Angry Robot

Wizards vs. Nerds, Culture vs. Community

What starts as a discussion of why wrock (wizard rock aka Harry Potter bands) has more of a community than nerdcore hiphop winds up as a distinction between culture and community, and how some geeks may want the former without the latter. It’s a long and sinewy thread woven between several sites, so I’ll just point you to Geek Studies for a good summary, all the relevant links, and some interesting points.

4 comments on "Wizards vs. Nerds, Culture vs. Community"

  1. Nadine says:

    I don’t know how I feel about Harry Potter Bands.

    Wait I do…

    No sir.

    I don’t like it.

  2. Nadine says:

    Okay okay maybe I was being harsh there…

    I don’t mind Sci Fi Folk singing aka Filking so why would I mind this…Wrocking…

    I’m a bad person, all fan made stuff that celebrates something people dig is awesome in its own way.

    I just don’t really care about Harry Potter so much…I mean I like the movies and all. I just don’t read the books…Yeah yeah yeah I know they are amazing and stuff but you know what? I just don’t hold to magical rules. Magic cannot be taught in a school. It’s like the super opposite of how I view magic.

    There that’s my big problem with the Potter books. I dislike the Robing and Instituionalizing of magic. I dislike the prison it put magic into. Damning millions of young minds into thinking they could only learn magic and not discover it for themselves.

  3. D says:

    Nadine, that’s basically the nerd equivalent of Northern Ireland before the peace: highly similar people hating on each other for minute differences. Now I realize there was a lot of reading if you followed the links, but if you got to the end of this thread you’ll see that they’re (wisely) calling for a community that encompasses all the various nerd musical genres: wrock, nerdcore, videogame music, etc.

    I can understand you not being a fan of Harry Potter (I haven’t read the books either), but you’re someone who enjoys rock music about elves and (non-institutionalized) magic, so surely you can get behind some Potter bands. Despite your very interesting point about Harry Potter encouraging trust in institutions…

  4. Nadine says:

    Yes, it is an interesting point I make!

    But you are right, if I can listen to progressive metal I guess I can listen to wrock….

    I feel that listening to dudes sing about war on evil in general is okay, but listening to someone singing the praises of Hogwarts and the battle against The One Who Cannot be Named… Meh. Just meh.

    I’m not Nothern Ireland!!!

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