My memory of my life before coming to America is in black & white. Maybe it's because most of the photos of the first six years of my life are in black & white, so that has affected my perception. Only movies and TV I remember watching in Shanghai are still in color in my mind. Going to the movies was a very special occasion. I can only recall going to a theater twice. Both times, it was to see Jet Li's Shaolin Temple.
After arriving in The U.S., my first media consumptions would greatly affect my life. It was June of 1983 when my parents and I came to Raleigh, N.C. Each parent grabbed one of my hands, and I was lead off the plane. My nose was gushing blood. I tried to tell them, but they didn't hear me. They rushed off the plane with me in tow like it was going to explode or about to take off back to China. We lived with my cousin, George, who was attending N.C. State. I think he was trying to get every engineering major. He took me to my first American movie: Return of the Jedi.
I didn't understand any English and had no idea what was going on story wise but loved the movie. Even though The Empire Strikes Back is a better film, Jedi still holds a special place in my heart. And speaking of Empire...about 6 years later, that was the next Star Wars movie I watched. I caught the last third of A New Hope during a free preview weekend of premium cable channels, but Empire was the second Star Wars movie I saw in its entirety.
The next movie I was taken to was Octopussy. My aunt was a big James Bond fan. I understood a little more English by the time we went to theater to see it, but still not enough to follow the plot. All I cared about were Q's gadgets. Roger Moore was James Bond for me. It wasn't until years later that I discovered Connery's Bond and agree with the consensus that he was the best Bond.
How could I have turned out as a geek? Well, the aforementioned is a big part of the answer.
to be continued...
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