The Golden Age Of Geekdom.
Back in the summer of 2002 it occurred to me that we were at the beginning of a “golden age of geekdom.” What prompted this thought? The fact that within the space of one year we would see a brand new movies devoted to Star Wars, Spider-Man and Lord of the Rings. If you had told me this back when I was twelve, I would have been over the moon with joy. If you pause a moment to consider this first decade of the 21st century, it really has been an astonishing time for genre fans.
Here’s why.
1. An abundance of choice. I personally loathe the term “franchise,” which always makes me think of McDonalds and fast food restaurants. That being said, there are many great franchises to choose from in film, television and print: Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Narnia, all of the Marvel and DC superheroes, Harry Potter, Doctor Who, Battlestar Galactica, Lost and Heroes – just to name a few. Indiana Jones came back from a near twenty year absence for one more shot at fortune and glory. Next year we’ll see the re-launching of Star Trek. We have an incredibly diverse menu of things to choose from right now.
2. The auteur theory. Many of these franchises have a visionary leader at the helm. First it was Gene Roddenberry behind Star Trek. Then George Lucas behind Star Wars. Now we have Joss Whedon, J.J. Abrams and Guillermo del Toro, all of whom are guiding multiple projects at once.
3. The quality is high (mostly). Peter Jackson set the tone with his adaptation of Lord of the Rings. The way to succeed is to take the source material seriously. Christopher Nolan continues to prove this with his vision of Batman. The ideas may be fantastical, but they have to have the weight of reality behind them. To borrow the phrase from The X Files, we want to believe.
4. Great writers. J.K. Rowling is the best-selling author in the world right now, and an entire generation is growing up with Harry Potter. Susanna Clarke scored a hit with Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell which was marketed as “Harry Potter for adults.” Thanks to his devoted and ever-growing fan base, Neil Gaiman debuted at number one on the New York Times best-seller list with Anansi Boys. Not only do we rule the big and little screen, but the world of publishing as well.
5. Conventions. The first science fiction conventions took place in the late 1930’s, very modest get-togethers of a few like minded people who wanted to share ideas. Now they are a world-wide phenomena, ranging in size from the megalithic San Diego Comic Con, all the way down to the humble relaxacons.
6. The internet has leveled the playing field. With access to the internet, anyone with a computer can make their voices heard. The reason we saw Venom in Spider-Man 3 is because the collective voice of fandom demanded it. The end result may not have lived up to everyone’s expectations, but the fact is that studio took notice when a large group of individuals expressed a strong opinion. People have the power (and we all know that with great power comes great responsibility, so be careful what you wish for).
6 Comments, Comment or Ping
Kerebus
I’d have to agree with most of this, though I’d add a word of caution, the abundance of choice may come at a cost, the dilution of quality. At the moment SF/Fantasy TV is riding a high, with quality programmes such as BSG, Doctor Who, Lost and Heroes all of which are expanding and improving on the ground broken by programs such as Babylon 5 and Buffy. However these genre programs are big money spinners for the studios and we are already seeing deriviative and formulaic rip offs being released, these have the potential to suck the financial backing from the quality programmes and, eventually, will make the genre a lot less appealing to the viewing public and the studios.
I may be being a literary snob (I’m not really, honest!) I Loved Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell and I’ve been a longtime fan of Gaiman but personally I’d really really hesitate to include J.K. Rowling in a paragraph entitled “Great Writers” unless we’re judging the quality of the writing by the number of times it opens a till. Popularity and commercial success does not, or at least should not, equate to greatness in an author (See Jeffrey Archer, Andy McNabb and Sven Hassell).
Jul 22nd, 2008
Eoghann
Well I think there’s a certain inevitability about cheap rip offs following successful shows and movies. But that’s true of other genres and they do seem to survive (except westerns). The big win here I think is that sci-fi may finally pull itself out of the ghetto and into the mainstream. It seems like it’s really close.
What’s going happening on the internet right now is huge though. Podcasting and fan made videos are just beginning to show the scope of what could happen. It’s actually possible that control of television and movies could be wrestled away from Hollywood.
Jul 22nd, 2008
Dave Thompson
Great post. I’m with you. I think this is a real golden age for genre fans. I think a lot of it can be distilled down to the power of the interent. Gaiman credits hitting the #1 spot on the NYT Bestseller List because of his blog, film studios view ComicCon is as a killing floor/testing ground for their films, podcasters like Scott Sigler who give their stuff away for free are getting major publishing contracts, fans of TV shows like Lost, Heroes, BSG, and Dr. Who can jump on message boards and chatter about the last episode — even magazines like EW have Lost blogs, etc.
Yeah, there will be ripoffs. And there will be some dips in quality (Sam Raimi’s Legend of the Seeker looks very unlegendary). But people like Peter Jackson, Christopher Nolan, JJ Abrams, and others raised the bar for everyone. And the cream of the crop will try to raise it for him to meet.
Personally, I’m loving it.
Jul 25th, 2008
Eoghann
Empowering the fans can have a big payoff for creators. As a group we’re quite obsessive so when we take ownership of something we’ll back it to the hilt.
And when that enthusiasm can be channeled to a clearly defined purpose (push a book up to #1 on Amazon) the results are impressive.
Unfortunately often the enthusiasm has been poorly directed towards raging at the entertainment industry instead of going round it.
Aug 1st, 2008
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