H12

...how would their respective providences live?


I was inspired to write a sketch (hopefully about twenty minutes long) on this concept when I was watching the episode of Chappelle Show where they do the bloopers/deleted scenes and Dave imagines what would happen if America's most flamboyant seceded...but now, instead of that, I want to show how life in the territories of Nerdland and Jockland (NOT gonna be their final names, in all likelyhood) would compare and especially contrast in a comedy-based skit.

So, having been both a nerd and a jock in my life, I have some ideas, but I would like some input and help on brainstorming various situations that would be funny to think about in either country (not necessarily looking for punchlines/dialogue; I'm aiming just for general ideas to narrow down). Also, I'd like to hear your idea of the best-fitting/most exaggerated/obvious stereotype of both nerds and jocks -- looks, clothing, way of walking, personality, favorite music...whatever, you name it, and feel free to get random with what you wanna pick out for their profiling. If you think their favorite belt buckles are worth comparing to one another, let it out and tell me what you think each would wear! Do be careful about hurting feelings though -- I am not aiming for people to be offended by these overblown stereotypes...but shocking is okay, if that makes enough sense, heh.

I have a large compilation of info on this so far (lots of comparisons, similarities, stereotypes, some ideas, and some unanswered questions from myself and users of another forum)...but I'll wait to see if this topic picks up before I start digging out material.

__________________
"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a habit."
--Aristotle

Daniel_

When I was about 14 my English class was studying William Golding's "Lord of the Flies", and we did a class project where we role played various ideas - ne of which was to self select into two "tribes" and elect leaders, I ended up as leader of one tribe (to my total shock - I was a hugely unpopuar child, but clearly the force of my intillect and wit shone through, or something).

The other tribe was headed up by the nearest thing a class of 14 year old English kids would hae had to a jock in he early 1980's.

As a group storytelling/roleplay/theatre task over several weeks we played out the story of our devided land, and came to the conclusion that the inhabitants of Andrewcadia (as his half was named) would be ut competed by the good folks of Danielopolis.

Kinda like Morlocks and Eloi, but with the Eloi knoing the recipe for gunpowder, and how to make a radio.

Interestingly Andrew and I were not friends but were in the same scout group, and in later years were both patrol leaders - his camp always won competitions, but my camp never flooded, and got their meals on time (without food poisoning).

If you want a contemporary hook to hang your skit off, you could try LOST (as if that's not occured to you).

Keep the size of the kingdoms as low as you can and the dynamic will work better in the short timescale you have to play with.

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╔═════════════════════════════════════════╗
Overhead, the Albatross hangs motionless upon the air,
And deep beneath the rolling waves,
In labyrinths of Coral Caves,
The Echo of a distant time
Comes willowing across the sand;
And everthing is Green and Submarine
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H12

I've actually managed to NOT think about Lost yet, so shame on me -- that's probably because I don't regularly watch the show, heh. Still though, I know some real good references for that, so I'm not worried.

I've had some ideas about the two with cooking, though I haven't really thought about making their food last -- I'll be sure to note what you said about the food being on time and not poisoning anyone. What I've got right now is that jocks are very big on meat-n-potato meals, and grilling is one of their favorite hobbies. Carbonated drinks and beer are especially popular amongst them too, though they like their protein shakes as well. Meanwhile, on top of what you already said, I think the nerds in this story will follow their recipes ever-so-closely when they cook (though I'm not entirely sure what their meals of choice would be...ramen?). Also, somebody told me that they would separate nerds and geeks on this matter (since I'm generally blending them together in this, right or wrong), and they said that the geeks would be much more likely to eat junk food. I'm not sure how fair of a stereotype that is, but since this is all exaggerated anyway and I imagine that jocks would care about their diets much more, I've made note of that.

As far as the size of the kingdoms, I'm still debating how I want to handle that. Though I agree with you if I'm trying to show everybody in the nations alot, I'm hoping I can take this in more of a documentary-direction, with a narrator and all. Have the occasional interview (like The Laramie Project), but mainly show clips of life from each lifestyle. I'm also debating whether or not I want them to have a big conflict and have them end with a winner and a loser, or if I should keep them apart and -- though definitely show their differences -- finish the show with lots of similarities to show that they can get along better than they like to believe they can.


Either way though, I think it's still too early for me to worry about the ending -- I really want to get this world down first before the dialogue comes.

__________________
"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a habit."
--Aristotle

Ourcrazymodern?

Read "Atlas Shrugged" by Ayn Rand. It's not light or easy or funny, but it may have something you can use.

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BE JUST AND FEAR NOT

H12

I've been reading some summaries and descriptions of it...and I've not gathered much of use. Then again, you didn't suggest summaries and descriptions of "Atlas Shrugged" either, ha. If I ever get to read it, it'll have to be well in the future -- with eighteen hours in my school schedule and currently in a play, on top of trying to do other matters related to theatre (including this sketch), it's just too difficult for me to try right now. I'm hoping my Sociology class and the material we have to read for it can help me out some with this matter, since the teacher says he's especially going to try to cover the political side of sociology and Atlas Shrugged deals with sociology/politics.

__________________
"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a habit."
--Aristotle

Ourcrazymodern?

Atlas Shrugged involved the movers and shakers seceding from society. I thought that was your theme.

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BE JUST AND FEAR NOT

H12

It is, but I didn't find anything any more in-depth than that from what I found about the summaries, or at least not anything I thought I could use. I can keep looking for other sources on the matter that may be more descriptive, however, and I'll read any summary you would suggest to me if you feel inclined to find one yourself to help.

__________________
"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a habit."
--Aristotle

Ourcrazymodern?

Summaries...I see.

__________________
BE JUST AND FEAR NOT

surferlove007

Atlas Shrugged is amazing. This thread is old...

Zeraph

I had a dream that it was around a 100 years in the future and we had gone into another ice age. There were two main factions, the fighters and the thinkers (i.e. jocks and nerds). But in that time it was a bigger gap, you were genetically selected at birth to which you'd become. Suffice to say it was a cool dream.

Iliftrocks

The land of the mundane would continue without the jocks and hyper-intellects. They could move any day to their own country, lets call it Hubris-land.....

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bill hicks - "I don't mean to sound bitter, cold, or cruel, but I am, so that's how it comes out."