This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.
Saya: No mention of Giles on Buffy here? Now granted he falls into several other categories, but goodness gracious the man is HOT! (and no I'm not a middle aged woman either - I'm 27)
Jazradel: I remember seeing several sources say that Sarah Chalke is in fact a nerd in real life, which would be an interesting point to add to that example. However, I can't find them and might have imagined them. Anyone confirm my imaginings? Also, a mention might be made of the several porn stars who are nerds. I know Mia Rose plays World Of Warcraft, and there are lots of others.
Mister Six: Not sure I understand the bolded bit in the Stargate example:
Silent Hunter: I probably need to swap that around a bit. It was intentional that Sam Carter was both a) attractive and b) intelligent.
Mister Six: Ah, right! I wasn't sure whether it was something to do with the military officer thing. So the other characters are aware of how good looking she is, then?
Silent Hunter: Not too sure about that. Sam has certainly had boyfriends, most of whom have ended up dying painful deaths. There is the scene in "Emancipation" where she's forced into a cleavage-revealing dress, though.
Ununnilium: IMHO, this entry is moving a bit too close to saying you can't be both smart and attractive. Opinions?
Andrew Leprich: While that opening line made me laugh out loud, I disagree with the entry's implication that nerds are more likely to be unattractive in real life. That's just on TV. Reality Is Unrealistic, anyone?
Space Ace: I don't know about you guys, but most nerds I know aren't the pinnacle of attractiveness.
Morgan Wick: Well, the famous nerds (Bill Gates, Stephen Hawking - no offense, but the latter has to be the most unattractive famous person who isn't famous solely for being unattractive) aren't exactly attractive - and they may be the only famous unattractive people out there, comparatively (though Dick Cheney probably comes pretty close). Although now that I think about it, Bruce Vilanch, Gilbert Gottfried, etc. are pretty far down there as well...
Mister Six: I've been to comic book conventions. I'm fully aware that the nerd hordes do not look (or smell) pretty. Probably because the kind of people who were good looking in school wouldn't want to sully their reputation with nerdy things like comics or science fiction and nerds take to them because it's a good way to meet people on the same level of social strata.
Jefepato: It's snarky, but I don't think it's unreasonably so. We have articles like You Suck, after all.
Cameoflage: I agree that most nerds aren't exactly gorgeous, I just find the implication that physically attractive nerds don't exist to be an exaggeration. However, as far as I can tell, trope's tropiness comes from the fact that attractive actors play nerdy characters who aren't supposed to be those rare good-looking nerds; maybe we should add some sort of clarification to this effect?
BT The P: This is definitely a special case of Hollywood Homely. There just aren't a lot of really ugly actors (and even fewer ugly actresses), so the baseline average is skewed compared to the rest of humanity.
Korbl: I wanted to point out that the various people posting examples might be a bit biased... I'm certainly a nerd and have a fairly different take on what I consider attractive than most of the rest of society, I'm thinking other people on here are in the same circumstances. I am, however, reminded of all of the hullabaloo about alyson hannigan when buffy aired, and will concede that alot of the other examples are at least classic cute... but I do think my point still stands to some degree. Hell, as I understand it, glasses and nerd activities instantly make you unattractive in the standard western ideal of beauty.
J Chance: Chiming in late, I agree that this is just a special case of Hollywood Homely. On average, people are...average. Nerd or not. Even in high school, I knew several people who were socially awkward but _absurdly_ gorgeous. And, my own observation of the fan hordes is that if there's any difference from the great mass of humanity, it's a clustering towards the extremes—more very pretty _and_ very ugly, fewer in the middle (though still present).
Laota: Don't mean to butt in, but I think it might help to focus on the definition of "nerd," and how it differs from Real Life to Hollywood. Then see if it's not just an aspect of Hollywood Homely.
Silent Hunter: Vis Natalie Portman. Emphasis on Harvard and the professional journals.
Silent Hunter: While Tennant and Barrowman may well have been DW Otaku, it's really not fair to describe Doctor Who as a nerd show when you look at the viewing figures it regularly got and gets.
Filby: I don't know who kept writing "And that makes him/her a 'nerd' how?" over and over again, but they've clearly never read the Conversation In The Main Page article...
I'm taking those bits out. If the troper who added them wants to discuss it, s/he can either discuss it here or be bold and take out the offending examples him/herself..
Arakhor: I merged the two entries for Vin Diesel as the entry is hardly long enough for people not to read it all yet.
Scifantasy: Yanked "how about Buffy herself?" because she's not a nerd, Hollywood or otherwise.
Unknown Troper: Yeah, Buffy's more of a Cool Loser.
whitetigah: Real Life examples split off to One Of Us.
Gaucelm: Hurr, why put an anime pic for an artice that has "Hollywood" in the title?
PBcomuter You know,if you have a pic that fits the page better, you could put it up, rather than whine about the current one.
Tricksterson: Does the Taylor Swift example really belong here? I would say more an example of Hollywood Homely
Idler: What does it mean by "mismatch of fandoms"? Surely there's nothing about being a fan of one thing that prevents you from being a fan of something else, unless those two things are in diametric opposition.
PuppetChaos: Example: It's a well known fact that you cannot be a fan of Lucky Star and Getter Robo at the same time.
Laota: removed this note — ** Subverted, however, in the form of Professor Larry Fleinhardt. — as the (un)hotness of Larry Fleinhardt is subjective and invites debate.
Tipz: Intro update. Here's the old intro for your reading pleasure:
In real life, most nerds aren't the sort of people you'd see on the cover of a fashion magazine (there are exceptions; they're just not very common). In the wonderful world of television, where it's vitally important that every member of the recurring cast rates at least a 7.5 on the Hot or Not scale, even those characters whose primary role is to spout technobabble while tapping on their Magical Computer have to be easy on the eye.
The female of the species looks as if she spent an hour in front of the mirror that morning, as well as regular hair styling and beauty treatment, despite apparently being cripplingly shy and hating being looked at, not looking out of place on the cover of ''Maxim'' wearing naught but a smile (extra points if the actress has done something like that...). The male looks as if he works out and plays three sports, despite supposedly being online 7 hours a day.
It's important to note that these nerds are only attractive in the real world — in the fictional universe that they inhabit, they are at best average and easily overlooked for their 'more attractive' friends. Well, except for that one special character who actually recognizes how gorgeous they are and ends up going out with them.
They are often shy or useless with members of the other sex, which is odd because, with their looks, you'd think they would have been fought over at school. Sometimes the absurdity of this situation is made even more obvious when other geeks are introduced in minor roles and are played by less attractive actors and actresses.
The Hollywood Nerd may also have an interest in some 'geeky' subject such as comic books, science fiction, or baseball, helping identify them as a loser, especially if they still live in their parent's basement. However, this will rarely be shown with sufficient detail to make it realistic to someone 'in the know', or it will be a mismatch of fandoms. In Hollywood, there is a very set list of what you can be a "geek" about.
See also Geek, Nerd. Compare Hollywood Homely, Cool Loser, Give Geeks a Chance. For Real Life version, see One Of Us. The Meganekko is the common anime equivalent. See also Nerds Are Sexy, in which the nerdiness is what makes someone attractive.
