Geekdom and Sharing
Last summer, at a writer’s conference, I met a man who is writing a science fiction novel with an Indian basis instead of a Western basis. I asked if he’d read Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny. He hadn’t. He hadn’t even heard of Roger Zelazny.
I confess, I lost a moment to shock. I never considered that a modern SF reader might not have read Zelazny. But then I told him about the story and recommended Zelazny’s writings as strongly as I could. It was the only course that made sense to me. As John Scalzi wrote in his blog post “Who Gets to Be a Geek? Anyone Who Wants to Be,” geeks can be identified for their love of sharing their interests. I got to be the person who exposed someone to Roger Freaking Zelazny!* How cool is that?
I thought about that encounter recently, after the Red Wedding episode of Game of Thrones lit up the social media. That episode sparked yet another round of people saying, in a nutshell, “I’m the superior geek because I read the books.” This is not a new attitude around A Song of Ice and Fire. It’s been visible online ever since the show first aired. In fact, a YouTube video about this sense of superiority made the rounds a while back.
I don’t understand this attitude. Is it some side effect of the “national conversation” that social media appear to present? Does a presence in Twitter or Google Plus or Tumblr or whatever give people a need to feel superior?
When Dune was made into a miniseries back in 2000, I remember a lot of excitement and differing opinions, but I don’t remember anyone saying, “Miniseries? Pfff. I read the book.” Heck, it was only 2008 when HBO developed True Blood out of Charlaine Harris’ Sookie Stackhouse novels, and I don’t recall that sort of wanna-be-alpha-geek garbage.
So what’s different about Game of Thrones? Is there something of the novels by George R. R. Martin that invites this attitude? Is it just that Game of Thrones is such a huge hit? Or is it just the proliferation of social media over the last few years?
I don’t know. I just wish people would calm down and embrace the joy of sharing what they love.
What do you guys think? Any ideas?
*May not be his actual middle name.
