The fourth Geek Media Expo — or “GMX,” as it’s better known — that happened this past weekend was billed as “The Next-Generation Multi-Fandom Exposition.” The multi-fandom part is pretty easy to understand. An offshoot of the Nashville-based Middle Tennessee Anime Convention, GMX aspires to be a “super-convention” in the tradition of San Diego’s Comic-Con International or Atlanta’s Dragon*Con that caters to all aspects of geekdom: books, movies, anime, television, gaming, costuming, home-built technology, you name it — as long as there is some connection to science-fiction, fantasy or horror.
But the second part, “Next-Generation,” is a little harder to pinpoint, and it’s something that I have been thinking about for a while. Since geek culture is now mainstream culture, what do the outcasts, misfits and misunderstood obsessive/creative types do? The core of the geek identity has always been being different (for good or ill) from mainstream culture. So when superhero movies are Hollywood's biggest moneymakers, and flesh eating zombies rule TV, what does true geekdom really entail?
