Todd Solondz ("Storytelling") are achieving nearly universal critical acclaim, while other "geek" films such as "The Fellowship of the Ring" are receiving both critical and commercial success. Comic books are also breaking into the mainstream through upcoming feature adaptations; "Spiderman," "Daredevil," "The Incredible Hulk" and "Batman: Year One" are all in the works or prepping for release. Even video games now almost equal the film industry in net profits. \n"Videogaming stopped being a geek sport more than a decade ago," says Richard Herren, an IU Computer Gaming Club member. "I'm 32, so I lived through the days when only eggheads played video games. Nowadays, there are couch potatoes of all varieties with Playstation controllers in hand. The only difference between them and the brainiacs is the quality of the gear."\nWithin the world of rock, geeks served a pivotal role at the genre's onset.\n"Buddy Holly was a geek," music professor Glenn Gass says. "He possessed a much more cerebral quality than many of the over-sexed rockers."\nSome influential musicians didn't stop at looking like a geek -- they were geeks by lifestyle. At least one iconic geek rocker held a dorky profession.\n"Elvis Costello took the geek aesthetic to the edge. He was literally a computer programmer while he was making demos," Gass says.\nArtists like Holly and Costello or bands like the Talking Heads paved the way for today's geek rock like Weezer, a band whose position at the forefront of geek rock and roll is "obvious," Gass says. \nAndrei Molotiu finds the definition of a geek to be rather subjective. Molotiu is a visiting lecturer in art history currently teaching H150: History of Comic Book Art. \n"It's an evaluative term and on the other hand it's a descriptor. It's so often used in a self-referential way that it can't be all bad. You're taking a negative term and turning into a positive one," he says. \nStill, the term can carry an inherent sense of sadness. Though geeks are taken in jest by many, that might not be the case for the smart yet small-for-his-age oddball kid next door.\n"People describe themselves as geeks to fight back against the taunts they received as children," Molotiu says. "In places like Columbine, it shows you that the clique system and the marginalization of geeks is strong. In that respect geekdom hasn't come into the mainstream."\nHerren, a sophomore in the school of computer science, agrees and says most of the time people are mislabeled as geeks. \n"'Geek' is definitely the wrong word, despite the occasional pop culture misuse," Herren says. "'Geek' has a very specific meaning coming from the circus tradition and still referencing someone who does something gross or disturbing for attention. I suspect, having been a performer of geek magic, that I am the only person who fits that bill."\nGeeks come in all shapes, sizes and colors. The realms in which their geekdom lies can differ significantly from one individual to the next. They're breaking away from the mainstream and through their own rebellious individuality breaking back in. Welcome to the mainstream, geekdom.