Geek-Grrls Rule! (Part 1)
Over the past few years at San Diego Comic-Con, I have noted a drastic upswing in female attendance. In the late ’90s and early aughts, the fairer sex was represented mostly by mid- to late-teen girls. Typically, these were Goths-Grrls looking for Terry Moore or Neil Gaiman. Leather boots. Dyed hair. Tats. The works.
This year, I ran around with two of my oldest and dearest friends, Andrew Jones and Martha Chong (brother and sister; Martha is married). We noticed that females — both young and old — were representing! And these weren’t casual attendees or fan-boy companions. Nope. These girls were full-on…
hard-core…
NERDS!
One common threads among females was clever costuming. Hands-down, the best costumes we saw were created and worn by girls. We were particularly impressed by all the girls who exhibited uncanny character awareness and geek nuance. This goes way beyond just playing ‘dress up.’ When we asked to take someone’s picture, these girls were fully prepared with dynamic poses and catch-phrases.
One of my favorite examples of this phenomenon was a little girl Andrew and I dubbed Little Leia. She is maybe 8 years old. And she was very into the character. Andrew and I asked her father (wheelchair-bound and dressed as Darth Vader, no less) if we could take her picture. With his approval, Little Leia scurried off to drop her bag and retrieve her blaster-gun. Upon return, Little Leia struck a cool pose, and we snapped some shots (see triptych above).
Andrew and I thanked the little girl and turned to walk away. Three steps into retreat, Little Leia quietly protested, “I… I have another pose…”
Andrew and I looked at each other blankly for a moment, then broke into giant grins. “OK!” we announced, walking back toward her. “Go ahead!”
Little Leia struck her second pose. And we snapped away like Hollywood papparazi. Andrew and I agreed Little Leia was absolutely charming and adorable.
Benjamin