No longer constrained by the four walls of a dimly-lit basement or the stacks of a comic book store. No longer only openly revered by social outcasts (and covertly by everyone else in fear of being shunned). So-called “geek culture” is - in many ways - no more. Or at least it has evolved to be something vastly different than it has been in the past. The cornerstones of geek culture of decades gone by, from sci-fi to comic books, from video games to anime, don’t just have their footholds in the mainstream. They have become the mainstream, permeating today’s biggest children’s and adult media trends alike. So, as we all sit through the credits of yet another Marvel movie, waiting for yet another post-credits scene, it’s worth asking ourselves: have we all become geeks, how did this happen, and what does it mean for the future?
The most obvious way in which geek culture has become a staple in pop culture is of course through screen adaptations of comic books, both feature film and television. Although one would think that DC had the head start, having the rights to iconic characters such as Superman and Batman, it is Marvel that took the movie industry by storm in the past decade. The Marvel Cinematic Universe, comprising more than 20 films and dozens of characters, became a set of interwoven narratives and franchises, brought together in a grand finale in the form of the highest-grossing movie spectacular of all time (at the time at least). “Avengers: Endgame” earned $2.798B at the global box office, and is now the second highest grossing movie of all time, after being narrowly dethroned by the re-release of James Cameron’s “Avatar”. Notably, it is not the only Marvel film people around the world saw in droves: “Avengers: Infinity War” is fifth in terms of box office earnings, and the first “The Avengers” movie ranks 8th. The dollar signs speak for themselves - it’s not just geeks who are all over superheroes today.
Although “Endgame” brought a sense of finality to the MCU, Marvel is not slowing down - it was only the end of Phase 3, and we are already well into Phase 4 with the release of “Black Widow” and the many streaming titles being released on Disney+. Each series is dedicated to developing fan-favourite side characters, and these have been a hit for the platform, both in drawing in subscribers - and in drawing critical acclaim. The June release of “Loki'' coincided with Disney+’s biggest increase in mobile app downloads among major streamers, with a 39% increase in the week ending 27th June, and an 11% increase in streaming sessions, according to Bloomberg’s Apptopia data, and in general Disney+ is currently chipping away at Netflix’s dominance in the streaming space. It definitely takes a bit of a geek to want to watch a multi-episode series about a villain or a supporting character who didn’t get their own feature length movie, and clearly there is no shortage of those out there. They also come in all shapes and sizes - at KI we have interviewed children as young as 6 who report enjoying watching Marvel series with their parents.
To put it simply: superheroes are cool now. And it’s not just the MCU. The “DC Extended Universe” may not have taken off in the same way, but television’s “Arrowverse” definitely has its own very loyal following. Superhero movies and TV shows, like “Logan” or HBO’s “Watchmen”, have received prestigious accolades. Comic book brands are no longer “for kids” or “for geeks” - everyone knows these stories and characters, including their mother, father and brother. Once upon a time everyone knew that Superman was the super strong guy, now everyone has an opinion on where they stand in the Captain America vs Iron Man conflict in “Civil War”. There is something for everyone in comic book stories, from a bit of good old fashioned fisticuffs, in-depth character conflict, to comedy and teenage high school hijinks. Many of today’s superhero stories are also more diverse and more relatable; everyone is bound to find a type of superhero they can enjoy.
To an extent the appeal of comic book movies also translates to other expressions of fandom. Parts of the “geek” industry have seen growth, from collectable merchandise like Funko POP! action figures (Funko reports growth every year and quarter, with the POP! line specifically most recently seeing growth of 33% in US and Europe in the first quarter of 2021), to events (the San Diego Comic Con attracts upwards of 130 thousand attendees every year). Similarly, one would expect this to translate to comic books - and many in the industry do cite MCU’s success as the reason for the U-turn in the decline in comic sales post-1993 (i.e. when the comic book bubble burst - but that’s a story for another day). In the 2010s, comic book sales in the US alone crossed the $1 billion mark in 2015, and grew to a $1.2 billion peak in 2019. However, according to retailers the ‘movie-lover-to-comic-reader’ conversion is difficult, and hasn’t been all that successful. Yes, more people come into stores and give comics a try, but they also stick to content that is as close to the adaptation as possible. The industry has seen boosts and has seen increased sales related directly to trending storylines or characters - but the bottom line is this: we might collectively be comic book movie geeks, but we’re not quite comic book geeks (yet).
Gaming as an activity is now officially universal, regardless of age and gender. According to data from the Children’s Commissioner for England, a mind-blowing 93% of UK’s children play video games (2019). In the US, the Entertainment Software Association reports that 75% of households have at least one person who plays - and that 64% of adults and 70% of under-18s play regularly (2020). These impressive numbers are in part due to the ubiquity of devices - cheap, portable, accessible - as well as the internet; gaming is no longer reliant on clunky, wired consoles, nor is it something that must be done outside the home at a questionably smelling arcade. No longer a hobby just for the young and the male, women and girls are also gaming - in the US, 41% of all gamers are female (ESA, 2020).
Mobile gaming is a big driving force behind today’s gaming growth. Perhaps the once-leading Candy Crush Saga is not necessarily a “geeky” game, but Pokémon Go definitely is - and it recently surpassed $5 billion in revenue as it celebrated its 5th anniversary. The game has been downloaded over 600 million times over this period, which means there are many, many people out there who have dedicated their time to catching little monsters. But in 2021 the biggest title in mobile has been Genshin Impact, bringing in $174 million in revenue; an action role-playing game with gacha elements, set in a fantasy world and designed in an anime art style. In other words, the biggest mobile gaming hit of the year is basically a checklist of “geeky” elements, from art style to genre.
