Is nerd culture merely consumerism?

[Whatevermancer]

What do you think of when you hear the term "nerd culture"? Literature, comic, movies of certain genres and topics, that all are meant to be... consumed.
The identity of a nerd is based upon two things:

• Being a social reject
• Consuming media of particular genres

That's all there is to it. But maybe I'm missing something? What do you think?
inb4: "you're confusing nerd with geek", yeah-yeah, people use them interchangeably anyway.

 

[I'd abeeb bear]

That's a stretch, but I get where you're coming from. Nothing is hand-made these days, but some hobbies give you more room to distance yourself from compulsive consumer spending than others.

I'm not sure it's a stretch with just how homogenized the gear has become. Just the same as any other hobby, the doodads and expenditures are there for all of the outdoor activities too. I mean, there's endless reviews for axes and brands of axes on YouTube even. It's all commercialized, and unless you're out there literally making your gear from scratch, it's going to wind up being just another money hole. Hobbies, by their very essence, can always become commercial if there's branding behind it. Some are just worse than others.

Check out any mid-western or southern state in the fall and you'll see what I mean. It becomes an identity too, and they're damn proud of it.

 

[Tookie]

"Nerd culture" as it exists today is pure consumerism. Once corporations caught on that nerds had the most disposable income in the mid-2000s everything started to go to shit.

I'm not sure what term to use to describe the old school meaning of nerd today. I'm loathe to use any term with it because it feels like it will be latched onto by corporate marketing departments and activist journalists if a label is applied to it.

 

[DerKryptid]

I'm not sure it's a stretch with just how homogenized the gear has become. Just the same as any other hobby, the doodads and expenditures are there for all of the outdoor activities too. I mean, there's endless reviews for axes and brands of axes on YouTube even. It's all commercialized, and unless you're out there literally making your gear from scratch, it's going to wind up being just another money hole. Hobbies, by their very essence, can always become commercial if there's branding behind it. Some are just worse than others.

Check out any mid-western or southern state in the fall and you'll see what I mean. It becomes an identity too, and they're damn proud of it.

Then that's an attitude problem and not an inherent flaw with the hobby. You can view a large commercial brand simply as a means to obtain a useful tool, and nothing more, but when you start forming a subculture around it, you're no longer just a hobbyist, you're also a brand fanboy. The difference between hobbies that allow commercialistic practices and full-on consumerist hobbies is that one can exist without the constant fanatical devotion to a certain brand, while the other relies on brand recognition to form a core identity. You can purchase a branded product and not give a shit about it besides viewing it solely as a means to an end, but you cannot consume a piece of branded media without acknowledging the essense of why you are attracted to it in the first place.

 

[High Tea]

A wall of Funko pops to show off when your parents will scrape your bloated corpse off the couch and throw them all in the trash is not a life lived. Collecting in itself is not bad. If it's furniture, someone could always use it for that purpose. Coins? Monetary value. The degree is the main issue. Does your nerd hobby prevent you from having a "normal life"? Is buying the next D&D book keeping you from paying rent? Does spending hours online looking for the action figure you need to complete your vintage Star Wars collection make you forget to go to your best friend's graduation? Do you lack a chair, but have a room full of anime related items? Would you skip your aunt's funeral to go to a Con? People have always had hobbies, but there used to be pressure not to indulge them to the degree they are being today.

 

[Red Hood]

Mossy Oak and Yeti and all the other branded gear types are pushing it that way, sadly. Mass produced junk that sells shockingly well in rural areas, to the point where it's surprising if you're not wearing Mossy Oak camo with your Yeti canteen filled with coffee during huntin' season.

Don't forget needing a Browning sticker for your lifted truck or jeep with expensive accessories and massive mud tires while wearing your Grunt Style t-shirt.

