When Nerds Ruled the World

The 1980s gave way to the under-appreciated nerds. Despite the fallout of the Watergate Scandal and the Reaganomics that allowed a big materialistic culture to spread, there was an undercurrent, a subculture for the first time in movies that depicted the rise of the nerd. They weren’t cool, but their films were. Easily some of the best standouts were Weird Science, Revenge of the Nerds, and heck, just about any John Hughes films, but none more famous than Back to the Future, which celebrates a theatrical re-release and its first Blu-ray release.

“Lou. Give me a milk…Chocolate.”

Even though the characteristics were being born in shows like Happy Days and even in other media like Spider-Man in the 1960s, it was the ’80s the defined the now stereotypical elements of a nerd. Socially awkward, large glasses, smart, showing interest in things others deem childish like comic books, movie history, and baseball cards, all things we can point to in those films from John Hughes, let did anyone do it better than George McFly? Back to the Future is a brilliant comedy, mixing sci-fi elements with the nerd-coming-of-age, that seen a son going back into the past, and having to reconnect his socially awkward father to his flirtatious mother. In fact, if one thing united all of the fan favorite nerd movies, it was that despite any social shortcomings, like a jock or rich kid, they all wanted one thing: the girl.

“Wait a minute, don’t I know you from somewhere?” says Lorraine Baines. In a little show of victory, after trying so hard, George McFly says “Yes. Yes. I’m George, George McFly. I’m your density. I mean… your destiny.” Doesn’t that not sum up the nerd movement in the 1980s? Just like anyone else, they wanted to get laid. Yes, we all have our favorites, and really that’s pretty interesting in itself. Maybe it just needed a name, but it seems like the popularity of these films stem from our own past. Were we all nerds?

George McFly. Lewis Skolnick. The Geek. Iconic nerds that are seemingly universal. But in recent years, the nerddom has changed. This is best seen in Universal’s release of Scott Pilgrim vs the World, where nerds are chic, a branch into a materialistic nerd, that also seems too cool for school. Why or when, which might be the right question, did nerds change from George McFly the sheepish goof to Scott Pilgrim the hip nerd with a band? Maybe it was the shift into our “New Media” (here)? Or was it the “hyperwhite” nerd takeover (here)? Perhaps the nerd culture just vanished into something new, yet unrecognizable to what we were or loved in the 1980s. All genres come and go. All subculture fade. But at least, for whatever the reasons why nerds just aren’t the nerds of yesteryear, fans can enjoy Universal’s Blu-ray of Back to the Future on October 26th to a time when nerds ruled the world.

“Last night, Darth Vader came down from planet Vulcan and told me that if I didn’t take Lorraine out that he’d melt my brain.” Rock on, McFly…