« Flipper Attacks! | Main | Non-Reactive Canine »
October 01, 2005
Geek Angst
I read comics. Some people will be surprised by that. Marvel comics and mostly the Ultimate Universe. All my female friends are like, "huh, what the hell is she talking about?" If you need an explanation girls, let me know. Anyway, I was thinking - and I'm sure that this is obvious to all you comic veterans out there - the whole super hero, alter-ego thing is kind of a geek fantasy, isn't it? The kinda geeky regular Joe alter-ego (Peter Parker for example) that everyone sees every day is boring, uninteresting, but underneath lurks the exciting, sexy super hero (Spiderman - I really don't have a Spiderman thing, it's just an example). So I guess it makes sense that there is a stereotype of both the writers and readers of comics as kinda geeky - the whole theme is totally speaking to them. And it also gives them an excuse for distancing themselves from women. Relationships for super heroes are somewhat taboo because they weaken the character, through sexual distraction and having to worry that if the woman knows about the super, they are in danger which ends up also being a distraction - better to avoid relationships altogether and add tortured loner to the super hero persona. The geek can imagine themselves having to keep their distance for noble reasons and deny their actual fear of the opposite sex. How about you, what's you favourite comic to real life parallel? Discuss :)
Posted by leah at October 1, 2005 09:57 PM