The Rise of Geek Chic: an Analysis of Nerd Identity in a Post-Cult Market
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The Rise of Geek Chic: An Analysis of Nerd Identity in a Post-Cult Market Item Type text; Electronic Dissertation Authors Reynolds, Renee H. Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 27/09/2021 18:28:54 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/626700 THE RISE OF GEEK CHIC: AN ANALYSIS OF NERD IDENTITY IN A POST-CULT MARKET by Reneé H. Reynolds __________________________ Copyright © Reneé H. Reynolds 2017 A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY WITH A MAJOR IN RHETORIC, COMPOSITION, AND THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 2017 STATEMENT BY AUTHOR This dissertation has been submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for an advanced degree at the University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to borrowers under rules of the Library. Brief quotations from this dissertation are allowable without special permission, provided that an accurate acknowledgement of the source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the head of the major department or the Dean of the Graduate College when in his or her judgment the proposed use of the material is in the interests of scholarship. In all other instances, however, permission must be obtained from the author. SIGNED: Reneé H. Reynolds 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to acknowledge the unwavering placidity of Ken McAllister, at whose shores I often found solid ground regardless of the conditions of the sea. I would also like to thank Robert Finger, Andrew Huerta, Jenna Pack, Alan and Regina Chu, and Renee Courey, in whom I found friendship beyond any expectation or comprehension and an unyielding (and undeserved) faith in my abilities as both a scholar and human being. Finally, I would like to acknowledge my parents who have consistently encouraged me to move forward with my academic goals and were steadfast in their support of my journey to the PhD. 4 DEDICATION To my beautiful, patient, and loving husband—without whom nothing would be possible. 5 TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES 7 ABSTRACT 8 CHAPTER 1 The Zeitgeist of Geek Chic: How Cultishness and Panic Trouble Nerd Cultural Identity 9 CHAPTER 2 Policing Culture: The Rise of a Working-class Readership and the Media Panic of the Bourgeoisie 36 CHAPTER 3 Rise of an Authentic Comics Fandom: Deviance and Defiance in the Comics Industry 61 CHAPTER 4 The Disneyfication of Nerd Culture: How Capitalizing on the Religiousity of the Fandom Almost Crashed the Comics Market 101 CHAPTER 5 The Insider Experience: Consumerism and Cultural Tension on the Expo Floor 143 APPENDICIES 167 REFERENCES 178 6 LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE 1: Cover of Crime SuspenStories, No. 22, by EC 84 FIGURE 2: Comics Code Authority Seal of Approval 85 FIGURE 3: Comics Code Authority Advertisement 88 FIGURE 4: Final Panel of “Judgement Day!” in Incredible Science Fiction 90 FIGURE 5: Cover of The Amazing Spider-man, No. 96, by Marvel Comics 94 FIGURE 6: The Impact of Media Panic and Disneyfication on Media Culture 104 FIGURE 7: Cover of The Buyer’s Guide for Comics Fandom, No. 1 112 FIGURE 8: A Visual Representation of the Field, According to Bourdieu 121 7 ABSTRACT This project is an analytical history of the discourse of media panics that have affected comics-like forms in the mid- to late-1800s, comic books in the mid-1900s, and comics media in 1990s and the contemporary moment. The study of these media panics shapes a theory of nerd culture in general and comics culture specifically in order to better understand the delicate and foundational dialectic that sustains a consumer identity that is paradoxical in its indulgence in and animosity towards popular culture. With its historical formation in mind, this project explores the formation of geek chic as a consumer identity that, in many ways, troubles and even threatens the status quo of nerd culture. 