Guest post: The influence of Revenge of the Nerds
Originally a comment by Freemage on Where it gets complicated.
In addition to Cressida’s point, there’s also the difference, highlighted in Ophelia’s original post, even, between ‘having a fantasy’, ‘acting out a fantasy’ and ‘depicting that fantasy for others to consume’ (and then, on that last one, depicting a fantasy for money, which usually means it’s probably not your fantasy to begin with). Each step in that chain is a different beast, entirely, and conflating it all as one big happy ball of sex positivity is a deliberate attempt by porn producers to add legitimacy to their activities.
Having a fantasy is fine. Acting out that fantasy, in a safe fashion with a trusted and consenting partner, is fine.
Depicting it for others, however, creates the impression that this is what sex ~should~ be like. That has a massive implication that needs to be examined, addressed and challenged.
For a non-pornographic version of how much consuming media can influence a culture, go back and watch 1984’s Revenge of the Nerds. This ‘comedy’ is commonly cited as a cornerstone of modern nerd culture, coming as it did during the formative years of the current 35- to 50-year-old set. I see it come up in conversations in forums for comics, computer games or tabletop role-playing all the time.
In it, the protagonists commit virtually every form of misogynistic behavior we’ve seen take a rise in the internet age: Stalking, voyeurism, revenge porn and hey, even rape (which is totally forgiven because the ‘hero’ is so good at sex). (We also get a hefty side-order of the ‘struggles’ of white male nerds being compared to that of African-Americans, because why not?)
I loved the film as a kid, but… well, I was about to say “it has not aged well,” but I think maybe it’s more accurate to say that it was always pretty unpleasant, I’m just aware of it now.
Freemage mentions the worst aspects of the film. I’ll just add a couple minor ones. While some of the “nerds” are ostracized because they’re not good-looking, wear thick glasses, and are interested in “nerdy” things, they’re not all sweet innocent guys. “Booger” is a thoroughly disgusting character: he’s a social outcast because he’s rude, filthy, and disgusting (hence the nickname), and is probably the most viciously misogynistic of them all. And the women of the prestigious sorority are treated as basically just trophies and tools: although it’s the jocks who do the worst things to the nerds (getting them kicked out of their home), it’s their girlfriends who are targeted for the nastiest bits of revenge.
And, of course, the head nerd’s reward for “winning” is getting one of the cheerleaders as his prize. A couple of the lesser nerds seems content to settle for one of the Omega Mu (get it? They’re really big cows!) women, but mostly the Mus exist to show how much it sucks being a nerd — look at what you have to settle for!
Screechy Monkey: Yeah, I was going for the impact on nerd culture, so I skipped over the horrible treatment of the Omega Mus (none of whom are ever named in the film, because why name unattractive women?), but you’re absolutely right about their role in the movie.
Very good points! That film was horrible in it’s misogyny. And while that was true of most movies of that era, especially anything that involved fraternities and sororities, it’s a horrible template for nerd culture. That film should never have been influential. It was formulaic crap. But I’ve never considered it a bad influence until reading this. It should have been forgotten because of this and because it it was shit to begin with.