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In defense of nerds

Tapped:

The New Yorker's Anthony Lane did not like The Watchmen:
"Watchmen," like "V for Vendetta," harbors ambitions of political satire, and, to be fair, it should meet the needs of any leering nineteen-year-old who believes that America is ruled by the military-industrial complex, and whose deepest fear--deeper even than that of meeting a woman who requests intelligent conversation--is that the Warren Commission may have been right all along.

Not to question what is, I am certain, the vibrant and thrilling sex lives of film critics, but I'm not so sure that "film critic" is much higher than "comic book geek" on the social spectrum. Moreover, what exactly do Lane's thoughts on comic book nerds have to do with the quality of the film? What does the reviewer grant the reader by insulting the film's intended audience?

I'm not going to argue with Lane over the quality of a film I haven't seen, but I really find it hard to understand why comic book fans are the subject of such persistent abuse. You'd think we clubbed baby seals for a living or perhaps sold sub-prime mortgages. The unbridled contempt for people who like comic books reaches something close to the feelings people have for parking cops and tax collectors.

Comic book nerds can count Barack Obama, Rachel Maddow and Patrick Leahy among us. We might also include some readers of Lane's magazine, given that it was only three or four weeks ago that I spotted an ad for February's New York Comic-Con in its hallowed pages. For some reason, despite the fact that comic fans have reached the highest levels of professional excellence in this country, the image of a comic fan remains that of a chubby teenager in his mom's basement clutching a two-liter bottle of Shasta.

I've never had a single sip of Shasta in my life.

By fnord12 | March 5, 2009, 9:44 PM | Comics


Comments

For the record "film critics" are more reviled that "comic book geeks". Trust me, I know. I'm a film critic.

I mean, look at the portrayals of film critics in the media. Jay Sherman from the animated show The Critic. Gene Shalit takes the occasional beating on the show Family Guy.

And what about the critics themselves? Don't even get me started on that elitist jerk Roger Ebert and his love for Babe: Pig in the City and The Happening, but his general disdain for horror movies. And what about all those critics Uwe Boll beat up?

Oh, and in case you forgot, there was alsothe time I was beaten by nuns.

Thanks to Spored's comment, i found out about Uwe Boll's challenge that if 1 million people signed a petition for him to retire, he would. It's 2+ years old at this point, but we just saw Bloodrayne so... i signed it.

http://www.cinematical.com/2008/04/06/one-million-signatures-and-uwe-boll-will-quit-making-movies/

i'm #327,404.