After the Storm
After the Storm is an interactive, documentary-like story that seems to be about the devastation of a disaster like any other in a small town in Alabama, but is much more. It is a warning and a peek into the reader’s future. Author and tornado survivor Andrew Beck Grace speaks to the reader, whom he calls “future disaster survivor,” as if a storm of some sort will hit them in their lifetime. He argues that this is not only a possibility of happening to them, but an inevitability. That there will one day be a storm that they will face, and quite possibly be able to survive. Grace wants the reader to be warned about what it is going to look like to completely start over. To drive his message home, Grace uses the convergence digital world to make it easy for the reader to step into the story.
The documentary style format of After the Storm is not new to the convergence digital age, but the way it is showcased is where it deviates. If this story were just a documentary film, it would lose so much weight. You would not be able to scroll through pictures on your camera, you would not get a point of view of what it feels like to fearfully wander around your house when the power goes out, or scroll through Google Earth looking at what used to be. It simply wouldn’t be as personal.
Immediacy, our need to have media that reflects our reality as close as possible, is definitely an integral part of this article. The format is comparable to virtual reality in many factors. Hypermediacy also plays a part in creating a window for the audience to look into, rather than looking at. With scrolling down or flipping a page, it is difficult for the story to jump off of the page and into our hearts. In this narrative, there are pictures, videos, sound affects, music and a voice over that is all able to be manipulated through the viewer as they are absorbing Grace’s story. While reading through and listening to this story, you become completely unaware that you are reading someone else’s story. Throughout the article, Grace successful makes his your story.
Grace emphasizes on creating a space for you to step into the story to convince you of two things. That your storm is inevitable, but it is also survivable. By experiencing this narrative in this format, you get information from a primary source that dealt with, survived, and rebuilt after his storm. It is almost a tutorial of how you will get through your disaster. Grace tells his story as a preface for your story, or as if the epilog of his story will be your story. Our relationship to the narrative is then changed from reader to subject. This transition is effective because the story incorporates point of view shots and is told in second person. Grace begins by immediately addressing you, the subject, directly. The story becomes a conversation, an open dialog between Grace and whoever will listen. His audience or target group is essentially everyone. Whoever stumbles upon this article has the ability to become the “you” that Grace speaks of.
This story is split up into “chapters” that give it a nice chronological flow. The chapters make it more accessible and give the reader an opportunity to take breaks, as it is a heavy subject. It may be unfair, because the town of Tuscaloosa did not get a break from their disaster, but Grace assures us that in good time we will have our own disaster. There are 15 different chapters that almost mimic the five stages of grief. The first three chapters are very much about denial. In his voice over, Grace talks about how you never expect it to be you. He mentions that watching tornadoes hit towns in the south is as normal as watching college football on a Saturday afternoon. “Tornadoes always hit other people in other places,” Grace says. The next group of chapters moves into the bargaining and depression stages of grief. Grace and his town are settling into the devastation. Now the local and national news channels have gotten wind of the storm and are broadcasting it widely. Politicians walk the streets and “do-gooders” as Grace calls them, come to the rescue.
Fatality stats fill the the viewer’s screen. Not just numbers, but people’s names, ages and towns as well. Now it’s personal. Although you may not know these people, seeing this information creates a vision in your mind. You being to picture Caiden Blair, only two months old in Rosedale and think how terrible her parents must feel. Or 95-year-old Mozelle Lancaster in Alberta city, was she scared? Did she know what was happening? Not everyone gets the chance to survive their storm, but if you do, you can get through it. The last handful of chapters are all about acceptance. The damage has been done and it is time to rebuild. Physically and emotionally. The final note by Grace is not just his acceptance, but his urging for your pre-acceptance. For the viewer to prepare themselves for what their “After the Storm” story will look like.
Somehow, Grace is able to end this dismal story on a happy note. He talks about how we will all be surprised by our ability to forget. Your life isn’t over, it’s just restarting in a way. It’s a turning of a page into the next “chapter” of your story. There will be more storms, both literal and figurative, but Grace feels confident that he has prepared you to make it through. “Maybe we could all be good, if a tornado was just there to wipe us out every minute of our life.”
