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How Comic Fans & Shops Are Stereotyped
brumgrunt writes "Why do TV shows, such as 30 Rock, The Simpsons, Heroes, and Everybody Loves Raymond, persist in so ferevently stereotyping comic book fans and stores? Den of Geek has pulled together eight examples, with video evidence to back them up ..." Minus one point for doubling up on Malcolm in the Middle. Plus 10 points for referencing Spaced, which I hope you all have seen.
Wost... article... ever.
By having Den of Geek defend our geekness? Not sure if that helps or not.....
Sig? No thanks. I don't smoke.
It may be a stereotype but if you walk into most comic book/anime stores and look around at the people in them, the vast majority will match up to the stereotype.
Tim: Yeah but Jar Jar Binks makes the Ewoks look like... f*ckin'... Shaft.
The appropriate quote from the comic book shop scene
It's human nature to want to feel better than someone else. It's the "us versus them" mentality that pervades our culture. Geeks/nerds versus "normal" people is only one facet of the problem. It's seen everywhere, from Republicans versus Democrats, urban versus suburban versus rural, and black versus white.
Sadly, I don't think there's a whole lot we can do about it.
They are always showing him with his gut hanging out of an XL t-shirt. When in reality many comic geeks guts hang out of an XXL t-shirt.
Why do TV shows, such as 30 Rock, The Simpsons, Heroes and Everyone Loves Raymond, persist in so ferevently [sic] stereotyping comic book fans and stores?
Well, the article didn't help me answering that question, it just illustrated the stereotype.
... even when they've become your boss. Other stereotypes hurt: i.e. "Math is hard."
... although perhaps there's not much to break down.
My guess would be (1) because it's funny and (2) even someone like myself who spent tons of time in a comic book store get a kick out of it. A lot of other stereotypes like hair brained teenage cheerleader will catch you a lot of criticism in the media. Those geeks you make fun of in high school? The ones that are hyper obsessive with social disorders that spend more time in their room reading than anywhere else? Those are the people running a lot of stuff today. So I guess it's ok to make fun of them all you want
I do wish this article had broken down the social stigma it has associated with it though
My work here is dung.
Folks get stereotyped on television? You don't say?
I've never seen athletes stereotyped as bumbling morons.
I have never seen good looking women stereotyped as airheads.
I have never seen Christians stereotyped as clueless and out of touch.
I have never seen factory workers stereotyped as beer guzzling, bowling addicted rubes.
I have never seen Southerners stereotyped as trailer trash.
I have never seen rich folks stereotyped as constantly stepping on and using others.
Comic book folks are the only ones stereotyped on TV. Call your congressman.
See my journal for slashdot ID's by year. Mine created in 2005. http://slashdot.org/journal/289875/slashdot-ids-by-year
Could be that it's accurate? Comic Book Guy, for example, has been employed in at least half of the comic book shops I've ever visited. Pus there's something to be said about "comic book store odor", and it ain't coming from the books.
I was shocked that The Big Bang Theory was not mentionned. When it comes to stereotypes, geeks and comics, it should be the reference show. In particular "Captain Sweatpants" who so much looks like the typical comics reader ... :p
Same reason all sitcom dads are morons and their wives + wife's sister gets upset at them, it's an easy stereotype that the writers can use so they don't have to put any thought into their characters.
Comic Book Guy from the Simpsons (to name one) is not a caricature. He's a real guy. I've met him. He lives in most comic book shops. He will make fun of you for liking the wrong comics, he will make fun of you for buying the wrong set of dice. He is the alpha nerd, and he's not going to let you forget it.
AFAIK, I'm still banned from the Laughing Dragon in Dallas because when I was 12 years old, I suggested that I liked DBZ better than Akira.
In Soviet Russia jokes are formulaic and decidedly non-humorous.
Ah, is this the human concept you call "humor"? It is so illogical.
If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
You insensitive clod!
Seriously though, attempting to legitimize them as "Graphic Novels" is just spin and makes you look more ridiculous. I will confess privately that I liked the original Hellboy comic (Note: notice no attempt to spin it as a "Graphic Novel"!) Its a comic.
