Geek, wimp, dork, nerd—superstar

But now a new subset of geek chic is claiming its day in the spotlight. Nerds and dorks—assorted brainiacs, lovable losers, clueless loners and whip-smart outsiders—are trafficking in the upper echelons of pop culture. Nerds (some complete with braces, nervous tics, annoying laughter and poor timing) star in favourite television shows and in the year’s most anticipated movies.

Tina Fey plays top nerd in 30 Rock (telecast on Star World), which also features the breakout nerd star Kenneth the Page, played by Jack McBrayer. Masi Oka plays the computer/anime dork Hiro on Heroes (Star World). There are nerds on 24, Two and a Half Men, Psych, Boston Legal, Gilmore Girls, and many others. And America Ferrera stars in the title role of Ugly Betty (the American equivalent of Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahin), which is poised on total world nerd domination.
Meanwhile, Spider-Man 3 is set to rewrite blockbuster stats. The movie’s hero? An upstanding nerd named Peter Parker. The long-awaited The Simpsons Movie, starring uber-nerd Lisa Simpson, is out in July. Fanboy geeks and nerds are squirming in anticipation of Transformers, and to a lesser degree, on the nerdometer, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer.
Another nerd character who goes by the name Clark Kent is also in the pipeline for another movie: Yes, a Superman Returns sequel is scheduled for 2009. Talk about revenge of the nerds.
“Yes, it’s hip to be square,” says Robert Thompson, professor of pop culture at Syracuse University. “All the presidents of the science clubs that nobody would date are now the guys at the top. The winner is the nouveau nerd.”
Today’s nerds are good-natured, sweet, some even cute. Look no further than Sanjaya Malakar, the misfit warbler of American Idol, to understand the cultural shift that has made Thompson’s “nouveau nerd” possible. Susie Watson, pop-culture critic and host of the podcast Pop Goes the Culture, says there is more nuance to today’s stereotypical nerd. “Nerds in the past were very black and white,” she says. “Now a nerd can be gorgeous.”
And adorable enough to be nominated for Academy Awards: Young Abigail Breslin snatched an Oscar nod for giving a freak-on to her nerdy beauty queen wannabe character in last year’s indie darling Little Miss Sunshine. Their come-from-behind status always makes for great drama and memorable comedy too. “Nerds are always interesting because underdogs are interesting—underdogs that are going to be the Davids triumphing over the Goliaths,” adds Thompson.
A little bit of nerd is today going a long way, Watson says. “We all have a little nerd in us. We’ve had it with this boring physical perfection,” she says. “We need to mix it up. In small doses, the smart people are interesting.”
_Greg Morago (LAT-WP)

editor@expressindia.com

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Geek, wimp, dork, nerd—superstar: from www.indianexpress.com