Jentasmic: Who Are You Calling Geek?

A Broke Hoedown family portrait: Jet, Spike, and Vicious from Cowboy Bebop (left to right). Just try to ignore the super-boring convention center background!

When anime cons have been at your local convention center or mall, have you scoffed at those wackos dressed up as their favorite anime or video game characters? It’s all a bit beyond the pale, eh? Well, somehow this week’s Jentasmic column on the relationship between Disney geeks and Anime geeks bring to mind a certain Kris Kristofferson song:

‘Cos everybody’s got to have somebody to look down on.
Who they can feel better than at anytime they please.
Someone doin’ somethin’ dirty, decent folks can frown on.
If you can’t find nobody else, then help yourself to me.

This week’s Jentasmic! column, written while I was packing for last weekend’s ConnectiCon multi-genre geeky convention, talks in more detail on the topic.

I guess I don’t need to tell you what Disney geeks tend to think about Anime geeks, but I won’t let that stop me. Disney geeks tell me that Anime geeks are just, well, weird. They dress up like their favorite characters, after all, and parade around in the convention center as if there’s nothing to be embarrassed about. They’ll even go out in public that way! And, well, the funny thing is, when Disney geeks are telling me how weird Anime geeks are, we never seem to get past the wardrobe issue.

Anime geeks, on the other hand, tend to think of Disney geeks as boring, mainstream, without any sense of adventure or imagination. Anime geeks see Disney films as lacking in significant plot or character development, and by association see Disney geeks as somewhat unimaginative dullards, to be satisfied by such simplistic entertainment.

I had a fabulous time at ConnectiCon, as you might have already guessed from the cosplay photos posted earlier this week. And it wasn’t all taking pictures, watching anime, and attending panels….I also co-led a panel with my spouse and son, “The Family that Geeks Together, Keeps Together” (ppt slides here). Those Darn Cats podcast listeners should expect to hear some discussion of and live audio from ConnectiCon (including snippets from our panel) in late August/September episodes, so subscribe now and beat the rush! Also actually, this week’s episode is awesomeness of an entirely different variety, as my BFF scored an interview with Devon Dawson, who voiced Jessie the Yodeling Cowgirl with Riders in the Sky on the album Woody’s Roundup.

But I digress.

Next time you see those wacko cosplayers at the local convention center, maybe take a moment to ponder the look you get from your co-workers when you tell them you’re going to Walt Disney World again. Do you really want to throw stones from that glass house?