Slashdot's rate-of-post filter: Preventing you from posting too many great ideas at once.
U.S. Manga Obscenity Conviction Roils Comics World
In an obscenity first, a U.S. comic book collector has pleaded guilty to importing and possessing Japanese manga books depicting illustrations of child sex abuse and bestiality.
Christopher Handley, described by his lawyer as a "prolific collector" of manga, pleaded guilty last week to mailing obscene matter, and to "possession of obscene visual representations of the sexual abuse of children." Three other counts were dropped in a plea deal with prosecutors.
The 39-year-old office worker was charged under the 2003 Protect Act, which outlaws cartoons, drawings, sculptures or paintings depicting minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct, and which lack "serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value." Handley's guilty plea makes him the first to be convicted under that law for possessing cartoon art, without any evidence that he also collected or viewed genuine child pornography. He faces a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison.
Keep that cartoon coochie identifyably 18!
"Speaking the Truth in times of universal deceit is a revolutionary act." -- George Orwell
While many other bastions of Geekiness has become more trendy as technology has been absorbed by society(ex: Radio Shack) or eaten up by box stores(ex Computer Stores), the comic book store remains as one single place that is universally recognized as "Geeky".
But, this is TV, it's not like reality.
You're complaining that comic book owners are being portrayed accurately. If you want to change the stereotype...stop visiting sites named "den of geek".
Often times comic shops perpetuate their stereotype, but as far as service goes, I've never had an issues. They are manned by people who are genunnely interested in the product they are selling. Now walk down to the record store and you get something pretty different. They tend to have no interest in selling you anything, are disinterested and view your purchases with comtempt, but they are cool kids so we forgive them.
is it just me that thought it was a shame this ended, it managed to remain funny to the end
Comics are not books; they are pamphlets. :)
We have always been at war with Eurasia!
comic shops are still one of the only places i can lose hours to *gasp* shopping
any other store i'm in and out as quickly as possible.
Let's say, hypothetically, that you walk into a comic book store. There are five people in there browsing comics. Four of those people are fairly normal looking folks who are just there to buy comics and leave. The fifth one is a large guy with poor hygiene who corners you and talks to you incessantly about whether or not Captain Kirk could have single-handedly taken out the Death Star, and seems oblivious to the not-so-subtle signals you're giving off as you try to back away.
Who are you going to remember? The four normal people, or the smelly dude who wouldn't leave you alone? Hell, *I* stereotype comic book geeks, and I *am* one. When I see them portrayed that way on TV, I usually get a laugh out of it, because I've met the exact sort of person they're portraying.
That said, I think the classic HOLY CRAP IT'S A HOT CHICK IN MY COMIC BOOK STORE thing is a bit overdone. There are plenty of hot chicks, my fiancee included, who like comics. (Oh yeah, there's another stereotype -- Slashdot readers are all single, right?)
Ya know, stereotypes exist for a reason; they're a fairly accurate portrayal of peoples' observations. Am I saying it's right to use them to pre-judge people? Absolutely not.
The article makes us really look like losers. The one thing that is more stereotyped than the comic book guy is the cheerleader. Save the cheerleader is both a catchphrase and an irony, because why does a girl who cannot be killed need saving, a la Buffy. Yet we continue to want her to be the damsel in distress. Bringing these two archetypes together was brilliant. It is the thing that Heros does that no one understands. Why do shows use stereotypes. Because most people are simplistic, and have trouble with multiple levels of meaning.
Rocko is equally brilliant in that it is a good depiction of early young adult hood, when one is forced to learn to live. It is not a pretty sight. It is full of lots of scared people who deal with their fears in different ways. Some by hiding in books, some by finding a new playmate every night. Either one of these is stereotyped and seen as reasonable when on is young. Being offended by Filbert says more about one's own issue rather than the character. I find the show hard to take sometimes, but it is because it is so real.
The rest of the most of these are simply too pop culture and too obvious to even give credence. Suffice it to say that we need to be secure enough with ourselves to not freak out anytime we are ridiculed. We do the same with people we do not understand, like cheerleaders.
"She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
.. college football players?
