Revenge of the Nerds and Moral Righteousness

The Summer of 1984 was marked by a packed Box Office ranging from action, comedy, drama, and everything in between. July 1984 saw the release of one movie that tells us the lessons of righteousness and mercy. That movie is Revenge of the Nerds.

The movie follows two college students Lewis Skolnick and Gilbert Lowe, students majoring in computer science at Adams College. They get harassed by the Alpha Beta fraternity which is made up of mainly football players led by Stan Gable. They harass them. Of course, the nerds would get back at them. The film shows us a case of righteous evil hence the title of the film says it all.

Here are things the jocks would do to the nerds

called them names

-displaced their housing

-trick Gilbert and Lewis

-stand up the Nerds for dates

-send pigs to their party

-moon the Nerds

-burn something on their lawn

-refuse to investigate themselves

-trashing their home.

Now, the nerds do retaliate. Here’s what they do

-home invaded a girl's dorm

-set up cameras in that dorm to film the girls in the bedrooms and bathrooms

-poison the clothing of the jocks to cause them intense physical pain

-cheat their way to winning contests

-peddle pornography to win a contest (without the girl's knowledge)

-impersonate another person for sex (which is technically rape)

So, you see, what happens here is that nerds are perceived as victims and are the heroes of the film. Their responses to how the jocks treated them were justified. Now, those who are nerds have high positions in technology and even pop culture.

So what constitutes moral righteousness? We are called to follow Christ’s path and do what he would’ve done. Those who do things for their gratification are not morally following God’s law. Rather, it is known as self-righteousness. St. Peter reminds us, “and He brought our sins in His body up on the cross so that we might die to sin and live for righteousness; by His wounds, you were healed.” What St. Peter is reminding us is that Christ chose to not take revenge. Instead, he bore it justly for the sake of righteousness.

God calls us to not enact revenge on our enemies. He takes joy in responding with love. Mercy is the antidote to revenge.

This 80s comedy is for a more mature audience, but it is fun to watch.