Brayden Christensen

Eng. 1100
Trope Paper
Alva
8/4/2016

Nerd and the Beast

In the days of old, there can be traced the origins of one the most well
known couples to come. The Nerd and the Jock. Both have been an icon on
the American silver screen. The Nerd, a being that is full of knowledge, social
ineptness, and sudden confidence gains that totally avoid the plot. The Jock,
a lovable person that is dimwitted, strong, and almost always loses the girl at
the last moment to the protagonist of the movie. However quirky these
might be, they play a major role in how society views these types of people.
Tracy L. Cross, author of Nerds and Geeks: Society's Evolving Stereotype of
Our Students Gifts and Talents said "The two most common ones are nerd
and geek. When we first started interviewing gifted students about these
terms in 1982, we found that both terms had very negative ramifications in
the gifted students perceptions" (Cross 26). Cross is right in this statement.
Over the years kids and teens have been subject to these types of pains in
their everyday life.

Typical stereotypes for jocks and nerds aren't served well. With the
word "nerd" dating back to the 1950's(todayifoundout.com) and Jock dating
back to the 1960's (dictionary.com). Being ingrained into the past three
generations what a nerd and jock are supposed to be. It becomes no surprise
why people think of them like this. With this information, we're going to go
over the jock and nerd stereotype, Steve Urkel and why it's okay to be a
nerd, and Jocks can be smart. Disclaimer: in here we are putting the terms
Geek and Nerd into on definition.Indeed a challenging quest, but one that is
worth the travels.
Over the past 50 60 years, Jocks and Nerds have been set into the
American mind with what they're supposed to be like. Just searching on the
internet for Nerd or Jock it spawns hundreds, if not thousands of quizzes to
determine your stereotype. In the media they portray the stereotypes of
jocks as dumb, good looking, and popular. While nerds are portrayed in the
exact opposite manner. What gives? In an article by Gabrielle Longo she
gives us the perfect answer " Stereotyping is almost human nature: people
pre-judge others based on factors such as how they look, the environment
they were brought up in, etc." (Longo). Longo brings up a pretty good point.
People are very good at creating ideas of others in their minds. Stereotypes
lead to social categorization, which is one of the reasons for prejudice
attitudes (i.e. them and us mentality) which leads to in-groups and outgroups (McLeod).

Although human nature does lead to discrimination, we can see many

positive media influences for these stereotypes. Some examples include Boy
Meets World, 21 Jump Street (2011), Never Been Kissed etc. In recent years
actually, there has been less and less of these negative stereotypes. This is
probably because of all the remakes and sequels over the past ten years...
Either way it shouldn't be the way we teach people about those who are
athletic or smart. Even if it's for entertainment, portraying somebody as
something theyre not like can have a negative influence. For example, Steve
Urkel.
Family Matters, probably one of the greatest sitcoms of the 80's and
90's. One character portrays the "Nerd" trope perfectly. Steve Urkel. Steve
Urkel is on another level compared to the likes of other nerds. Spawning
many fan videos, parodies, and inspirations. Now wait, isn't he based on a
negative stereotype? Actually no. Although Urkel Looks and plays the
negative stereotype, the character has been an interesting development. In
fact, over the past 5 years, dressing like he did has become an a social trend.
Jordana Lipsitz says it perfectly with "We all wear our nerdy moments as a
badge of dorky pride and run down the streets screaming "I love fantasy
series! I watch Game of Thrones every Sunday!"
It's time to face it, we're in a new age, a new way to accept things.
Back in the 80's it was taboo to be nerdy. Even back in the 50's it was a lot
different. In 2016 we're seeing people accepting who they are. Spawning

many acceptance articles, videos, even a subreddit (although it's pretty

small). Most impressive of all is an article named "Being Labeled Nerd: Factors
That Influence the Social Acceptance of High-Achieving Students" by Katrin
Rentzsch, Astrid Schtz & Michela Schrder-Ab. It literally is about acceptance of
being a nerd. There's nothing wrong with being smart or into something that's
considered "nerdy". What the issue is people who base others by stereotypes from
the media.
This actually plays for Jocks too. The most common stereotype for a jock is
being dumb. A dimwitted individual who is only good at playing sports. It's hard
admitting it, but the results came in: Athletic students suffer from lower test scores
on entrance exams to Universities. Alison Go wrote "Football players average 220