Answer: Because stereotypes are funny.
same happens in the big bang theory, you forgot to mention it...
Um, I think you might mean "graphic novel" there...
Sometimes, "Stereotypes are a real time saver," as The Onion put it. Growing up, Lee's Comics in Palo Alto, CA was my neighborhood comic book store. Working there from the early 90's, there was a guy named Jeremy. I remember vividly the day Comic Book Guy from the Simpsons was introduced (or shall I say, First Appearance). When I watched that episode, me and every other kid within a ten mile radius said, "Jeremy!"
After school the next day, me and my friends went in, ran to Jeremy and said, "Hey Jeremy, did you watch the Simpsons last night?" "Yes," he said groaning, and obviously tired of the question. Why was he tired? Because Jeremy looked exactly like Comic Book Guy - Beard, receding hairline, big rotund body always wrapped in shorts and t-shirts. Only difference was that Jeremy wore glasses.
Jeremy, Real Life Comic Book Guy, wherever you are now, I salute you. You were a huge impact on the lives of many kids in the 94306 zip code.
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/05/manga-porn/
Politics is Treachery, Religion is Brainwashing
Whoosh?
It is a scientific fact that all black people love fried chicken. That's not even a bad stereotype to be associated with, so I don't understand why people get all up in arms over it.
Well, because, it's not even slightly insulting when government, corporations, and the educational system treat us as though we were all the same. That's alright and is never seriously questioned, somehow. But god dammit, an individual better not suggest that a group of people may have similar tastes because they are members of the same group. That's somehow completely different; in fact, that would be wrong and offensive and you're a bad person if you said that!
Bill Hicks had it right: "I wonder why we're fucked up, as a [human] race?"
It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education. - Einstein
I walked into to different comic book stores, in two different states while being for the first time in the US, in February. There were exactly I imagined them! Huge piles of old comics, new comics, action figures, maniacal comic books guys (the one from Colorado told me he had 500.000 comic books at his home but he was nice, giving me a free '60 Action Comics incomplete issue as a bonus plus a 20% discount to a nice DC Comics Cover Girls huge album, since I've spent some bucks there). So, anything I I saw in cartoons and movies about comic book guys and stores is perfectly true. I'm not being sarcastic or mean here, I like comic book shops!
That's silly.
Let's look at this first from the non-comic perspective. Novels are a subset of books. There is criteria to establish what is a novel, and what isn't. I have a novel in my hand right now... is it a book? Of course. But if I tell you I have a book in my hand, can you say that it is definitely a novel?
For comics, why would this not apply as well? There can be comic novels, there can be comic books. I think we can agree on this.
The problem with calling them comic novels is that "comic novels" already exist, in non-graphical form. Terry Pratchett, for example, writes comic novels, and these are not in a graphical format. So we are left with using the term "graphical novels" for comics that are also novels.
It's important to note that 'graphical novel' is not a term used to 'legitimize' comic books. It's a term used to differentiate one kind of comic book from another.
"Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
There is ALWAYS at least one total geek in the comic book store. Go in, look around, if you don't see one then you're it.
You insensitive clod!
Seriously though, attempting to legitimize them as "Graphic Novels" is just spin and makes you look more ridiculous.
Although I agree with you 'cause the "graphic novel" label gets thrown at every comic under the sun, technically a graphic novel is a subset of all comic books; a graphic novel has the whole plot structure (rising action, climax, falling action) wrapped up in one book (or over the course of the series), whereas many other types of comics stretch the plot out over the course of an arc, and a few collective arcs can be combined into an overarching arc, and a comic series often has many overarching arcs. Basically "graphic novels" have one big climax. A good rule of thumb is: do all the chapters/books in this series tie into one big event (usually at the end)? if yes: graphic novel
open source modern art: laser taggi
When I hear "Comic book" I think of a 20-30 page X-Men. When I hear "Graphic novel" I think of a ~150 page Scott Pilgrim book or a ~600 page Blankets. Graphic novels also usually have a definitive ending. I see that distinction.
