The Marketing of Dorks
- July 26th, 2005
- 7 Comments
I have been thinking about this AP article, which keeps getting picked up, about how being a dork is now cool (I posted in Essentials the other day). And it made me think again (as I always seem to do here) about the difference between Gen X and Gen Y and how marketing and Hollywood have, in many ways, greased the wheels of social acceptability for teens who were once labeled “spaz,” “brain,” “dork,” or “nerd.”
From “Grease” to “Sixteen Candles” to “The Revenge of the Nerds,” being a dork meant that you were picked on and made fun of—it was about being too smart, especially in math/science, wearing pocket protectors and thick glasses. Nerds had their place in the high school pecking order and it was down near the freaks and losers (who were often stoners, goths, punks or artists).
There is a scene in “Peggy Sue Got Married” (one of my favorite movies), where Peggy Sue is telling the nerd, Richard, that people like him will end up taking over the world. But I don’t think it’s the success of people like Bill Gates who have made being a nerd or a fan or just a spaz cool for Gen Y. It’s (as the AP article points out) the success of “Napoleon Dynamite,” Seth Cohen, Kevin Smith, video games, more tolerance of racial/ethnic diversity and the rise of fandom culture online that have all made doing things that were once considered nerdy, socially acceptable—endearing even. Now that comic book and video game culture is all over the cineplex, Vote Pedro t-shirts are all over the mall and video games are mainstream, nerds just aren’t what they used to be. They’ve gotten a makeover—instead of being called Eugene, they’re called Seth (and happen to be cute). They get to spend time with desirable women on shows like “Beauty and the Geek.” Even the Mathaletes in “Mean Girls,” end up being nerdy-cool in the end—I loved the East Asian Mathalete. Instead of ethnic stereotypes like “The Donger” in “Sixteen Candles,” you have Harold & Kumar making fun of stereotypes and no one really being conscious of the fact that Pedro is latino.
As someone who drifted between the punks and the freaks, but who my friends always referred to as a dork (and still do!)—I see this as positive. Viva la geeks!
Very true- this idea has been on my mind lately too. I heard somewhere the other day it referred to as the “Napoleon Dynamite Effect.” Perhaps the “new extreme” is being unique- embracing your “inner dork.” I love it.
http://newpersuasion.typepad.com/new_persuasion/2005/07/hi_im_lisa_i_tr.html
I agree! And I couldn’t be more happy about it. It’s about time the world realizes there are way more interesting people out there than the Prom kings and queens of the universe.
I hate to rain on gen y’ers, gen m’ers or whatever this generation is being called now, parade, but us, gen x’ers, were the ones who made being a “dork” cool, not Napoleon, Seth or any number of media propaganda. I will explain for you - see after the rebellious times of the 60s and 70s, many parents did not pursue their “dreams of education” thus instilling a high sense of education and success into their children - born in the late 70s and early 80s.
As such, we succeeded at every class we were given; we fought over who became valedictorian; we were prom kings and queens; running for Student Council became a popularity contest; to be in the upper-crust or A group meant to be in the honors and AP classes; we went to ivy league or top-tiered colleges and universities; we joined the best fraternities and sororities so we could keep you out - you being the new class of “dorks” those who don’t meet the requirements, who don’t test well and who just aren’t smart.
So you see, the media in all forms, picked up this so-called “marketing of dorks” trend, but being a dork has been cool for quite some time now. I imagine the person who wrote it to be a dork – because what really separates dorks from the cool people aren’t their intellectual abilities, but rather their abilities to pick up on a trend as it happens, not a decade after. So sorry, but while generation y may have been the first to successfully make IM a form of communication among peers – that even includes bullying – it was generation x that made being smart cool – losing the smart equals dork equation.
If being a nerd is a trend, the people acting as nerds are just trend followers - not nerds. There is a basic archetype that is followed at every school, social group, etc. and the dorks are just part of it. In fact, being a nerd or a dork typically means that the person is an outcast from the larger groups of cliques, hence when the larger group becomes “nerds”, the facade of nerds only exists in style, but the real nerds still exist in the corner of the cafeteria hoping not to be beat up.
Great comments everyone. I’m having fun reading them…
I think there are two things at play here.
People who really are dorks, et al, are taking pride in who they are. And others who aren’t necessarily dorks—including marketers—are picking up on it and following the trend.
Or maybe it happened in the reverse order. Who knows.
Either way, it’s interesting.
And—commenting on above comment—as a Gen Xer myself ... and a bit of a dork ... I must’ve missed that it was cool ... or just gone to the wrong high school and college. ;)
gee, I’m not sure “dork” is what people think it means…most of the football team were dorks, as I recall, back in the 60s when I was in high school and was a “brain” and a “nerd”. I think what has changed over the last few generations is that we’ve brought our kids up to value themselves and as the population has become more diverse the young folks have broken through the stupid stereotypes…and now we have enough quirky folks out there that they can be marketed to. Somewhere along the way the template for beauty as blonde hair and blue eyes got broken. Like your link to the AP article… I remember back in the days when we had 300 bps modems and bulletin board dialups back before the internet, by gum….you whippersnappers don’t know how lucky you are.