The Schalter

Written by: Martin Di Paola

In 1978 we were told that we would “believe a man can fly”. A few years later we knew that a man could assume the persona of an anthropomorphic bat in order to avenge the death of his parents. Now we readily accept that a man sprouts claws from his hands or transforms into a giant green behemoth, that he might use webs to swing between buildings or even not be a man at all but rather a giant red demon fighting Nazis. The comic book movie is no longer the exclusive preserve of the geek. Or if it is then a greater proportion of the populace can now be tagged in this way with little of the disdain and ridicule once associated with the term.

There was a time when films based on superheroes were rare and significant events. Even when they did appear, they were by necessity based on only the most widely recognised of characters such as Superman and Batman. Figures already part of popular culture through cinema serialisation in the case of Superman, a television series in the case of Batman and the daily comic strips of both Now the cinema release schedules are packed with costumed heroes from the most famous to relatively obscure titles like Ant-Man and The Flash. Comic book films are not all spandex and sidekicks either. An increasing number of other genres of comic book titles, or graphic novels, are being adapted for the big screen from the Horror of 30 Days of Night and I Am Legend to action of Wanted though far less easily categorised works like Ghost World.

This mainstreaming of the comic book film is just a fragment of a far more widespread phenomenon. Geek culture is increasingly being appropriated by society at large. I find myself wishing I could travel in time and visit an awkward fourteen year old in Glasgow and reassure him that everything would be alright. “Hang onto those comics, don’t worry about liking Red Dwarf and Quantum Leap and by no means stop talking about the minutiae of computer and audio technology. Just hang on kid, wait for another eleven years or so and you’ll be cool or rather everyone else will be less so.” He’d shuffle off, unconvinced, no doubt muttering about the pompous arse who for some reason looked vaguely familiar.

Technology has always been a bit geeky. Something to be consumed by the masses but understood by only a select few. This too has changed, however. It is no longer strange to discuss gigabytes, firewalls and trojans. We exist in a maelstrom of acronyms, we compete over transfer rates and even my mum can send a text message. Well, perhaps not the last one.

When I first joined an online forum several years ago, it was by no means a socially acceptable activity. It was something to whisper under the breath and to take part in under a veil of anonymity, preferably in a darkened room behind closed doors. Now social networking websites have become an essential element of many people’s daily routine. Facebook has at least sixty-four million active members worldwide and this number increases daily. Rival sites such as MySpace and Bebo target their own niches of the market. All of these now operate without any of the pointing and staring once considered the natural response to such activity.

Even the most advanced of technology has now become so ordinary that it’s existence is a presumed aspect of everyday life. I recently overhead someone talking about “putting something on the IPod.” The use of the definite article and not a possessive “my” is perhaps just an accident of linguistics but could suggest to some extent the ubiquity of the device in question. I find myself feeling sympathy for those people at airports with only one piece of hand luggage, lacking as they do the laptop bag that the airlines now seem to expect.

Even that most democratic of mediums, the humble television, has not been immune to the geek invasion. Some of the most popular and significant television programmes of recent months and years, despite all of their championing by newspapers, magazines and other media, have been undoubtedly and unashamedly geeky. Perhaps it’s nothing terribly new. In the past we had Doctor Who, Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica as well as a host of other less famous or simply less good shows. No, there’s nothing new about the presence of Science Fiction on television. What is new is that’s not just for children and losers anymore. The likes of Lost and Heroes are mainstream television watched by a wide spectrum of viewers and discussed by the, often metaphorical, water coolers the next day in
work. These shows are intellectualised and legitimised by features in the arts section of newspapers and raved about on the likes of Newsnight Review. Even the remake of the aforementioned Battlestar Galactica (that most Sci-Fi of Sci Fis) is being spoken of as being not just a good show about spaceships but one of the best dramas on television.

Yet further evidence of this all-encompassing cultural shift is its capacity to be self-sustaining and to defy the boundaries of its original medium. The recent Eight Season of Buffy The Vampire Slayer (a geek/mainstream crossover in its own right) is being released in comic book form and has been very successful. So successful in fact that issue one has now gone through several reprints having sold out in the first days after its release. The Heroes web-comic and the collected hardcover edition have also been hugely popular and not only with the traditional comic-buying market. People are reading comics, people who would never have entertained the thought before and what’s more, they’re not ashamed.

If this movement covered only one or two aspects of culture I would dismiss it as nothing more than the latest Furby or Space Hopper; a complex and multi-faceted fad but a fad nonetheless. However, it’s impact across media and its presence in our lives suggests something less Tazo and more mobile phone. Each and every once persecuted Sci-Fi fan, comic junkie and technology buff will stand up and proudly proclaim “I am a geek!”. In this Brave New World there will be no need to hide their obsessions. They will be shared by all. Except for those poor souls who play World of Warcraft. They’re just Nerds.

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This post is tagged Comic Books, Geek, Superheroes