scijessreads

I love a good social media trend. OK, not always, but some of them in the bookish space are pretty fun and informative. A while back, there was a “where my lore started” one, and it made me think back to everything I consumed as a kid/teen and how it still shapes who I am and what I am drawn to in media and art.

Fantasy and romantic themes have always been a thing. Also, science fiction. The Princess Bride (book and movie), Labyrinth (David Bowie’s pants were something I didn’t quite understand when I was in grade school, but now…), The Neverending Story (still traumatized by that one)… all of them were staples. I also had a borderline unhealthy obsession with the movie First Night and the love triangle between Arthur, Guinevere, and Lancelot. Dirty Dancing was a little over my head in terms of themes when I was a kid, but now I realize how much of it was darker than it seemed at the time, even the romantic aspect of it.

For science fiction, I was an X-Files kid (the Chaco’s Chicken episode will forever haunt my dreams) and a Stargate fan. I think this aspect of me was due in part to my dad. We watched those sorts of things together, back when there was one TV and everyone had to watch the same thing at the same time.

From my even younger years, there were the Redwall books, Classic Disney movies, the tense adventure that was the Secret of NIMH, The Lorax (I speak for the trees!), and a forever favorite – Calvin and Hobbes. The boy and his tiger, every week in the newspaper, reminded me so much of my own imagination and curiosity and budding sarcasm.

What things from your childhood shaped you?