A Brief History of Geekiness

          

Part One: Cinderella

Maybe I should have called this “My History of Geekiness”. It all started with a little bootlegged VHS copy of Cinderella. That is right it all started with Disney for me.  Our very first VHS videos were Cinderella and Dr. Zhivago and we watched both of those movies to death (although it took me until last year to completely watch Dr. Zhivago). Cinderella just captured my imagination right off.

            Cinderella opened up a whole world of fantasy and dreams to me. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that I was the youngest of three sisters and I was blonde, who knows, but Cinderella was and is my ideal princess fantasy. I mean who doesn’t want a fairy godmother to fix everything for them?

“Now I’ll get you to the party, but you gotta get the prince for yourself!"

           Of course the fact that this was the only kid movie we had for a long time might also have had something to do with the fact that it struck such a fancy with me. Add to that the fact that my mom was a little protective over what I was allowed to watch, Disney movies were the favourite at our house. Our VHS collection grew with every released title and heading out to see movies like “The Little Mermaid”, “Beauty & the Beast”, “Aladdin” and “Pocahontas” made me an incredibly happy little girl.

            Growing up the princesses that I loved became more sophisticated, more independent, but as an adult and a woman I feel guilty saying it, but I love the fact that Cinderella isn’t complicated; she’s just a girl, who has dealt with crap ever since her dad died. She needs a miracle to achieve her dream, and fortunately that’s what she gets, a bone fide miracle. Sometimes I think it would great if we had more miracles in life.

            While magic may not exist in our world, it exists in almost all the fantasy worlds that I love (or if it’s not “magic” it’s more advanced technology). The pleasure of all the “geek” worlds out there is that it’s a mix of what we know, what we wish, and what we hope will be in the future. While I’ll never be the princess and end up with prince charming, I can escape into a world where I can “become” the princess, the federation officer, the warrior, the companion; a world where I become the hero.

PS: NEVER WATCH THE SEQUELS THAT CAME OUT IN 2001 AND 2007