It was perhaps best announced by Reed Richards, a.k.a. “Mr. Fantastic” in last summer’s Fantastic Four sequel. A rough and rude army general tells the stretchable hero there is only one quarterback. Then the man smirks and says, “But you didn’t play football in high school, did you, Richards?” The super team leader responds, “You’re right, I didn’t. I stayed in and studied like a good little nerd. And 15-years later, I’m one of the greatest minds of the 21^st century, I’m engaged to the hottest girl on the planet, and the big jock who played quarterback in high school—well he’s standing in front of me asking for my help.”

This is only one of many examples of a trend in television and movies where nerds, geeks, and dweebs are finally having their day. What does it mean?

It is the millennium of the dork. The nerds are finally having their revenge. No less than half a dozen geeks are main characters in television shows with more appearing in primary or secondary roles in movies. TV favorites include Ugly Betty, which centers around a young woman who works in the highest ranks of the fashion industry. Only this girl wears thick glasses, has braces, and possesses no fashion sense. Also taking center stage in the show Chuck is Chuck Bartowski, a computer-whiz member of the “Nerd Herd” at an electronics store where he works with numerous misfit friends. Chuck’s life takes a turn when he subconsciously absorbs the database information of several government intelligence agencies, and he enters a secret dual existence as geek and super spy. He is accompanied by a gorgeous blonde agent who falls in love with the likeable misfit. Perhaps America’s most loved television nerd is in the ensemble cast of Heroes. He is Hiro Nakamura, a slightly chubby Japanese office worker whose child-like enthusiasm, comic book idealism, and awkward social skills stand off wonderfully against the fact that he is a super human being who can freeze and travel through time.

Recent films featuring nerds as heroes or their sidekicks include Live Free or Die Hard where Bruce Willis’s tough-cop character John McClean only succeeds because a computer-geek guides him through a world of Internet terrorism. Reed Richards, as mentioned above, saves the day in Fantastic Four, and Shia LeBeouf is the central character in Transformers, where he plays a high school E-bay entrepreneur desperate to get a car and figure out how to talk to girls.

I could name more: Reaper, The IT Crowd, Miss/Guided, Aliens in America, Big Bang Theory, Harold and Kumar, Galaxy Quest, Dodge Ball, and even the nerdy characters of The Office. The trend is obvious. The geeks have inherited TV and movie screens.

On a cultural level the trend may be nothing more than the possibility that many nerdy people, so in love with comic books, computers, movies, and TV shows, have gone to Hollywood and are writing the scripts. It represents the coming together of two ideas: first the idea of the outcast—Americans love stories about people on the outside who find a way to triumph. Second is the idea of our increasing dependence on computers—our smart, cultural misfits have found their fit. They’ve entered the mainstream as the people we rely on to save us from the dangers of computer lock-ups, Web based viruses, and identity thieves. We used to be a nation that mistrusted “smart” people. We are becoming a culture that can’t live without them.

That said, let me add a spiritual lesson we can learn from the humble form of the dweeb, and this may be another reason for the rise of the nerd-hero. Looks can be deceiving. Consider how Isaiah described Christ:

In life the bigger, stronger, and prettier certainly do seem to win out. But the Bible says that’s just the way things appear. Christ won the greatest of all victories—he conquered death.

But as Paul tells us, he did so in a humble appearance:

The humble Christ was glorified in his humility. And we are to be like him. In that sense, perhaps the geek shall inherit the earth. As a believer with lifelong nerdish leanings, I take comfort in the possibility. |L

OTHER COLUMNS:
November 8, 2009 - Why I believe in God
October 25, 2009 - Commuting in days of evil
October 11, 2009 - Poets and don’t know it
September 27, 2009 - How Hollywood proves abortion is wrong
September 13, 2009 - Significance
August 30, 2009 - Dance alternatives
August 16, 2009 - Gluttons for gossip
August 2, 2009 - Truth from Twilight
July 19, 2009 - Visitor-friendly churches
July 5, 2009 - The Shack
June 21, 2009 - When forgiveness fails
June 7, 2009 - Re-imagining Education (Part Six)
May 24, 2009 - We are not alone
May 3, 2009 - Re-imagining education (part five)
April 26, 2009 - Conviction
April 12, 2009 - Re-imagining education (part four)
March 29, 2009 - An evangelistic proposal
March 15, 2009 - Re-imagining education (part three)
March 1, 2009 - He makes me sick
February 15, 2009 - Re-imagining education (Part Two)
February 1, 2009 - Spiritual insecurity
January 18, 2009 - Re-imagining education (part one)
January 4, 2009 - Church and politics
December 21, 2008 - Heaven’s music
December 7, 2008 - The church and marriage
November 23, 2008 - God and the president
November 9, 2008 - A time for courage
October 26, 2008 - Likes and dislikes: the Prince Caspian movie
October 12, 2008 - What’s that noise?
September 28, 2008 - Modesty matters (part two)
September 14, 2008 - All it takes is some TLC
August 31, 2008 - Modesty matters (part one)
August 17, 2008 - What would you fight for?
August 3, 2008 - Staying through the credits
July 20, 2008 - Honor to whom honor
July 6, 2008 - Tyler Perry and the movies you’re missing
June 22, 2008 - The peaceable kingdom
May 25, 2008 - Another generation grew up
May 25, 2008 - Technology and the Bible (part two)
May 11, 2008 - Technology and the Bible (part one)
April 27, 2008 - What is truth?
March 30, 2008 - A charactered God
March 16, 2008 - The college choice (part two)
March 2, 2008 - Good news can be hard to hear
February 17, 2008 - The college choice (part one)
February 5, 2008 - Ten suggestions for a godly standard of living
January 20, 2008 - Expelled: that “Bueller” guy’s pro-God movie
January 6, 2008 - Choosing a lifestyle
December 23, 2007 - Teachable TV?
December 9, 2007 - Owners or stewards?
November 25, 2007 - Christians teaching Christians to change TV and film
November 11, 2007 - My money is God’s business
October 28, 2007 - Navigating under the radar
October 14, 2007 - The things God values
September 30, 2007 - Movie moments
September 16, 2007 - God’s economics
September 2, 2007 - The best books to read
August 19, 2007 - There’s a rat in ‘separate’
August 5, 2007 - The art of reading
July 22, 2007 - Atheist chic
July 8, 2007 - Why books matter: the sequel
June 10, 2007 - Books: why they matter
June 3, 2007 - The non-impact of “The Lost Tomb of Jesus”
May 27, 2007 - The universal gospel
May 13, 2007 - Loving Muslims through culture
April 29, 2007 - Hope
April 15, 2007 - God in the dark
April 1, 2007 - The gospel goes to the movies
March 18, 2007 - What the Bible movies can teach us
March 4, 2007 - What will you hurt for?
February 18, 2007 - Why Heroes . . .
February 4, 2007 - Give peace a chance
January 21, 2007 - When fairy tales are true
January 7, 2007 - WYSIWYG lives
December 31, 2006 - What’s coming next?
December 17, 2006 - Mercy, mercy
December 3, 2006 - Proof of evolution!
November 19, 2006 - Hungering for God
November 5, 2006 - Violence and government, war and peace
October 22, 2006 - The mighty meek
October 8, 2006 - The Battlestar and the Bible
September 24, 2006 - Soap for the soul
September 10, 2006 - Right vs. cool
August 27, 2006 - The painful truth
August 13, 2006 - More Lies Hollywood Tells
July 30, 2006 - Christian counter culture
July 16, 2006 - The lies Hollywood tells