Queer & Nerdy: Why Not Make a Movie for Us?

Hooray! Hooray! It looks like there is finally going to be a nerdgirl movie! I09.com's interview with the author sounds absolutely promising. Someone who collected Bajoran earrings as a teenager can't be a bad person. Period.

I am over the moon about this. I really enjoyed Scott Pilgrim, and I gobble up episodes of The Big Bang Theory like delicious candy. To put it more simply, I am a huge nerd. So is my dear significant other, in fact, she was the one who helped me embrace the more nerdy aspects of my personality, and fully introduced me to Star Trek and all that comes with it. We saw the new movie as our first date together. It's good to have nerdy women on the screen. Amy Farrah Fowler, for instance, is my significant other's ideal woman, and I can't disagree with that, nor when she teasingly declares me to be Seven of Nine because of my shitty understanding of social graces (heh) It's fun to have nerdy female icons. The last time I remember there being nerd women taking front and centre stage on the big screen was Ghost World, with Thora Birch and Scarlett Johansson (Enid never said the N-word to describe herself, but those glasses and the kooky interests? Yup yup)

As for this particular nerdgirl movie, it says:

One Con Glory is a story about life, love, and action figures - and one woman's obsession with avoiding the first two while seeking the third. It follows Julie, a nerd culture reporter covering a giant comic book convention. A little too much drinking on the first night leads to antics that leave Julie with an ill-gotten classic action figure, a new relationship, and a blood feud against another reporter.

The sex/gender of Julie's new relationship is never stated. I was sort of excited about that, thinking there was a smidgin of a chance that her love interest could be a woman. But the picture above accompanying the article seemed to effectively kill that hunch. And I was left, well... more crushed than usual.

As I've detailed earlier, it's somewhat rare for there to be nerdy girls in cinema and media for me to look up to. An even rarer species seen on TV and movies is the nerdy girl who is also queer. The only example I can think of which is canon is Tara & Willow from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. And that ended with the former being killed and the latter going on an angry stampede in grief. Even rarer is the regular ol' geek girl who doesn't have any supernatural background, and happens to like women as much as she does action figures and Bajoran earrings.

Why is this? One of the things which drew me to nerd culture was how accepting of deviation from the norm it was, for a queer woman and an aspie, that's a double whammy. I will admit that the culture has some serious problems that need to be addressed, but all-in-all, I know many queer women involved actively in nerd culture, who deserve their moment to see someone with a love like theirs on the screen. It can be done, and I can see it being epic.

So, why not, Hollywood? If One Con Glory proves to be a hit (I'll certainly go see it) why not spread your wings of nerdiness further, and make a queer nerd movie? You'll be loved for it, and ten steps ahead everyone else.