Even the article, talking about how Twisters would be a perfect setting for climate change messaging, is an example of this mindset.

No, just because the movie is about tornados doesn't make it the perfect setting for climate change messaging. Because why would the townsfolk facing down the tornado be worried about or care about that stuff? They're worried about their lives in the moment, not some theoretical chain of causality that led to the day's events that they have no control over.

See, the progressive logic is like "oh, this movie is about A, which is related to B, so let's message about B!" But they never think about the actual characters in the story and what their actual concerns would be.

It's honestly pretty absurd if you ask me, and I can only hypothesize that it comes from university English departments that are more concerned about teaching current political fads than timeless truths about human nature.