Stereotyping of computer geeks in movies

As computers are more and more used in virtually all aspects of society, it has become common in Hollywood movies for the story to involve facet wherein a computer system has to be accessed, hacked or used. For some strange reason, Hollywood has developed a formula to present a computer-related situation in a movie: there is a computer geek to solve the problem. This formula has evolved into one of the squarest stereotyping in movie characters. Here are the common stereotypes about computer geeks in movies I noticed:

First, the geek is always a skinny white dude in his early 20’s. He is always a supporting character (note: "He" not "She"). Except in the Matrix, never has there been a main protagonist good in computers (maybe computer geeks are less sexually attractive so they remove any computer skill from the main character and replace that with rock-hard abs). He usually has the aura of a not-so-tidy person who can’t macholy defend himself like the main character. His hair is usually untidy (crowning glory of geekiness) and he is not a good public speaker. He never has a girlfriend (he’s the one who looks away when the main character kisses the girl in the end).

Second, the geek can hack into any system without explanation. Movies nowadays become more realistic and detailed when it comes to explaining military or scientific concepts; gone are the days when Godzilla suddenly grows into a vicious monster without reason. Nowadays, the weapons, technology and historic trivia used are based on real “cool” facts. There is always a scene where experts from NASA or CIA explain to the President of the United States the seemingly realistic reason how the situation came to be. This is true for all parts of the movie except computing. When a geek hacks into a system, it is not explained how he hacks it. Just a series of computer animations showing how numbers flip and fly across the geek’s laptop is shown. Furthermore, the geek can hack into any system, whether it be an average person’s computer or a Government database. By the way, they always do the hacking in less than five minutes.

Third, there is no distinction which field of computing the geek is adept in. He just can do anything. He can change database records, hack surveillance cameras and intercept phone calls. In reality, all these disciplines require very different skills. In movies, the geek’s talents and resources are unlimited. You never see a geek have a hard time hacking. By the way, the geek’s laptop always has internet access even if he is miles away from a wifi zone.

I can go on and on, you get the picture. Computer geeks are stereotyped in movies. I doubt that I will live to see the day that Arnold Schwarzenegger or Nicole Kidman save the world through computing. The world will always be saved through a daring cowboy plan in which somewhere along the story all goes wrong. Although computer use is essential in every story line, it is never glorified and always conveniently packaged with a geek.

Is this a problem? Not at all. It is way cooler to see Rambo shaving heads off bodies using his machine gun and impenetrable chest or see Lara Croft acrobat her half-naked body through a jungle than to see a geek save the world through a click of a button.