I think the problem comes from people who are too worried about looking like a stereotype, too worried about looking childish -- so they sell graphic novels as a more mature, adult version of a comic. Which is totally false -- smart, mature comics with well written story arcs do exist, just like some childish graphic novels exist. These guys need to accept who they are and stop being so self conscious.
I also think this, like most other stereotypes, is just exacerbated by a small number of very loud people. None of the comic readers I know feel the need to defend themselves in such a silly manor.
Nothing worse than sensitive nerds. There goes my breakfast.
Fuck systemd. Fuck Redhat. Fuck Soylent, too. Wait, scratch the last one.
SHUT UP, NERD!
I think the point the GP was trying to make was that Christians (and Southerners and rich folk) aren't stereotyped as clueless - they are, in fact, clueless. All of them. Not saying I agree, just pointing out that a 'whoosh' mod might not be appropriate as a 'lol, christianbasher' mod.
Like "batsuit" is attempt to legitimize men wearing "tights"..
That show completely makes the point that this guy misses. The male leads on this show are all completely stereotyped. They're completely nerdy and totally bonkers about comic books. And who cares? I don't. I think the show is funny. It does throw some of the stereotypes to the wind (some of the characters do get laid), but otherwise I like it for the fact that it makes fun of nerdy/geeky/whatever-your-favourite-label-is people, in a way that doesn't degrade them.
What a bunch of whiny idiosyncratic losers we are if we fail to laugh at ourselves once in a while... Go watch a Chris Rock standup or something, realize that sometimes laughing at your own stereotypes can be a good thing. Maybe if you stop bitching about it, people would like you more.
> no, yes, maybe (tagging beta)
Accurately?
What, just a "christianbasher" mod? What about bashing Southerners and the rich? Or do only the jesusbots matter in the end?
Whoosh?
Whoosh?
I think it's funny that while Americans (at least) call comic books from Japan "manga" (because just calling them comics isn't esoteric enough), the Japanese also use the term "komikku" to refer to certain kinds of the same thing.
what's a record store?
My understanding of the difference between a comic and a graphic novel is that a comic is a single issue while a graphic novel is a collection of issues.
A graphic novel will often cover a story arc (or a good deal of one if the arc is really long).
I prefer to buy graphic novels rather than individual comic books a the length is closer to that of a normal book if i grab 2 or 3 rather than 30 or 40 comics.
Graphic Novels is a type of format, not a way to 'legitimize them". You know why? becasue they don't need to be legitimized.
Care to name me a reason why the comic book format can't be used to tell epic stories? Retelling of ancient morality plays?
Comic books is just a medium to tell a story. That. is. all.
Like any medium some of it is crap, some of it is excellent, and most of it is mediocre.
.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Child exploitation depicted in Manga is no more ok than person on person violence depicted in literally any TV show is. The fact is that in the United States we get very crazy about certain types of inhuman, unethical or immoral behavior and totally ignore others.
Since I'm not willing to ban the depiction of all human violence, I find it unethical to ban the depiction of (however monstrous) human lust. How about you? Do you feel that the depiction or examination of a depiction of any immoral act is cause for legal recourse?
[Ego]out
It's not a purse, it's European!
When I watched that episode, me and every other kid in the world said, "[Insert guy at comic shop here]"
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
The problem with trying to get comics respected is the complete social naivity of the biggest demograph of those who read comics. My GF loves graphic novels, especially works by Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, etc.. The other day she randomly walked into a comic store the other day and picked up a manga. There's something genuinely creepy being a girl in a store full of guys looking at drawings of oversexualized underage females. I had to explain to her that while there is some pretty incredible manga out there, Sturgeon's law aptly applies. It's hard to sort through all the crap, even if you are genuinely open-minded. Later, I introduced her to some classic Osamu Tezuka (the Buddha series) which she couldn't put down.
"The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place." George Bernard Shaw
Can anyone explain why headers appear and disappear whenever I try to open a Slashdot page? I cannot think of a site of a site more inconsistent and capricious in its presentation.
Whoosh!
They actually got slammed twice for Heroes. First people complained that no comic book geek would look like that swimmer store employee. So then they did the stereotypical comic book geek and the people complained again.
