Cartoons for geeks: rise of a new demographic?

[twisted81]

Lavenderpaw, there's nothing stereotypical about being a geek. You can look and dress however you want to, but if you enjoy a certain genre or media (like everyone here does, considering the fact that we're on an animation board for crying out loud), then you're a geek. If you were being called a nerd, THAT would be an insult.

I'm a geek (mostly of anime and comic books) and proud of it. :sweat:

[Sadia A]

Also, here's one thing I forgot to talk about in the previous post. I mentioned the rise of the geek as producer, but just as important is the consolidation of the geek as consumer.

Here the internet makes another entrance. While before the present time geekery was a comparatively niche pastime (hence the traditional division between 'mainstream' and 'everything else') the rise of the world wide web has resulted in the widespread adoption of the 'long tail' as a feasible economic model (for those scratching their heads, a potted explanation is provided here). Geeks were a niche when considered in their own localised population centres, but the internet has allowed them to group together into a cohesive demographic of formidable size. And as the 'mainstream' has fragmented into various niches, 'geeks' have ironically turned out to the largest and most inter-connected and organised of these niches. It's the king niche, in other words.

All this has added up to geeks having far more influence and purchasing power than they did previously. While the mass audience has split up into quadrants and can no longer be relied upon to frog-march together to the cinema or sit down in front of the same television program, geeks have remained relatively cohesive and can be counted on to turn up in droves for big events and purchase the related merchandise, making them a make-or-break highly-coveted audience.

Take a look at the cinema. Ten years ago, the mass audience was turning out in shifts to see Titanic, and no other movie came close. Nowadays the most hotly-anticipated film of the year is a Batman movie.

[Julianna {TSL}]

This is just the sympton of Generation X rising to power. We of Generation X grew up on cartoons, and thus they serve as our inspiratinos. THis is more so for those who get into teh entertainment industries. Since they grey up on cartoons, they want to make cartoons, but with something their now adult-selves can enjoy. GenX consumers are in it for similar reasons. They grew up with cartoons, so on a subconscious level they aren't put off by cartoons. Any objections are merely skin deep and are the result of peer pressure and conotation.
Geek animation is how Generation X expresses itself.