Comments (0) Interviews Like

Beautiful, Intelligent people taking off their…

Socially constructed stereotypes, what else? Vancouver has made a safe, inclusive place for everybody to explore themselves and their passions. Welcome to Geeksville.

Enter Cecilia Lu -film maker, snarky ninja, scotch lover, geek. Her upcoming short documentary, Welcome to Geeksville is a look at what is happening in the Vancouver geekdom. There are lots of fan based documentaries about geeks, but this one is different. Most of all, it is timely – we are getting a look at what is happening right now in our community. We know that it is growing and gaining recognition and this film asserts that while showing the rest of the world that there is more to being a geek than comics and glasses. I’m excited to see this project unfold and was lucky enough to catch up with Cecilia for a short interview.

What brought you into the Geekdom?

“What didn’t? I spent much of my childhood preferring LEGO over Barbies. This made me really popular in school, as you can imagine. Later on, I was more covert but no less geeky with my fandoms, playing on outdated PCs whenever I could. To this day, a little-known 90’s RPG called Darksun is still of my formative gaming experiences.”

On twitter you had this to say:

My love letter of the morning to @livingmythmedia: your Mass Effect newsletter subscription dropdown has me seriously tripping out. #geek — Cecilia Lu (@cecilialu) April 22, 2014

and you mentioned role-playing games as a gateway experience; are you into video games?

“I called it Baldur’s Gate before BG got hip and cool. I grew up in a ‘games are the devil’ household, so I didn’t get into modern gaming until recently. Still playing catch-up, but I name Bioshock, Mass Effect (all 3 in sequence), Fallout, and Final Fantasy VI among my favorite interactive experiences ever. I recently finished Scandinavian hit Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, and will be further exploring the indie gaming scene with Gone Home and To The Moon next.”

Since your criterion for games are “strong narratives, female leads, [and] fantastic musical scores,” how has seeking that kind of quality in a traditionally male-oriented industry changed or colored your experience as a geek?

“I used to be happy just picking up a game – any game. As I’ve alluded to, gaming has always been that fascinating, forbidden outlet. As my experiences grew and matured, however, I found myself leaning towards stories and experiences involving people who looked and acted like me. There’s still relatively few of them in the AAA titles, to be sure, but you take that with stride and a certain kind of resignation…

I think that’s why its been such a wonderful experience being part of that creator world; being able to craft my documentary in a way that’s true to my own experiences and perceptions. But, yes, can the industry do better in catering towards different genders, sexualities, ethnicities, ages, etc? Of course it can. But I’m not waiting for the male-dominated portion to catch up.”

How do you feel about the way females are being portrayed in these shows and how does that differ from the way you see them elsewhere in the geekdom?

“Sex sells – that’s the old cliché. I used to look at women in burlesque troupes or pole-dancing classes and think, what has she got to prove? The stories behind the female cast I interview changed my entire perception of this art.”

How so?

“Unlike most other forms of arts and culture, what was fascinating to me was that women performers made up at least 50% of the cast. That is unheard of in the ‘entertainment world,’ and I think an amazing model of how inclusive and gender positive this community is. People like Fairlith Harvey of Geekenders are taking the ropes and giving opportunities for females to be cast in non-traditional, male-dominated spaces. In doing so, they’re changing the fandom for the better while remaining true to its roots.

“So yes, I think sex is a great way of drawing the audience in, but the production value, amazing creativity, and weeks of rehearsal are the reason why they stay. Geek is back in a way that’s true to Vancouverites – tolerant, open, proud. I can’t think of a better community to do a documentary on.”

In your trailer for Welcome to Geeksville why did you choose to focus on the “performing” nerd aspect, rather than gatherings for gameplay or cosplay?

“While I would eventually love to give all aspects of geekdom representation, I found myself especially drawn to the new and exciting live events within the Vancouver scene. These events draw in up to 500 people at the Rio [Theatre], all on the back of zero marketing budget and word of mouth. I was intrigued; how could such different, diverse events sustain themselves, month after month? The documentary explores the reasons why: the ability, sweat, and tears of these amazing geek producers and the inclusive communities that they’ve built from scratch.”

***

Cecilia is clearly one of our own. Limiting her to being a girl gamer or fantasy novel reader would be an act of foolishness, robbing yourself of her rich personality with a preconception that shouldn’t be there. Her own understanding of what it means to be a geek has changed since she started making her film, which is something that I think we all can relate to. Our personal journey into our own geekiness is transformative and constantly changing; everyday I see another level up in the geekdom.

From bigger turnouts at conventions to mainstream blockbuster films to an increasing amount of nerdy programming on television, geek culture is growing at an exponential rate. There’s still a shocking amount of geeksploitation posing as geek-friendly programming, but we’re learning to see through it and are increasingly aware of just how little it has to do with us.

Welcome to Geeksville is a rallying cry for movement in the right direction, exploring the founding of communities based on common experienced empowerment of shared passions. If this is film you want to see made – and you should – vote for it on Storyhive. We have 5 days left to make this happen.

[box]

Learn more about Cecilia:

http://about.me/cecilialu

http://www.storyhive.com/project/show/id/11

[/box]

Liked it? For more articles from Ray Frances, take a second to support Living Myth Media on Patreon!