 

[The Token Ethnic]

Early fandom had fan magazines, merchandise and model kits that people could buy. It wasn't as easy as walking into a Hot Topic, you had to get them by attending a convention or via mail order. Lots of my friends buy nerdy shit to spam on social media for likes. No reviews or opinions about the product, only a picture of their latest purchase and lots of hashtags. It seems like a fad. Speaking of fads, there was a small trend in the late 90s that had retro lunchboxes and ringer t-shirts of 70s TV shows, which was weird. It wasn't necessarily nerd culture, but more of a nostalgia cash grab. Mainstream fandom now is an officially licensed personality that you can buy.

 

[I'd abeeb bear]

Don't forget needing a Browning sticker for your lifted truck or jeep with expensive accessories and massive mud tires while wearing your Grunt Style t-shirt.

Cummins stickers are a must for 50% of trucks, too. Doesn't matter if it's actually diesel, slap one on there.

 

[Red Hood]

Cummins stickers are a must for 50% of trucks, too. Doesn't matter if it's actually diesel, slap one on there.

"Rollin coal bro!"

"You're driving a Ford Focus, Cletus."

 

[Mischief Committee]

You either stay the consumer or you live long enough to see yourself become the producer. I have friends that take part in this shit that have been circumventing the system for years (printing their own magic the gathering and YuGiOh cards since back in the day), but now they're working on their own table tops and smaller scale board games. I'm not that into, but to get to the root of your question OP:
Yes. So much of it is about status amongst other social outcasts. They're too slow to develop personalities, so they buy things so humans can tell from afar to avoid them they can establish nerd hierarchies where their belongings determine how special they are. Without the funkos and other "collectables", they have nothing. Really take a close look at the ones on youtube that participate in "nerd culture". They're hyper dysfuntional and physically unhealthy.

 

[LukeMcGregor]

It's always been consumerism, but it's evolved closer to religion at this point. At least in past decades nerds actually enjoyed the things they devoted themselves to. With Star Wars & Star Trek, people actually liked those franchise and watched them as much as possible. Now it seems that people get nothing out of it, people will buy things just because they are collectable even if the quality is objectively terrible like those funko pop figures. I'm pretty sure it's all to fill a gap, they want something to live for and buying new toys is the easiest thing.

 

[The Cunting Death]

Yes and if I had the time I'd actually bully these people.

 

[Agent Abe Caprine]

Only if you don't have a very high IQ capable of understanding the subtle Russian literature references.

 

[ks99]

Today? Yes, at least what's entered the mainstream. I never thought I'd live in a world where 40 year old women coworkers would be soyjacking out over fucking superhero movies, but here we are. Now, 15 years ago I would have loved that prospect. The problem is that the content is basically all garbage. There's a perception I've seen that SJWs have latched on to certain aspects of "nerd" culture like a tumor, and I think in some ways that's accurate, but really the issue at it's core is the intention on the part of companies to expand their audience to the masses. There's plenty of examples I could give, but for some reason the one that comes to mind doesn't even have to do with nerd culture: Maroon 5. They were, at one point, a decent band. 10 years later, they became what wine moms listen to. They switched from alt rock to pop (of course because money), and whenever someone says "they love Maroon 5" now I have to assume they're talking about the liquid-metal garbage that they shat out after 2005.

 

[Registration]

It kinda is when you just consume shit and don't produce anything derived from it, be it fanart, fanfiction or even inspiring your own art in some way. Just consuming things is rather boring, when you get at some stage and can't use the knowledge or love from it to make something yourself, even at the most basic level.

 

[Dysnomia]

The modern "nerd culture" is just mainstream entertainment trying to make megabux by telling normies that being nerdy is cool.

 

[Niggernerd]

Personally i don't see gunpla having the consooom cringe stigma that normal figures have. Its one of the oldest brands in nerd culture but you actually have to put some or a lot of effort into it be it just assembling it or going the whole mile via custom paint job/custom scenery action bases/adding effects(LED lights/gun smoke etc) and metallic parts.
You can't say the same with some normal figure you place on a desk.