There are practically no "Black Nerds" portrayed ever in any entertainment.
That's why everyone's referencing Urkel. Because who else is there?
There aren't any Black characters at all in movies like Can't Buy Me Love. Black people apparently were not invented until long after the 80's. Don't get me wrong, I love the old 80's-tastic movies, I've seen Can't Buy Me Love a dozen times. But the reason why there was never a Black nerd getting the girl was because there was never a Black nerd, because there was never a Black person in most movies.
People tend to think Black Nerds aren't really nerds. This is because they've never tried to have a conversation with my friends. But it's also because Black Men are perceived to have swag from the day they're born. Put a Black nerd next to a White nerd, and the Black nerd seems less nerdy, even if his hacking kung fu is far superior.
It used to drive my husband & I nuts that "Beauty & the Geek" would get rid of all the minorities right away, and they never had a Black nerd. I think maybe some people think every Black nerd is secretly Shaft in disguise.
None of this means necessarily that the Black nerd doesn't get the girl. If we were ever to see a realistic Black nerd, who knows how it would be portrayed. Urkel was not a realistic nerd. Who has ever met anyone like Urkel, really? The guys on Big Bang Theory are realistic. I've had nearly all their conversations, you can meet nearly all of them at any Comicon. Occasionally Sheldon is played unrealistically for comic effect, but mostly they're pretty believable.
We've never seen characters like that played by Black Men. It's not fair to say whether they would be portrayed as being loved or not, until we do.
That's why everyone's referencing Urkel. Because who else is there?
There aren't any Black characters at all in movies like Can't Buy Me Love. Black people apparently were not invented until long after the 80's. Don't get me wrong, I love the old 80's-tastic movies, I've seen Can't Buy Me Love a dozen times. But the reason why there was never a Black nerd getting the girl was because there was never a Black nerd, because there was never a Black person in most movies.
People tend to think Black Nerds aren't really nerds. This is because they've never tried to have a conversation with my friends. But it's also because Black Men are perceived to have swag from the day they're born. Put a Black nerd next to a White nerd, and the Black nerd seems less nerdy, even if his hacking kung fu is far superior.
It used to drive my husband & I nuts that "Beauty & the Geek" would get rid of all the minorities right away, and they never had a Black nerd. I think maybe some people think every Black nerd is secretly Shaft in disguise.
None of this means necessarily that the Black nerd doesn't get the girl. If we were ever to see a realistic Black nerd, who knows how it would be portrayed. Urkel was not a realistic nerd. Who has ever met anyone like Urkel, really? The guys on Big Bang Theory are realistic. I've had nearly all their conversations, you can meet nearly all of them at any Comicon. Occasionally Sheldon is played unrealistically for comic effect, but mostly they're pretty believable.
We've never seen characters like that played by Black Men. It's not fair to say whether they would be portrayed as being loved or not, until we do.