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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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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 frightening thing about this is, a court of law just got to decide that a comic book doesn't have serious literary or artistic value. The comic book in question is perfectly legal in other countries (it's available for sale in Japan). As far as we know, this guy has never molested children, doesn't have any desire to molest children, and finds the practice despicable. If he's a "prolific collector", one can assume that his primary reason for collecting manga is precisely the literary and artistic value that the court just ruled it doesn't have.
Because of this decision, a man who (as far as we know) isn't guilty of any other crime will now be branded a sex offender for life. In addition to sitting in jail until he reaches retirement age, when he gets out he'll have to find a place to live that isn't too close to a school, and he'll have to warn all his neighbors that it's not safe for him to be around their children.
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Yes we should all grow up and take up manly hobbies like playing with cars or watching other grown men play children's games for outrageous salaries...
Were any child exploited in creating the cartoon? No. So how exactly is it "exploitation"?
Lesbian Nazi Hookers Abducted by UFOs and Forced Into Weight Loss Programs - -all next week on Town Talk.
And people look back at the Salem witch trials, and wonder how that ever could have happened, and wonder why nobody stood up to stop it, and are thankful that we've come so far since those terrible times, all while completely failing to see the irony.
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
How is drawing a child being abused any worse than imagining a child being abused? This feels very close to a thoughtcrime to me.
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.
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.
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