points lower on the SAT than their classmates. Men's basketball was 227
points lower" That is a pretty large gap actually. Go went on to say "Georgia
Tech had the nation's best average SAT score for football players, 1028 of a
possible 1600, and best average high school GPA, 3.39 of a possible 4.0. But
because its student body is apparently very smart, Tech's football players
still scored 315 SAT points lower than their classmates." (Go). That's just
terrible, however, test scores only reflect what the students have known for
about 18 years of their life.
If anything, Chris Isidore illustrated on CNN "Up until the season starts,
the workload trails off to 50 to 60 hours a week. That eases to 40 to 50 hours
a week once the season, and classes, begin. Weeks with road games include
a 37-hour stretch that includes travel, practice, a 3-to-4-hour game and

some time to sleep in a strange hotel". That sounds grueling. Athletes at

colleges are supposed to be full time students and be able to play their sport
at the same time. It's probably the a leading cause to why athletes fall
behind in these tests. It also should be taken into account that every person
is different. A prime example would probably be Cyborg from DC Comics.
Cyborg (Victor Stone) underwent tests in which increased his IQ. In an act of
rebellion, Victor participated in things his parents didn't approve like
athletics. In Justice League: War, Cyborg is portrayed as a star college
football star before he gets hurt by Darkseides invading army. Just because
an athletes get lower scores on average, doesn't mean they aren't smart.
Jocks and Nerds are proven to be something that society has yet to
give up. Whether You can accept yourself, or just know that it's okay to not
be the smartest. It's important to know that either way, the stereotype on
the social group that you get shoveled into is most likely going to be wrong.
Hopefully there will be a change in the future. A change in how we educate
people on why stereotypes of this kind would help break them down.
In conclusion, the Jock and Nerd tropes can be changed to look
positive, and show a negative impact on those that are subjected to it. If we
would be able to change these ways, we would hopefully be able to see
somebody for who they truly are. If not for these stereotypes though, we
wouldn't have pop-culture as we know it today. Just keep in mind that being
yourself is the most important to get along in life.

Citations
1. Cross, Tracy. "Nerds and Geeks: Societys Evolving Stereotypes of Our
Students With Gifts and Talents." Social/ Emotional Needs (n.d.): n. pag. Web.
4 Aug. 2016.

2. "Cyborg (comics)." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 05 Aug. 2016.

3. Go, Alison. "Athletes Show Huge Gaps in SAT Scores." U.S. News & World:
Education. N.p., 30 Dec. 2008. Web. 5 Aug. 2016.

4. Hiskey, Daven. "Where the Words." Today I Found Out. N.p., 30 Sept. 2010.
Web. 05 Aug. 2016.

5. Isadore, Chris. "Why Being a College Athlete Is a Full-time Job." CNNMoney.

Cable News Network, 31 Mar. 2014. Web. 05 Aug. 2016.

6. Justice League War. Dir. Jay Oliva. Prod. James Tucker. By Heath Corson. Perf.
Christopher Gorham, Justin Kirk Shemar Moore, Jason O'Mara. N.p., n.d. Web.
5 Aug. 2016.

7. Lipsitz, Jordana. "Steve Urkels 14 Most Relatable Nerdy Moments On 'Family

Matters'" Bustle.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Aug. 2016.

8. Longo, Gabrielle. "Scoring A Goal Against the "Dumb Jock"

Stereotype."Http://scholarsarchive.jwu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?
article=1029&context=ac_symposium. Johnson & Wales University, Spring
2015. Web. 4 Aug. 2016.

9. Rentzsch, Katrin, Astrid Schtz, and Michela Schrder-Ab. "Being Labeled

Nerd : Factors That Influence the Social Acceptance of High-Achieving
Students." The Journal of Experimental Education 79.2 (2011): 143-68. Web. 5
Aug. 2016.
<http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00220970903292900?
journalCode=vjxe20>.

10.

"Steve Urkel." Family Matters Wiki. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 05

Aug. 2016.
11."The Definition of Jock." Dictionary.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Aug. 2016.