Fascination with Twisters
A baffling addiction to a scary movie
I have a strange addiction to an old movie called Twister. Yes, it’s about tornadoes, and two groups of crazy people who chase them, partly in fascination and partly to better understand the science of these violent, damaging storms. The movie seems to return to TV movie channels this time of year, and when I see the title, there’s something about it that makes me watch.
The incredible irony is that as a child, I lived in a Tornado Alley, meaning the chances are pretty darn high that tornadoes will form and probably touch down. I remember seeing the remnants of a nearby town that suffered significant damage from a tornado and that image remained in my little self for many years. Like a scene in a horror movie, I saw a tattered doll lying on the ground of what had been a home. I felt such pain for the little girl who lost it. The image never left me.
Soon thereafter, my dad worked late one night in our small town, while Mom treated my brother and me to a movie just down the street. The tornado siren went off; my dad ran to the theater, found us, and quickly got us settled in the basement of his office building. While I caterwauled and carried on, my brother sat at a typewriter and wrote “Dear Mom and Dad. I am very, very scared.” We definitely had different approaches to managing our emotions during traumatic times.
Many a night we had to head down to our “basement” — actually a very small farmhouse cellar, complete with dirt floor, filled with my dad’s dusty barrels of fermenting pickles and spiders the size of — well the size of a child’s imagination, of course.
I became absolutely terrified of tornadoes.
We moved away from Tornado Alley, and years passed. Yet I’ve never taken tornadoes for granted. On the rare occasion when a tornado siren goes off, I herd our crew — husband, kids, dogs, and cats — to the basement, no matter what the time, no matter what the radar shows. We had company one night when the siren screeched its warning, and I cheerfully escorted the couple downstairs, a platter of grilled chicken in hand.
And yet. I am mesmerized by Twister.
If I am honest, I do love watching storms. Sadly, our dearly-departed dog did not, and therefore we buttoned up the house big-time to protect her as much as we could, to soothe that trembling excuse for a strong and robust dog. She recently headed on to her next adventure, hopefully one without thunder, gunfire, and fireworks. Now we live near one of the Great Lakes and I find myself yearning for big storms to observe.
So what is the deal with this movie?
The wind is one thing. I love wind. The sweet uplift of an unexpected breeze makes my heart sing. But it doesn’t need to be intense enough to uproot trees. And the winds in Twister are not to be messed with.
Delving deeper, there’s something to be respected about a big storm. Perhaps they remind us that humans are not the masters of the universe, that nature has a wide array of emotions and we need to respect and honor them. I also feel a sense of awe about most things nature, and that includes tornadoes. And fortunately, the movie is about humans leveraging science to better predict tornados, thereby helping people and communities prepare to take shelter. Perhaps that’s the most important reason the movie resonates: to shift from feelings of fear, dread, and powerlessness to surviving and thriving.
I haven’t had to race to the basement in a long time, but if there’s a warning, I’ll be there, and I’ll keep herding animals and humans down there too. A remake of Twister is coming to movie theaters this summer. I’m guessing I’ll check it out, and perhaps I’ll learn more about my peculiar taste in weather movies.
