Redefine (*maybe* rename???): Nerds Are Sexy

Sorry if I seem a little gung-ho about this, but the more I look at Nerds Are Sexy, the more confused it seems to be, and the more confused it makes me.

1) The trope has NOTHING to do with nerds. According to the description, the attraction needs to be towards an "inconsequential" character, perhaps "cute in a 'plain' way," perhaps with glasses. Thus said character could be dumb as a post and have NO stereotypically nerdy interests or deeds, yet still fit under this trope.

2) The first page quote, and some of the examples, seem to define this trope as "anyone with a nerdy interest who's somewhat attractive to some people." I mean, really: Vin Diesel as "inconsequential" and "cute in a 'plain' way"? The description doesn't even allow for male versions!

3) The Laconic version, not to mention the compare/contrast paragraphs, also completely contradicts the main description.

All in all, I think the problem IS the main description. It needs to take nerdiness into actual account, perhaps remove the "gag about ignoring the 'obvious' hottie in favor of the 'inconsequential' secondary character" part entirely. That might limit its usefulness as a trope (and thus I'd sort of prefer to rename it, maybe split off the current main description into another trope entirely), but I don't think a rename is going to fly at this point.

Thoughts?

I for one have seen it used here and there for "This person is a nerd and sexy," so if that's not what it's about, there's some misuse going on.

It should be something along the lines of nerdiness is a turn on.

As long as it's distinct from Geeky Turn-On (which is that nerds find nerdiness in others sexy).

Well, thinking about it, it seems to me that the best thing to do with this trope is to redefine it to be what everyone thinks it is: sexy nerds. That'll probably require some example clean-up and possibly some tightening of the definition so we don't get a bunch of good-looking people with one or two geeky interests (Vin Diesel is juuust on that borderline to me, for example; Danica McKellar is more on the "OK" side).

The question then becomes, is the trope currently called Nerds Are Sexy tropable? If so, what should it be called?

It is very much tropeable there are alot of "nerds" that people find extremely sexy I mean look at Kari from Mythbusters she has a huge following because she is a nerd and because people find her sexy and its not all nerds after her (youtube Kari's butt and look how many entries come up). Thats not getting into The Big Bang Theory which is a major draw for the series "Smart is the new sexy". And Grissom from CSI.

And thats not even getting into the in universe examples such as The Big Bang Theory (again) Yuki from Suzumiya Haruhi who pretty much has her own fanclub. Seitokai No Ichizon.

edited 13th Sep '10 3:44:20 AM by Raso

^ He meant the current trope under the name Nerds Are Sexy "Main character likes the plain girl more than those who are traditionally attractive."

Oh isnt that more under "Just the Way You Are"? err maybe not I know there something close to that in Love Tropes somewhere.

edited 13th Sep '10 3:56:29 AM by Raso

I always thought it was about nerdy characters who were portrayed as attractive, instead of their nerdiness making them Hollywood Homely or Hot Librarians.

But looking over the trope description, I do agree that there is a difference between "cute in a 'plain' way" and "hot nerd."

Cute in a plain way is Generic Cuteness but I don't think there is a "I love Generic Cuteness" trope.

As a Nami Hito fan there should be.

edited 13th Sep '10 4:19:29 AM by Raso

Generic Cuteness is a media trope, not a "plain looking is attractive" trope. It's what caused stuff like Buxom Is Better and the like.

I'd suggest Attractively Average if it's supposed to be "plain is attractive" or Average Girl Wins for "plain girl/guy is chosen as love interest." Nerds Are Sexy is a terrible name for either of those tropes.

edited 13th Sep '10 11:02:45 AM by Deboss

Agreed. There is certainly a trope to be had in the "plain" girl winning out over some drop dead beauty, but this is very far from the name to use for it.

Made a crowner in case this needs to be made official.

edited 13th Sep '10 12:44:45 PM by Twilightdusk

But the current trope title and a majority of the examples fits well as a trope IMO

Oh yes certainly, I didn't mean to imply that it wasn't. The crowner I made is for a split, leaving Nerds Are Sexy to be about sexy nerds, and moving the current trope to a more appropriate title.

Yeah I got ninjaed by the crowner.

How about something along the lines of I Love You For Being You or I Love You For Your Personality or Take That Pretty Girls?

edited 13th Sep '10 12:55:42 PM by Raso

^^You mean "nerdiness is sexy" I trust?

For the title or for what the trope is about?

Though that is a good point, perhaps we should have it soft split between "Sexy because of being nerd" and "Sexy and happens to be a nerd"

edited 13th Sep '10 3:14:46 PM by Twilightdusk

I meant for the definition. Simply being hot and being a nerd doesn't seem like a trope and strikes me as something that would quickly descend into Gushing About Nerds You Crush On.

I think Nerds being treated as Sexy in universe is a trope and nerds you think are sexy can be taken to troper tales.

Sounds good to me.

Main.Nerds Are Sexy = In-universe examples

TroperTales.Nerds Are Sexy = Viewer opinions

For Real Life examples on Main, only list people widely considered to be so. If a given person gets more than, say, five mentions in the Real Life section of the Troper Tales page, then they can be moved to the Main one.

EDIT: Oh, and cull any duplicates of Real Life examples which are already on the Main page which end up on the Troper Tales page.

For example, if Kari Byron of Mythbusters appears in the Real Life section on Main.Nerds Are Sexy, then any appearances of her on TroperTales.Nerds Are Sexy are to be zapped.

edited 15th Sep '10 7:17:36 AM by Roxor

I see no reason to zap troper tales because they're on the main page. It keeps the list of tropers who like them off the main page.

Four days, ten votes on the crowner... But unanimous. How to proceed? Just how narrow should the focus of the "new" Nerds Are Sexy be?

As an aside, would another thread be appropriate for figuring out what the "plain girl wins" trope should be called?

Plain Jane Romance

Sooooo... We gonna do anything here? I don't know the technical ins and outs of the wiki, or I'd have done something myself a while ago. (Maybe this is my signal to learn...)

Was there a decision on the new definition? I think it was that "being a nerd, not just a Geeky Turn-On, is treated as a sexy thing".