Because it is a scientific fact that EVERYONE loves fried chicken, why should it be only limited to black individuals.
Why do TV shows, such as 30 Rock, The Simpsons, Heroes and Everyone Loves Raymond, persist in so ferevently stereotyping comic book fans and stores?
Well, the Simpsons feverently persists in stereotyping everything.... that's kind of what they do.
~Warning!~ The above is encrypted using rot676!
American comic shops are fairly embarrassing places to be. I personally love the comic medium, think it's fabu, but there's a lot of crap out there. Because comics are expensive and are no longer casual purchases for kids, the publishers have to cater to the disposable income market. That's teens and young adults. Sex and violence are to entertainment what salt, sugar and fat is to food. The fanboys are the ones who want big-titted heroines in fighting crime in lingerie. They want the edgier and darker crap with violence and 'slosions.
It's like what we're seeing with the Republican party. The GOP isn't all that popular right now and so the party leaders are trying to play to their base, drum up support. But the very act of playing to that base alienates people who only have a weak inclination to the party. So you end up having loyalty tests, demanding candidates meet ridiculous standards, purges to ensure ideological purity. Specter is as loyal a Republican as you could possibly hope for and disagrees with the Dems on virtually everything. No Dem in the world would want him in the party. But one vote in favor of Obama on an economics bill and boom, he's effectively booted from the party. It was seen as a great victory.
Web comics have been fairly popular and we've seen some breakouts get picked up in the big bookstores. Manga has exploded among teen girls, a segment no American comic company would have even dreamed breaking into. Why, that's as ridiculous as girl gamers, right? No American comic book writer would want to be involved in turning out bishonen and yaoi comics but it turns out that's what the girls are into. Nobody wanted to make the Sims and it took arm-twisting to get it published and now it's the biggest girl game series ever.
Of course, the stereotypes also come from trendy writers who try to live the vapid, trendy lives of the characters they write about and hold in disdain social groups they perceive as lower on the totem pole than themselves. That's classic high school clique behavior.
Kwisatz Haderach
Sell the spice to CHOAM
This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
He once impressed a girl... just to see how it feels.
He was created by a makefile... that he ran himself.
He once wrote some buggy code... for an entomologist.
He can sometimes make a fool of himself... dancing.
He has a best friend... because he likes to be unpredictable.
He is the World's Most Interesting Geek.
"I always use computers, and when I do, I prefer Linux."
Matt Groening has said that the Simpson's team uses the comic book guy specifically to spare with their hardcore fan base the inhabits the online forums. (Only he probably worded it much better than I just did.)
Think Deeply.
One: why are you equating being critical (about economic status or work ethic...not clear from your post) with being racist?
Two: what do either of those things have to do with which stereotypes are okay to joke about and which aren't?
I know that this is largely a hypothetical set of questions, since I'm responding to an A.C., but screw it, IHBT.
"Murphy was an optimist" - O'Toole's commentary on Murphy's Law
Roughly half of the people I know who are big comic book fans fall into the stereotype. But the half that don't are pretty normal successful people, they don't need anyone's pity for a stereotype they don't fit. I, myself, just think comic books suck.
Saying "comic books suck" makes about as much sense to me as saying "music is stupid".
Comic books are not a genre, they are a vehicle for artistic expression, just like film, poetry, dance, sculpture, etc.
I don't care for most of the poetry I've encountered, and there's a lot of poetry out there that does absolutely nothing for me. (This fact saved me a lot of time when reading Tolkein's Lord of the Rings trilogy.) That said, I wouldn't say "poetry sucks". If I couldn't find at least some poems I liked, it would be an indicator that I wasn't a very broad-minded person. Give any art form a chance, and odds are a few brilliant artists out there will connect with you.
Information wants to be anthropomorphized.
I have nothing to add. I just thought my sig belonged in this thread.
If Slashdot were chemistry it would look like this:Cadaverine
Worst. Description. Ever.
j/k
Slashdot's rate-of-post filter: Preventing you from posting too many great ideas at once.
Minus one point for doubling up on Malcolm in the Middle. Plus 10 points for referencing Spaced, which I hope you all have seen.