8 CHAPTER 1 The Zeitgeist of Geek Chic: How Cultishness and Panic Trouble Nerd Culture Identity I’m a nerd, and I’m pretty proud of it. —Gilbert, Revenge of the Nerds (1984) In a public display of disgust, Pat Broderick, an artist returning to DC after a 20- year absence from the comics industry, took to Facebook to proclaim his rejection of cosplayers at comic conventions (i.e., “comic cons”).1 Broderick (2014) addresses convention promoters directly, stating if “you’re building your show around cosplay events and mega multiple media guest [sic] don’t invite me….if you’re a promoter pushing cosplay as your main attraction you’re not helping the industry or comics market.” To cosplayers, Broderick (2014) is a bit more pointed: “You bring nothing of value to the shows.” Long-time and prolific comics creator, Michael A. Baron (2014) concurs, responding to Broderick with “them fuckin’ cosplayers!” While these instances may seem like little more than frustration with the presence of cosplayers at cons, there is a deeper concern expressed here that is made clearer in the response of Raymond Lui (2014), a tokusatsu and anime dealer and owner of Muteki Sales: I had a cosplayer pass by my booth all excited about the upcoming DOCTOR STRANGE movie, and wanted to dress like him, but the cosplayer had no idea what Strange does, if he’s a real doctor, and when I 1 Cosplay, or costume play, is the act of dressing as a character from comics, anime, video games, etc. While the first comic cons in the US included attendees dressed in costumes featuring characters from comics and fantasy, cosplay is most closely associated with an offshoot of anime-manga youth culture in Japan. Since the mid- to late-1990s, cosplay has become standard fare at US comic cons. 9 remarked that he was created by Steve Ditko, the man who made Spider- Man, the cosplayer asked me if Strange was related to Spider-Man. I had to boot him out of my booth.2 Lui’s story reveals an unspoken tenet within nerd culture: there are die-hard fans and then there are the wannabes, those who have the desire to be a part of the fandom but may lack the compendious knowledge or obsessive dedication that marks the “true” fan. Many within traditional nerd culture utterly reject what they categorize as inauthentic or surface-level participation. Such concerns materialize in a variety of ways—several of which are discussed in this project—but for the most part they center on the policing of what many die-hard fans might categorize as inauthentic pretenders. While many of the markers of an “authentic” fan may be the gathering and production of nerd knowledge, there are often other characteristics that are unspoken or simply assumed; more specifically, there are established characteristics of whiteness, heteronormativity, and male-domination within the fandom that assign cultural capital to individuals who may not have any more purchase on the fandom beyond these arbitrary characteristics of race, gender, and sexuality. In this way, the assumption of “inauthenticity” may be inherently assigned to any individual who falls outside of this nerd norm, as it has been established beginning in the late-1960s and early-1970s. 2 Tokusatsu (特撮), or toku, is a genre of Japanese live-action media that typically features science-fiction or fantasy themed narratives. While toku relies on special effects, the emphasis of production is on the use of practical effects. Perhaps one of the most well-known examples in the US is that of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (1993-1995). Anime (アニメ) is a catch-all term for an animation style that is mostly associated with the Japanese animation style that took its aesthetics from manga, a form of Japanese comics and graphic novels that rose to popularity in the 1970s. Much anime are based upon popular manga. 10 Beyond the socio-cultural acceptance of a person into the fold of nerd culture, there are complicated and often antipodal relationships formed between nerds and the industry producing their nourishment. The latter sentiment resonates in Broderick’s (2014) post as it relates directly to the stability and growth of a comics market that relies on the proliferation of a comics culture—whatever form that culture may take because, after all, comics culture is as much an economic manifestation as it is an identity formation. For this reason, the tension between who is authentic and who is inauthentic as a fan is both essential and nonessential to the constitution of the larger pop culture market, of which nerd culture in general and comics culture specifically are a dominating influences. In other words, the market moves in the direction of its own health and vitality, so it is willing to embrace non-traditional nerd culture consumers as a new demographic of customers, and perhaps for this reason, among others, there is sustained panic within the established nerd fandom that has so far functioned upon the stability of a fairly narrow demographic. The Aims of This Project This project seeks to come to some conclusions about the state of comics fandom broadly within the US by examining the complications and implications of the tensions around “authentic” nerdom.