Nerd Lessons: “Keep The Faith: Learning from Ghibli Heroines”

We love our fandoms. For those on the outside looking in, it may be their impulse to discount our devotion as superficial or childish. That’s because they don’t understand or see how nerdom has effected us. At BNP, we know that comics and movies and anime and cosplay does so much more than entertain us, it shapes us; we learn what kind of people we want to be—and who exactly we are fighting against becoming. We sent out that bat signal in the form of an open call for submissions. We asked what nerd lessons you’ve learned and y’all answered the call. The Author of This Piece and Teacher for This Nerd Lesson: Brittany Maddox, @AtariGems More than I care to admit, I have to assert myself each and everyday I step into the world. There are moments like being the only black person or the only feminist in the class where I have to defend my humanity. Often times, in my field of study, I find myself fighting. Loneliness is something I know too well; it’s something that grips me as an adult female blerd. Struggling to find my voice in spaces that often are androcentric or too white, I have to push on. With doom days upon, I clutch closely to spaces that affirm my identity. I have to assert that I matter and what I have to offer the world matters despite the odds. Times like this I recall on the lessons I learned from Ghibli Heroines. Their stories didn’t begin or end with ivory towers; no pixie dust, glass slippers, or fairy godmothers for them to find. While Disney films were vastly …