Beyond this seemingly more casual realm of mobile gaming, there are other booming genres which appear across a myriad of devices. Battle Royale-style gameplay has exploded in recent years thanks to the hits PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (a.k.a PUBG) and Fortnite. Where PUBG Mobile was the highest grossing mobile game of 2020, Fortnite has its own records too: it attracted a historic 12.3 million concurrent players during a special musical event featuring Travis Scott. In addition, Common Sense Media reports that 61% of teens have played Fortnite at least once, including 73% of teenage boys (2019). Creative world building has flourished too, in particular with Roblox, which in 2020 reported more than 32 million daily active users, an 85% year-over-year increase. All of these major players in the gaming space have also had hugely successful collaborations and in-game events featuring TV shows, movies, music stars and more, which have only helped drum up more interest and activity. Gaming is no longer just about playing - it’s about deeper engagement that involves creating, socialising, and players’ other intersecting interests playing a role. With how involved it is, is gaming now less or more “geeky” than in the past? You tell me.
In fact, the gaming industry today is worth more than the film and music industries combined, and the gap will only keep on getting wider as more people play. Gaming itself is interactive, complex and varied, but beyond that there is even more to gaming. Watching, streaming and spectating are all part of the gaming game too; Twitch, the live streaming platform used by gamers is huge, Youtubers in the gaming space have made careers out of people viewing their videos, and e-sports are a phenomenon in and of themselves, with huge arena events, professional teams, sponsorships and TV broadcasts. Gaming has not only stopped being geeky, it has become a profession, a career path and a business.
Similarly to superheroes and video games, once upon a time interest in anime and manga may have been limited to people known as “otakus” or “weebs”, but in the year 2021 things could not be more different once again. The anime industry is worth over $20 billion today, with overseas markets accounting for half of the Japanese animation industry’s profits according to the Association of Japanese Animations. In 2019 the industry reached an all time high of $24 billion, with the overseas market valued at around $11 billion - a 19% increase on 2018, and almost a fivefold increase from 2009. These numbers include everything from animation itself (TV and film), to music, and merchandise, with the latter alone being worth over $5.2 billion globally. The dollar signs don’t lie - they’re all pointing East. Not only are we geeks, we’re also otakus.
Data from various streaming services further backs up the data on anime’s growth. According to the specialist anime streamer Crunchyroll’s data, a whopping 8 in 10 people today watch anime, and the platform has felt this. During last year’s Festival of Licensing the platform boasted of nine consecutive years of record sales (the site doesn’t just offer anime, but also manga and merchandise), and in February 2021 the site had hit 4 million paying subscribers, alongside over 100 million registered users, having grown its paid memberships by 33% in the space of just six months. In December 2020, news emerged regarding a possible monumental merger worth almost $1.2 billion in which Crunchyroll would be acquired by another anime giant: Sony’s Funimation. With this deal secured in 2021, we can only expect their subscribers to grow.
Anime isn’t just something found on niche platforms however; regular mainstream players recognise the power of anime too. In 2020 Netflix reported that more than 100 million households across the globe had watched at least one anime title on the platform between January and September, an increase by 50% from the year before, and that anime titles had appeared in top 10 lists in nearly 100 countries. The company has a Tokyo-based team dedicated to anime production and is regularly producing new content as well as acquiring new titles. Just as an example, earlier this year they released a well-received two-part Sailor Moon movie “Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Eternal”, and August will see the release of “The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf”, an anime prequel to the live-action fantasy “The Witcher” series based on the Polish hit-books-turned-hit-video-games (now how’s that for layers of geekiness?).
Of course, the best known titles today are still the likes of Pokémon, Naruto, Studio Ghibli movies, but people are broadening their horizons. This exploration does not end with animation - manga sales were at an all time record high in 2020. Based on NPD’s BookScan data, across the 20 top selling adult graphic novels in the US in October 2020, 17 were manga titles. One of the biggest hits of today took the top three spots: My Hero Academia, a shōnen superhero-themed series popular with teenagers. This year an ever hotter commodity is the supernatural series Jujutsu Kaisen, particularly following the release of its anime adaptation; as of May this year it has 50 million copies in circulation, it has had successful brand collaborations including Uniqlo, and has topped the list of Japan’s most lucrative franchises of 2021 so far.
Anime and manga are popular enough in the English-speaking world that an element of fandom never previously accessible to these audiences is finally being opened up to them as well. This summer, for the first time ever, stage adaptations of popular anime will be streamed online with English subtitles for non-Japanese speaking audiences. These musical stage productions, also known as “2.5 dimensional musicals”, are a big part of manga, anime and video game fandom in Japan, but overseas audiences haven’t been able to engage with them officially until now. In August musical adaptations of Naruto, Sailor Moon and My Hero Academia will be streaming as part of a special online theatre event.
Geek culture has undoubtedly morphed and evolved over time, and the 21st century has seen it become - for all intents and purposes - pop culture, with previously “geek” franchises and fandoms becoming your standard, everyday, blockbuster fare. How “geek” evolves from this point on, we are yet to see - but it is definitely here to stay. It has made its place in the media landscape and it is seeping into trends everywhere. Geek franchises have bastions of fans, and they’re primed and ready to discover new titles and brands that align with their tastes. It is official: we have all become geeks (probably without even realising it).
