Comment Geeks in Movies / TV (Score 1) 154
While I appreciate Jon's comments on geek-cinema, I must say that he is missing some important history here. The "smart kid who saves the day" is a cliche in movie and TV history with a long, proud and sometimes not-so-proud history. (Come on, who here didn't want to see Wesley Crusher beamed into a wall?)
As others have pointed out, the 80s, with John Hughes riding teen-age angst for he was worth, saw a plethora of geeks from Anthony-Michael Hall (now reborn as Bill Gates on TNT) in The Breakfast Club to Weird Science. And for my money, there was never a better movie geek than Matthew Broderick in War Games.
But even before that, where would suave James Bond be without his Q? And think of all the geeks in the 50s sci-fi movies. Granted, they were usually relegated to finding out the crucial piece of imformation before the much-better-looking hero went out and saved the day, but hey, they were certainly there.
The fin-de-millenium movie making has seen a rebirth of the geek as hero and anti-hero, but I'm not sure it's a full-blown revival, because I'm just not sure we were ever gone.
-- Chris
As others have pointed out, the 80s, with John Hughes riding teen-age angst for he was worth, saw a plethora of geeks from Anthony-Michael Hall (now reborn as Bill Gates on TNT) in The Breakfast Club to Weird Science. And for my money, there was never a better movie geek than Matthew Broderick in War Games.
But even before that, where would suave James Bond be without his Q? And think of all the geeks in the 50s sci-fi movies. Granted, they were usually relegated to finding out the crucial piece of imformation before the much-better-looking hero went out and saved the day, but hey, they were certainly there.
The fin-de-millenium movie making has seen a rebirth of the geek as hero and anti-hero, but I'm not sure it's a full-blown revival, because I'm just not sure we were ever gone.
-- Chris
