Pre-internet, the only way a geek could get to be a bully was through role-playing games. Because as history has taught us and continues to teach us, someone who's bullied goes in one of two directions. They either commit to the idea that bullying is wrong (roughly 5-7%), or they become bullies themselves the first chance they get (everybody else). And how do geeks (most frequently the victims of conventional, give-me-your-lunch-money-you-punk bullies) become bullies? Through fantasy, geeks can become dungeon masters, kings, wizards, kick-ass warriors. Which is the ultimate fantasy for many geeks--they get to abuse people. They gain fear and respect, friends, and admirers--they get to win.
The internet opened up many more avenues for geeks to become bullies--they start their own blogs, and then abuse people through geeky put-downs. It is perhaps not surprising, though somewhat depressing, that geek bullies tend to be even more thoughtless and abusive than the Bluto-bullies. This phenomenon is partly due to what makes most geeks in the first place--that place in the brain in charge of empathy doesn't work. If you were to ask a geek, "Do you realize how insulting and abusive that statement is?", the probable response would be something along the lines of, "How is that abusive? All I'm saying is...blah, blah, blah, *snort* *fart*."
(Doubtless it is thoughtless of me to add snorts and farts to hypothetical geek dialogue, but that's just how I imagine it.)
That's why *Role Models* is such a brilliant movie. It exactly nails the geek mentality in a positive way, and it astutely dissects what makes a geek bully. The main geek (the invaluable Christopher Mintz-Plasse, an even better movie geek than the immortal Eddie Deezen) uses role-play as an avenue for his imagination, a chance to give his nobler self an outlet--and as an escape from an all-too-ignoble world. Mintz-Plasse represents geekdom at its best. What makes *Role Models* so unique is that we get to see geeks at their worst as well, in the person of King Argotron (Ken Jeong, also giving a peerless performance). The "King" is the geek with power, and he's quick to abuse it--he's the quintessential geek bully. The spectrum of geekiness is rich and full in this movie, even playing with viewers' expectations--"villains" in the game turn out to be just fun-loving geeks, as the Paul Rudd character discovers when he leads his heroic raid against the king and his henchmen. Do yourself a favor and see it, if you haven't already.
Next time: shoop and the smug-com.
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