General Ptsd And Geekdom (reenactment)

[Deleted member 28812]

So both of us my husband and me enjoy reenactment and other geeky hobbies as well (such as writing poetry and drawing and super heros *lol*). Oddly enough I noticed that there are quite a few people around here who happen to have the same hobby.

My mother does not like our love for reenactment at all. She asks us why we want to to "get away" from our times. I think the question should be the other way around: why would somebody not wish to get away from the 20th and 21th century - a time which started with people mustard gazing each other in the trenches of WWI and then saw concentration camps, the atomic bomb and so on?

What is your opinion on geekdom and escapism?

 

[jaccat]

Oh definitely. I had a huge desire to pack up and move away from this life when I was growing up. To go live in a cave somewhere without any of the superficial modern problems. I took it so far I even did my degree in archaeology (my dissertation was the mesolithic-neolithic transition, when we first learned to be farmers). When I wasn't reading up on that I was trawling through fantasy, mythology and classic novels. I wouldn't have read a 'modern' novel if you'd paid me.

Even today I make a point of not using a mobile. I own one, but no one has the number and all it does is make calls and sends texts (it doesn't even do emoticons). I'm not as anti- modern world as I once was, but in the last fifteen years I have watched everyone else become so reliant upon these things, all the while with actual human connections dying away, and they don't see it. I think it's sad. (Okay, possibly my use of this forum is a little hypocritical).

Books and the past always were my way of escaping when I was younger. I found within them an alien world, one In which people cared about each other and things always worked out right in the end. Why would I not wish to be part of that?

 

[Deleted member 28812]

I took it so far I even did my degree in archaeology (my dissertation was the mesolithic-neolithic transition, when we first learned to be farmers). When I wasn't reading up on that I was trawling through fantasy, mythology and classic novels. I wouldn't have read a 'modern' novel if you'd paid me.

How interesting! What was the question of your dissertation?


I am mostly interested in the middle ages and my husband is interested in the middle ages and the classical antiquity. We both like fantasy (and dressing up accordingly... yes we take it to that level).

We also do like to play board games with historics themes (does "the settlers of Catan" exist in the anglosphere?) and I really do think we are a little nuts and I do think it is some kind of escapism.

 

[Go Hungry]

[GALLERY=media, 1451]I6igO by Go Hungry posted Apr 2, 2015 at 8:38 AM[/GALLERY]

Hah! Yeah, I'm quite guilty of this as well. Back when I was a kid I got in the sinister D&D and roleplaying in general. I really loved the idealized fantasy worlds that they took place in, the magic, the knights, the whole deal. (On a side note, I never realized just how Tolkien-tinged those worlds were. wish I had read more Burroughs and Howard when I was a kid.) Conan and Willow were some of my favourite movies for a long time.

I'm still a big fan of the fantastic and macabre. Lovecraft, Poe, basically anything outre'. And I still do roleplaying games quite often. I recently (last 5 years) took interest in pirates, and that led to an interest in Baroque music, and that led to an interest in the Age of Sail. There is a new genre of black-powder fantasy that I've become intrigued with. I haven't quite gotten a proper outfit for reenactments, but it is a goal.

So yes, big nerd here. :bookworm:

 

[ihateusernames]

I suppose I'm representing 2 more geeks here. My husband and I both. We are both fantasy writing, daydreaming, nerd movie watching art geeks. No reenacting specifically, but lots of gaming.

 

[holdenmonty]

I really like the mideval stuff but I must admit I do enjoy the WWII erra history just because at least to me it was the last war that we jumped into only after being attacked by a very clear enemy. But I love the different mideval renactments and all that. It is nice to excape the 21st centery now and then.

 

[WildMermaid]

Awwww yiiiiisssssss! *found my people!* Born and raised geek and proud of it! I was one of the funny looking broken gimpy girls in HUGE coke bottle lens glasses, terrified of everyone, that would cry when you looked at her, but I escaped into books. SCA is a way of life, i'm more comfy laced into early 16th century bodices and wearing French Hoods than normal clothes. Read Tolkien at age 7, married a comic book artist, drew a comic book or two lol, and am raising geek cultured kids! Are you in SCA? Have you tried Dystopia Rising? :hug: :alien: *happy alien*

 

[WildMermaid]

@Lemontree This thread must never die just sayin'. :D

 

[Wastinglight]

My guy and I like a type of target shooting called Single Action. Uses only guns from the Old West period, and participants choose their own 'alias' and wear period costume. The matches are based on famous shoot-outs from that time. It's so much fun.

I love historical/fantasy/sci fi novels and shows. Escapism has always been a way for me for me to 'manage' my anxiety. Even though it's technically avoidance, there are times when I've thought "Nope, don't want to deal with these emotions this week, I'm not up to it", and simply retreated into my own fantasy world. Probably did a bit too much of that when I was a teenager, but anyway...

 

[jaccat]

@Lemontree it was to do with a specific site in Eastern Europe and the evidence that both societies were existing side by side for a time. My favourite bit was an article I discovered on how the invention of porridge changed the world. Geeky enough?:geek: I also love dressing up in ancient clothes. I even collect vintage.

 

[Ronin]

I'd tell people who are all about how escapism it is what much of realism is needed, if I felt particularly talkative about that hobby. Other than that, there's no harm in that sort of fun, so I wouldn't be worried.

 

[WildMermaid]

Holy crap this was a hard thread to find. Please tell me all the geeks are still here? :hug: this one is. :shy: :unsure: