Another Reason Why I Hate Breakfast Television

Haven’t blogged for ages I know. This could be because nothing terrible has happened to fire me with righteous indignation. Or it could be because I’m lazy. :P 

And this subject? Well, I do know there are more important things happening in the world today, thanks for pointing that out. But this is my blog and this is something that is still giving me the irrits every time I think about it. And I’m thinking about it – it’s like a sore tooth, I can’t leave it alone.

To the subject at hand!

This week I had my annual mammogram. This is not bloggable, it’s just a pain in the bum. Or in the boobs really, but hey. As part of the process, a lot of waiting is involved, in hospital waiting rooms, with bad magazines and commercial television. I always take a good book.

I’d zoned out the television, it was on of those dreadful breakfast programs that have advertisements and gossip masquerading as news stories.

But then they mentioned San Diego ComicCon and my geeky ears pricked up. Only to be brutally disappointed when I heard the next bit of the blurb. A fashion article. What’s Hot and What’s Not. At ComicCon.

Let that sink in for awhile – what is hot and what is not in fashion at ComicCon . . . . . I had hopes it might be just a weird non-geek way to introduce the coolest cosplays. But no, it was all about what the guest celebrities were wearing.

Leaving aside the myriad evils of hot/not fashion articles (ie body image, conformity, hypersexualisation and why is it nearly always women they pick on?) it’s bloody ComicCon you morons!! Yeah, maybe such-and-such does look like she just finished dropping her kids off at soccer (one of the worst “fashion” comments I heard). But maybe that’s just because she knows her fans care about her and her work and her skills, we don’t care about whether she looks intimidatingly super fashionably up to date. We aren’t about to judge her based on what she’s wearing!!

The worst comment by far though? One of the fashionistas talking about convention attendees and about how it’s so cute when they wear their little costumes. I’ve heard some patronising bullshit in my time but that nearly had me exploding in the waiting room. The trouble with yelling at the tv is that the bastards can’t hear me. :(

Geeks go to conventions. They go because they are fans and story addicts. They go because they want to share with other geeks and thank the people who help put shape to their favourite stories – either as actors or writers or artists or any of the wonderful jobs involved in dreammaking.

They don’t go because they want to look at "clothes horses" and be all judgy about them wearing the “wrong” shoes.

I have always been keen to proselytise for the geek lifestyle. If non-geeks (my kids call them “straights” as in the Cookie Monster saying “Should I wear my blood-spattered Lady Macbeth t-shirt to the park or will I just scare all the straights?”) want to jump on our bandwagon and join in the fun that’s great. I aim to practice inclusive geekery and encourage my kids to do the same.

But this is too much.

ComicCon is ours. It’s not yours. I know folks out here in Australia who view it as some kind of Mecca. A trip to San Diego would be a pilgrimage to something beyond great. We go to our local events like Supanova and we love it – but ComicCon? That would be magic.

And when we go we’ll wear what we damn well please.

And we’ll expect our heroes to do the same.

Take that breakfast talk show bollocks!!