Thank You, Sharknado, For Rekindling My Childhood Fear of Pool Sharks

July 27, 2013


So I watched Sharknado (voluntarily, unlike Snakes on a Plane, which I was dragged to with eyes in full-on roll mode). I could put on my scientist hat and talk about how almost everything about this movie is impossible, from the basic premise to the way the water flows in defiance of gravity, but where’s the fun in that?

Instead, let’s talk about fear. Overwhelming, irrational fear…. of pool sharks.

pool sharkYou laugh like you think I’m kidding, but when I was a kid, I was possessed by the notion that hotel pools were infested with sharks.* Swimming in the pool was always my brother’s favorite part of a family road trip, but there I’d be, paddling around because my parents insisted, convinced that any moment something toothy was going to pull me under. Despite the fact that the water was perfectly clear and quite plainly empty.

Ironically, I had absolutely no problem getting in the ocean, which just goes to show that the imagination is more powerful than reality.

Sharknado posterWhich brings me back to Sharknado, in which actual sharks fall from the sky into pools, where they are apparently so disoriented they’re unable to out-swim octogenarians. But something tells me they’d still be able to out-swim me…

What about you? What childhood fears persist in the face of experience and logic? How much did you love – or hate – Sharknado? I’d love to know! Remember that all comments will be entered in the Talk About Fox Talk Contest!

 

* For about a year, I was also convinced there was a vampire in our coat closet. Walking past it in broad daylight was enough to give me the wiggins.



8 Comments on ‘Thank You, Sharknado, For Rekindling My Childhood Fear of Pool Sharks’

  1. Oh my gosh! This movie cracked me up. I tried to watch it, but I just couldn’t continue with the madness. LOL.

    I’m sorry it made you afraid of the pool. I saw the Piranha movie when I was a kid, and it made it hard for me to swim in our favorite swimming hole in a creek that my grandfather took us to.

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    1. I actually made it through the whole thing, although by the last half hour, my running commentary had devolved to “I… I can’t even.” There was a lot of uncontrollable laughing, too.

      Piranhas are creepy, too! Between the whole concept of pack-hunting fish and the very speed at which they attack. *shivers*

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  2. I haven’t been “lucky” (those quotes were made with my index & middle fingers, while at the same time ducking my head) enough to see Sharknado yet, but I did see Pacific Rim last night. There should be a new genre: the Big, Dumb Movie. To qualify as a BDM it should include at least one scene where previously eaten people cut their way out of blubbery bellies, or something equally ridiculous.

    I was terrorised by a movie about giant tarantulas that lay webs over an entire town. And by one about vampires (non-sparkly ones) and by one where some dolls came to life, and another where a mask tightens up and strangles somebody… maybe my parents should’ve supervised my drive-in visits more.

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    1. Oooh, Big Dumb Movies should totally be a recognized genre! I nominate Snakes on a Plane and Tremors.

      Isn’t it interesting how when we’re kids, it’s the monsters and creatures and dolls that terrify us? These days, I’m most creeped by psychological thrillers and ghost stories – human monsters.

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  3. I loved Sharknado! And pool sharks are too funny. After Jaws I became afraid fo the ocean, but I still go in when I get the chance, sharks or no sharks 🙂

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