The general idea of the Stealth Geek grew out of a way to describe someone who doesn't fit the usual stereotypical image of a geek but who still is into geeky stuff and who may have geeky traits (see the first post on this blog for the full FAQ).
For an example, I bring you the Stealth Geek of the Week.
This week's Stealth Geek of the Week is the character Ben Wyatt of NBC's Parks and Recreation (played by Adam Scott, and I have no idea if he's a Stealth Geek).
At first glance, Ben seems like your typical buttoned-down business type. He enters the story as a state auditor come to fix the town's troubled finances and ends up staying in town to be assistant city manager. There's nothing obviously geeky about him.
But then his new colleagues get to know him and start understanding the depths of his geekiness, which he constantly denies, claiming that his geeky interests are actually pretty mainstream. Yes, he may refer to Jedi mind tricks in meetings, but everyone's seen Star Wars, right? And there's no point in making jokes about him staying home to rewatch the Lord of the Rings trilogy because he's actually not a huge fan of Peter Jackson's interpretation. If he looks like he's having a bad day, it's silly to ask if it's because A Game of Thrones was canceled. They'd never cancel A Game of Thrones because it has mainstream appeal, and really, it's just telling human stories in a fantasy world.
Methinks the gentleman doth protest too much.
But his inner geek came out loud and proud when his friends encouraged him to treat himself by buying something that would really make him feel good, even if it's silly, useless and expensive -- and he bought a full-on Batman outfit.
What was lovely was that his friends remained supportive and encouraging instead of mocking him (and, really, they're super Twilight freaks, so they have no room to talk).
However, if he wears the Batman outfit anywhere other than to a costume party or possibly a science fiction or comic book convention, he loses the title of Stealth Geek.
Do you have suggestions for a future Stealth Geek of the week? Let me know! I may not do one every week, and my choice may have nothing to do with recent events, just something I thought about.
2 comments:
I heart Ben Wyatt so much. It probably is because he is such a Stealth Geek. I feel like the show (or at least Tom) told us Ben was a geek, but we never really saw the geek shine through until this week. The Batman reveal was priceless. Plus, it gave us the best Tom/Donna facial expression ever.
Another Stealth Geek...Liz Lemon. She might be less Stealth and more Geek, but she has many Stealth Geek characteristics.
Does Gus from Psych count as a stealth geek? Or is he not stealthy enough? :)
Post a Comment