The nerds had their revenge at the movies, but the geeks are out to rule SPACE.

We made fun of them in high school, but geeks are definitely on the rise in pop culture, according to Fanboy Confessional, a six-part TV series of 30-minute documentaries premiering on SPACE on July 13.

Fanboy Confessional is an affectionate look at the subcultural passion for things like steampunk, cosplay (costume play-acting), and live-action role playing, or LARP.

Toronto’s Markham Street Films shines a light on many North American movements that attract thousands of followers and are growing fast.

“It used to be, if you were called a fanboy, it was a pejorative term,” said writer and director Michael McNamara, who grew up in Windsor, Ont. “Now these people are serious about what they do, but they also have a lot of fun with it.”

In most cases, fanboys harmlessly live out their fantasies, like dressing up for Halloween every day.

But then there’s a mask-wearing man in Vancouver, who goes only by the name Thanatos, the Greek god of death. He puts his life on the line in inner-city neighbourhoods in order to distribute health-saving items to the homeless. He thinks of himself as a real-life superhero, or RLSH.

“It was a revelation to me,” McNamara said. “This is not just a series about people and their passions. It is about life-altering experiences, the friends they collect and the communities they have created.”

Cameras follow a group of teenage girls who spend hours making costumes of their favourite anime characters, just to strut their stuff at massive cosplay conventions.

A woman in Hamilton, Ont., stages annual “fiend-raisers” in nearby Toronto, in which she and hundreds of others dress as zombies and invade city streets for charity.

A leader of the horror-club movement was kicked out of high-school shop class for making a glove inspired by that worn by A Nightmare on Elm Street’s Fred Krueger.

Inventors don goggles and create contraptions, such as a steam-powered computer, from materials used in the Victorian era. That’s the theory behind steampunk, or retro-technology.

McNamara said the LARP movement, or live-action role playing, exploded with the popularity of the 2008 movie, Role Models. Critics trashed it, but it has become a rallying cry for role players everywhere.

We are definitely witnessing the Dawn of the Geek.

McNamara counts himself among their number with a large collection of vinyl records. Vinyl, as we know now, isn’t final.

The pervasiveness of the Internet, he said, has allowed geeks to emerge from their cedar-lined closets without fear of humiliation.

“There have always been science-fiction fans going back to the turn of the 20th century,” Markham said. “But what has changed is the ability of people to really connect with one another and share stories, recipes, if you will, ideas, and passions.”

   

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