for at least twenty years how cool IT (or at least its skill-set) is. It's hard to think of a spy/agent/action hero (cool) who does NOT have mad 'nerd skills'; they seem able to hack any password--while shooting people--then to upload to the internet (or burn to disk/USB drive) incriminating data...while throwing someone else out the window.This bit of subtext can't be lost on our media-saturated youth; even the fiendish-yet-charismatic uber-villains build and employ hi-tech gizmos that threaten civilization (and so on). The venerable Bond ("James Bond") became a geek in movies during my lifetime---he sure wasn't one in the books. Gradually, one by one, the plots were overhauled. The villains seemed to have caught on to IT skills (and 'science-induced' mayhem) first, but by the time Roger Moore came on Bond could stand at a terminal and undo mayhem (while shooting minions) as fast as the villian could initiate it....
Hollywood (and Pinewood, for that matter) deluge youth with examples of the 'value' of an IT skill-set. Somewhere along the line, kids (or their disillusioned parents) learn the realities of the field: unless you wish to grow up and either save or destroy the world, you'll have more of a career preparing geeks' lattes than being one yourself (as a previous commenter noted).
Now I'm going to go watch 'Swordfish' again