Geek culture is a very real thing and it is now more widespread than ever. It seems comic book brands such as Marvel and DC are ever gaining popularity and retro gaming is increasingly popular with millennials as people dive back into long time favourites such as older Zelda and Super Mario video games.
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The world is more connected than ever and when it comes to free time people have never had so many options with several streaming services filled with incredible TV programmes, music, and countless hours of procrastination at your fingertips wrapped up in your phone and social media yet with all these alternatives, geek culture is only growing stronger.
Apps
Nintendo are a signature part of geek culture and they have their finger on the pulse of society allowing them to attract people’s attention. They have succeeded extremely well at putting themselves in front of people by targeting their mobile phones with exciting apps such as Super Mario run. Super Mario run boasts massive success ranking in the top 10 most downloaded apps in the apple app in 2016 store despite only being released in December. It also was reported by apple as the most downloaded app on Christmas Day and New year’s Day 2016.
TV and Film
In a similar way that Nintendo took over our phones last year the geek culture surrounding comic books has seen DC and Marvel take over our screens in huge blockbuster movies and awesome TV series which has led to the acquisition of new fans, many of which have never read a comic book. Yet these TV appearances has led to a rapid increase in popularity of the Comic book brands and has made knowing your heroes as important as keeping up with Game of Thrones or the latest celebrity gossip.
The ever-popular Disney has brought child friendly, action-packed movies to many through the Marvel Cinematic Universe whilst Marvel’s Netflix shows have captivated an older audience, broadening the demographic the brand appeals to. Simultaneously DC have targeted the younger fans with TV shows such as The Flash, reserving their movies for a slightly more adult audience. Ultimately creating a wide all-encompassing audience which is paying close attention to the on-screen antics of both major comic book brands in one way or another.
As well as these the phenomenon of Harry Potter is still going strong after the original 7 books became 8 films and before the Harry Potter brand showed signs of slowing down it picked up full speed with the first of five Fantastic Beast movies captivating both Potter-heads and new fans alike, seemingly keeping this sub category of geek culture strong for a long time to come.
Alongside this a new generation of Star Wars super fans have been created through animated spin-off shows and new movies from Disney. Combined these huge names are keeping geek culture strong as far as TV and film are concerned.
Social Media
The dawn of social media platforms such as Facebook and YouTube in the early 2000s and their rapid takeover of mainstream culture across the last decade has connected people in a way never experienced before and naturally sub cultures have exploited this connectivity to their fullest. Facebook is filled with fan pages and groups dedicated to hugely geeky topics such as retro gaming, Comic books and more with some groups becoming very niche and targeting individual characters such as a specific comic book Superhero Superman or even a particular comic book series or video game. Whatever your geeky interest there is a place to share your passion and have a conversation around it with people from all over the world. As well as talking social platforms have become the place to listen and read in order to learn the newest information around your favourite segmentation of geek culture – this is particularly noticeable on video sharing platforms such as Youtube which has seen people earn a massive following and fan base for talking about something they love whether they are offering up fan theories, product reviews or something entirely different there are people willing to listen.
Merchandise
Merchandise sales have sky rocketed over recent years with people jumping at the chance to tell the world they love Star Wars or Batman without having to say a word but by having a logo emblazoned across their t-shirt, on their mug or dangling from a keychain. Merchandise looks cool and comes in all forms from Zelda luminart to Star Wars cookie jars geek culture has resulted in glorious creations made to satisfy demand.
Retro gaming
Retro gaming is a particularly popular form of geekery but when compared to other forms such as reading comic books retro gaming is fairly new. Classic games have only in recent years became classed as retro and have been revisited by the eldest millennials revisiting consoles from their youth such as the NES and Gameboy. The trend of revisiting these consoles has found the aforementioned millennials as well as Gen-x introducing their childhood gaming consoles to their children. A top of this many teens are venturing into the world of retro gaming on their own due to the maintained popularity of leading characters such as Super Mario.
Geek culture is a fundamental part of many peoples live no matter which form it takes and with leading brands striving to meet the high demand for merchandise, content and more bigger and better films, games, comics and more are being created subsequently attracting more fans. This is why we love geek culture.