That's why, precisely. Because comic book fans feed the stereotype, at least partly as self-deprecation. The other part is just being oblivious to how we fit it.
I mean just look at the sick fucks defending child rape, bestiality, and other disgusting acts here. Christ, the scum really does float to the surface.
My local Amiga Users Group chartered a bus back in 1989 or so and went to an Amiga convention in NYC. The bus's route took us through Harlem and I did notice a lot of little fried chicken places - almost every other corner seemed to have one. So, it seems there is some basis in fact for that particular stereotype.
I think the problem arises when the stereotype is used as an intentionally insulting caricature. That's more likely to be done by an individual than an organization.
A stereotype is a stereotype whether it's true or false, so "whoosh" to you too, Sir A.C. You and all your similarly ignorant kin.
which is totally what she said
Having a wife, I am sometimes forced to watch shows like Bravo's Millionaire Matchmaker. In one episode, she tells the eager young women that one of the best places to pick up wealthy, unattached men is at comics conventions. I was a little surprised to hear it, but her logic made sense.
You are thinking of tracts. Haw! Haw!
"MIT betrayed all of its basic principles."
You just called the entire country of Japan "wrong and dangerous". Child porn manga is available in every 7/11 and other convenience store in Japan. Their society is safer by almost any measure than almost every other country in the world and they have far less sexual child abuse then most western countries.
Maybe you should get out of your tiny piece of the world before you make sweeping proclamations that you can't back up.
Religion exists for the sole purpose of allowing the powerful few to control the many, which is why it's pretty much universal to all human civilizations. While it's true that evil would still exist even if religion didn't, the truth is that religion makes it much easier for evil men to convince large numbers of good people to do evil things.
Arguing that religion isn't evil because it is merely a tool/justification is like arguing that a torture device isn't evil. The argument is technically correct, but also irrelevant.
Comic books are just a medium to tell a story. A medium that most people (wrongly) do not take seriously, or consider capable of telling stories of significant literary import.
I have heard many contradictory descriptions of what makes a comic a "graphic novel", even just in this thread. From what I can tell, when someone calls a comic a "graphic novel" they mean it is attempting to be serious and tell a story of significant literary import. Comics don't need to be legitimized in your (or my) view, but they sure do in the view of a lot of people who might enjoy some grafic novels if they could get past their current perceptions of "comic books".
The problem with labeling such as "graphic novels" is that you force all objects with that structure to be novels, and all objects with the former structure (i.e. story-arc over multiple works) to be books. Compare works of literature: With this consideration, Harry Potter is no longer 7 works, it's one series of "word books." The Lord of the Rings Series is a series of "word books." And "Goodnight moon" becomes a "childrens' novel." Claiming "graphic novel" as a difference you are necessarily taking umbrage at "comic book" as somehow being a lesser work. Personally, I say they are all comic books. More than one person works on them. Novels are done by one person.
Why take this so personally? Move out of your parents' basement and get over it.
Personally, I say they are all comic books. More than one person works on them. Novels are done by one person.
a) I also think they're all comic books, just that graphic novels are a subset.
b) I've read plenty of novels written by two authors, and lots of comics (especially manga/manwha/etc.) written by one author (and some unnamed assistants helping with the art.)
I just feel that there's a big difference between a set of comics that tells a cohesive tale (Fables, Y the Last Man, most any shoujo/josei manga) and a big sprawling set of independent stories that never really end or don't always lead up to something big (most of the DC/Marvel comics, Archie, newspaper strips). I agree with you that novel probably isn't the best term for it; that's why the term is usually strictly defined as a stand alone comic like Maus or Watchman (each book in Sandman is considered a graphic novel 'cause it's a standalone tale, but the go together in the series to tell the bigger story-like Harry Potter or LoTR).
"Goodnight Moon" is technically a children's short story. Beats me where the line between short story and novel breaks.
open source modern art: laser taggi
Yet somehow Moby Dick is considered to have literary value.
What about the Harry Potter books. They're wildly successful. What about Batman: Year One or The Dark Knight Returns? They're certainly a good read. They're certainly worthy of being in a collection. Does that make them of literary value? Or are they no longer considered literature when they're comics?
