The Rom-Com Terrorist

It sounds like a parody right out of The Onion, but no less an authority than the New York Times has reported this:

When a man ducked past security at Newark Liberty International Airport last Sunday to kiss his girlfriend goodbye, the breach in security shut down one of the country’s busiest airports, delayed flights through Monday and prompted an intensive manhunt from New Jersey detectives that ended on Friday evening on a street in Piscataway, N.J.

Hapless Haisong Jiang, a 28-year-old Rutgers University graduate student, was arrested.  So did he - or the authorities who went after him - realize that he was only embodying a variation on that hoariest of all romantic comedy clichés - the climactic chase to the airport?

On Saturday, some of Mr. Jiang’s roommates described him as a “romantic” now trying to secure a lawyer after the dizzying turn of events. His actions might have seemed innocently romantic to him, his friends said. But the incident was yet another lapse in airport security that frustrated harried travelers in the wake of the failed plane bombing on Christmas and incensed one New Jersey lawmaker over the leniency of Mr. Jiang’s potential penalty.

The maximum sentence for such a "petty disorderly offense" is 30 days (that's what's apparently pissing off Senator Frank R. Lautenberg).  But maybe Jiang will get his bail money out of whichever enterprising screenwriter or producer decides to buy the rights to his story.

Surveillance video footage revealed that a TSA officer named Hernandez had tried to stop Jiang once, and then got distracted by a cell phone call, enabling our hero to slip by (Hernandez has a role ripe for development in the adaptation: the guy who could lose his job over yet another guy trying to be Lloyd Dobler).

Without Mr. Hernandez watching, Mr. Jiang was able to slip into an area of people who had already cleared security and embraced a woman in a puffy coat and kissed her. When security officials were alerted that someone had breached a secure area, they took steps to lock down the terminal.

I'm particularly fond of that "puffy coat."  The object of Jiang's affection ("a former Rutgers student who has dated Mr. Jiang for about a year and now lives in Los Angeles") is clearly a subject for further research.  Because in terms of plot development, how important was this particular kiss goodbye?  Are we in the second act (e.g. the kiss is a midpoint plot beat) or the third?  Was she aware of what happened, post-kiss, and how might it effect the relationship?  New York Magazine's Chris Rozvar supplied a context (thank you Bill Sebring for the link): 

According to a source, the footage of the encounter showed a couple in a "passionate embrace" before the woman entered the security line. The man, left behind and apparently distraught, tried to chase her shortly afterward.

Sounds like a crisis-climax beat (the "dark moment") to me.  Meanwhile, given that Jiang lives in a two-story house with five roommates, you've got another rom-com staple in the mix:

Andy Riu, a friend of Mr. Jiang, also came to the Piscataway house after word spread on a soccer league’s online message board that Mr. Jiang would miss a scheduled 2 p.m. pickup game because he had been arrested.  “I think this man is very romantic,” Mr. Riu said.

So there's a classic Buddy character to act as Jiang's foil - or you could develop that group of roommates (I'd lose one or two) if you want more of an ensemble rom-com.

For external conflict, well, there is the rest of what's going on in the protagonist's life:

Mr. Jiang, who comes from the Jiangxi province of China, said Mr. Huang, is a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine, according to the Rutgers University Web site. He intended to find a job in Los Angeles after graduation so he could be with his girlfriend, Mr. Huang said. “I just hope this doesn’t affect his future career path.”

In the movie, of course, Puffy Coat marries the guy, and such little details as his livelihood or the improvement of airport security won't really come into it.  Because love, actually - and you may remember the preposterous airport dash that ended that movie - conquers all, right?

Let's hope the judge agrees.

Comments

[binnie]

I KNEW this would be your post this week! My sister was in town when all this happened and the first thing I said to her, when it was discovered what had actually shut down the airport, was, "WATCH BILLY BLOG ABOUT THIS, AND HE'LL EVEN MAKE MENTION OF THE REQUISITE AIRPORT SCENE".
Ha!!!

[E.C. Henry]

Yet another example of life immitating art, with art being FAR more interesting.

[Muffin]

Actually, it WAS the subject of an Onion article that predated these events:
http://www.theonion.com/content/node/29546

[mernitman]

Binnie, you know me too well.

EC, I think life has the edge here.

Muffin: I love that article! (I've posted it in other contexts, but it always bears repeating.)

[Simone White]

this made me laugh a lot!
thank you!

[S. Boyd]

I thought of you too when I heard this story unfold. LOL.

[Ben]

Yep, love conquers all. That's really sad that such an innocent gesture got so turned around. I'm glad the maximum penalty is only 30 days. Pretty comical story, all in all. Bet they'll be laughing about it when they're old.

[mernitman]

I made Simone laugh. My work here is done.

And Stephanie, too? Head getting larger...

Ben: Yes, I see it as one of those stories they'll delight in telling over the years and their children will get sick of it sort-of-things.

[Bi Sadong]

This is very interesting. You really make my day.

Thanks.

[mernitman]

You're welcome Bi Sadong.

[download movies]

Well the thing that left to do is to wish that the global tense will calm down soon and all citizens on the earth could live their life peacefully and joyful.

[Deirdre Higgins]

Billy-- glad to reconnect on your blog. How the heck are you?
Deirdre
(926-- Venice, many lifetimes ago).