Nerdploitation

Or just making money off them?
(Also, that controller is impractical!)

I suppose it was bound to happen eventually. Once every cultural movement reaches its height Hollywood does its darndest to make a few quick bucks off it by dredging the cesspool tanks of their corrupt and dark minds. I should not be surprised or insulted that the Den of +2 Evil, that is La La land, has turned their sights on nerd culture. However, I am both of those things, and more.

The biggest offender this season is SyFy (pronounced: See-Fee) who has been one of my most hated frenemies ever since they were taken over by NBC. The usual SyFy formula for success has typically been centered around a two-pronged approach of making passable, safe, and mildly entertaining science fiction television shows, like Warehouse 13 and Defiance for their typical fan base, and producing over-the-top horrible science fiction horror movies, such as Sharknado and Jersey Shore Shark Attack, for their not-typical/general base appeal. Yet, this year SyFy has added a third and bewildering prong to their line-up, Nerdploitation, which appeals to... I'm not even sure.

Nerploitation is the phenomena of the media taking typical nerd activities/interests and basically turning them into bad reality TV. I first noticed the trend with TBS' King of the Nerds, a reality show that pitted nerds and geeks against one another in a series of Big Brother like challenges so that the winner could claim the crown of King of the Nerds, (whatever that entitles you to.) Now SyFy has followed suite by making shows like Fangasm and Cosplay Heroes. In each of these reality-based shows, it seems as if nerd interests are promoted while simultaneously used as a point of ridicule, so that the viewing public at large can gawk, like people watching monkey's at a zoo.

Seapking of exploitation... boobies...

This trend worries me for the simple fact that, as a nerd, I know how long it has taken us to make "geek" cool. We have made great strides in reappropriating words like nerd and geek to mean something other than "guy who gets shoved in a locker everyday during lunch." If we allow reality shows to ruin everything that has been accomplished, we could risk winding up looking like New Jersey Italians did after the never-ending fiasco that was the Jersey Shore.

On the flip side, I suppose I should have more tolerance and a better humor about all of this. I mean SyFy has been running shows like this for ages, and even Stan Lee got in on the action when he forced people to dress up like second-rate superheroes and dance like marionettes for his sick and twisted pleasure. Still it is the increase in the existence of these shows that worries more than the shows themselves. It shows a trend that could work to undermine the already fragile new identity geeks and nerds have carved out for ourselves.

My fear in all of this is not so much for my people, but for the rest of the world. We must remember the great things that the rise in nerd culture has brought us, a golden age of TV, a plethora of superhero movies, and Nathion Fillion. As for us, nerds have proven in the past that we can take being objects of ridicule and spectacle. We have been outcasts before and even in the unlikely event that it happens again, I have no doubt we can take it. We are a strong and proud people, except when you put us in front of a camera and tell us to win the affection of Stan Lee, then we have no shame.