The whole "having value" concept is flawed. The Canadian government payed almost $2million a while back for "Voice of Fire", a five metre tall piece of blue canvas with a red stripe down the middle. What "value" does that have? It's all in the eye of the beholder, I guess.
When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
Well, if you draw stick figures having oral sex or hot couch sex, then you must be an awesome comic strip http://www.xkcd.com/584/
In the home town I grew up on - the local comic book shop had a guy just like the one from the Simpsons (was very sarcastic, and always projected a feeling of "why are you even in my store"). I suspect Matt Groening's inspiration for him wasn't necessarily based on a stereotype.
Interestingly enough the shop was gone last time I was around there.
> Seriously though, attempting to legitimize them as "Graphic Novels" is just spin
Actually, this was invented as a form of spin. In Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics, he illustrates how Will Eisner's early attempts to make serious fare (like A Contract With God) would be marginalized, despite being one of the first comics long enough to be a book, rather than a magazine, which most comics were up until then.
Those who complain about affect & effect on
IANAL but if I'm not mistaken, it's illegal to explicitly visually portray some sex acts in any kind of media or possess it. Snuff, rape, and child molestation are three of them.
The Zapruder Film is an 'edge case'. People could argue that if you allow the depiction of such extreme behavior and its consequence, then what's wrong with such content when it is not photographed?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zapruder_film
No, poetry really does suck.
Meanwhile, most of the rest of the world will say something sucks when most of the things that make up that something suck.
For example, I have said "television sucks" not because I think all television shows suck, or there is something inherently wrong with the medium. I said it because I think 99% of the shows on television are complete drivel, cater to the lowest common denominator, and glorify the damaged parts of society.
It's just a generalization, it is not meant to hold up in 100% of cases. I don't think it indicates narrow mindedness. It indicates loose use of language as is common everywhere.
One place I know of mainly has MTG, D&D, Warhammer, et cetera.
Admittedly, I haven't visited any of the others around here
I listen to both RIAA and non-RIAA stuff if I like the music, tangential business/politics nonwithstanding.
"He's complaining that they're not stereotyped as suave, confident chick magnets."
Does Rajesh Koothrappali-when-intoxicated count? :)
I listen to both RIAA and non-RIAA stuff if I like the music, tangential business/politics nonwithstanding.
I've seen most episodes, I typically find them hilarious - actual literal LOLing. :)
Sometimes, the gross social incompetence of the characters is frustrating to watch, but that's part due to painful-because-some-of-it-is-true.
I don't think their comic book habit makes them look like fools - other aspects of the characters seem to accomplish that, such as Sheldon's oft-manifested general OCD/asshole temperament
I listen to both RIAA and non-RIAA stuff if I like the music, tangential business/politics nonwithstanding.
While I disagree with the feelings of the op, the statement is not incorrect.
It's perfectly reasonable to hate the medium because you dislike it; and it has nothing to do with content.
For the inevitable car analogy; their statement is akin to saying "Fords suck" (which is an opinion!), which has nothing to do with the destination. It's likely they'd use a different vehicle to get from A to B; just as presenting a story from a comic book in a film will often appeal to many people that dislike the comic format.
Disliking presentation is perfectly valid, and a very important issue if you have something important to say; deciding the format or media to convey your story may be just as important as the content, if it means you reach different audiences.
And FYI, I've met people that do in fact think "music is stupid", because they don't enjoy that format at all. Some people lack an appreciation for aural art, some lack it for visual art, and some just don't appreciate any form of art.
Their bad taste doesn't make their statements wrong; just very poor taste!
I recall the Simpsons episode where CBG was the target of an anti-fan speech given to Bart, the gist of which was that we should be grateful to suck up any crap the networks give us because it's "free entertainment". As if broadcasters don't have to pay to screen the show, and as if advertisers don't have to pay to advertise with them, and as if they don't recoup that money from us through product prices. Oh, I've wasted my life.
You all seem to be forgetting one popular movie, Mallrats, that puts comic book fans in a very good light. The main character is a comic fan, is very cool, and gets the girl in the end.