Week 2: Lights, Camera, SHARK!

Welcome, small fry! In this blog, I’ll be describing to you the “wonderful” experience I’ve had over the past week watching almost 20 hours of shark movies and documentaries. While this week’s plan seems like an excuse to just sit back and watch some mindless cinema while taking notes (which it definitely partially is), I assure you this experience was not nearly as pleasant as it sounds and gave me some extremely interesting insights into how we write about sharks on the big screen. So, whether you’re joining me in my journey on understanding the connection between shark populations, especially White Sharks, and their portrayals in media, or you’re particularly interested in a random Senior’s reviews on some classic and “not-so-classic” shark films, I appreciate you wading through the numerous other Senior Projects and blogs to get here.

Before we move on however, I would first like to emphasize that these are my opinions and perceptions from watching these films. Of course, different people will come up with different interpretations of the message, motives, and effects of different scenes, and how these factors play out in my reviews do not mean that I am trying to say these are the only opinions you can have or that what I am saying are facts. If you think Jaws deserves to be a 10/10 for its monumental impact on the film industry as a blockbuster, summer, horror flick, or a 0/10 because “the mechanical shark didn’t scare me,” be my guest! I am a fan of judging opinions, not the people behind them (unless you think The Reef deserves more than a 2/10, maybe a 3/10, that movie is terrible). Without further ado, let’s dive into this pool of good and bad!

Scanning the Surface

The movies and episodes I watched were Jaws, Jaws 2, Seaspiracy, Discovery’s Shark Week (Season 2004: Episode 1, Season 2008: Episode 1, Season 2016: Episode 1, and Season 2016: Episode 8), The Meg, Meg 2: The Trench, The Reef, The Reef: Stalked, Sharknado, Sharkwater Extinction, and Shark Girl. Through my watches, I noted the general portrayal of sharks throughout the production (positive, mixed, or negative), any significant statistics pointed out, any key traits attributed to sharks, and any story points or miscellaneous information that could augment the message the film intentionally or unintentionally conveys.

Overall, there were some generally consistent qualities throughout the different categories of shark representation. “Positive” showcases of sharks really only fully existed within documentaries. In these positive documentaries, the narrator and/or researchers, which are oftentimes the same person, usually use a myriad of data or emotional appeals to encourage the audience to change their habits or vouch for change, helping to destigmatize sharks. Some presentations were more appealing to me than others, frequently coming down to storytelling, editing, and novelty (4 hours of video prior to watching another documentary truly does something to someone). The standout piece from this category was Seaspiracy. Although it wasn’t solely focused on sharks, it presents a measured and incredibly well-researched investigation on the surprisingly complicated topic of fishing and its role in our everyday lives.

While there were some fictional movies such as The Meg and “entertainment-first” documentaries like some episodes from Shark Week that noted the importance sharks play in ocean ecosystems, the relative peacefulness of sharks to other dangers, or the means at reducing one’s risk to shark attacks, more often than not, these small disclaimers were comparatively insignificant to the dramatic narration or flashy cinematography a director could create around the shark. I noted these types of depictions as “mixed” as they included both sympathetic and overly aggressive imagery of sharks which may lead to audiences forming accurate and/or inaccurate ideas on how sharks behave. For example, in The Meg, there is a scene where the main cast sails off their marine exploration base and finds the scraps of shark finning boat as a result of the Megalodon. This boat could have literally held anything, but the directors obviously intentionally chose shark finning to contrast the ruthless, destructive capabilities of the Megalodon. This part of the movie along with other “savior-complex” lines from the characters to “preserve and explore the ocean” condemn practices like shark finning and raise some slight awareness for these issues. However, if this message is actually remembered by the audience after leaving the theater is a different question, especially when much of the movie’s budget is clearly spent on its cast, flashy visual effects, and the simulation of the Megalodon itself.

Finally, the negative portrayals of sharks included the horror or suspense movies that are typically associated with sharks and one Shark Week episode that more fits the “crime scene investigation” niche instead of “documentary” by not supplementing any of its harsh imagery with education about the sharks, only brief comments on respecting sharks as animals. In creating more entertaining plots, these productions reused similar stereotypes that can rather clearly be traced back to Jaws, sometimes even directly referencing it. These tropes included ideas that sharks have an insatiable appetite, sharks only kill after biting, sharks intentionally hunt people, and sharks will do anything (break boats, leap onto boats, jump school buses, etc.) to eat people. Additionally, most of these stories use only the White Shark; the only movie where White Sharks aren’t only used is Sharknado because it includes White Sharks, Hammerhead Sharks, and other species.

Rapidfire Reviews

To save this blog from getting too long, I’ll be quickly giving my rating for each of the films I watched and a brief explanation. If you’d like some more context behind my choices, you can of course watch the movies and make your own opinion, and check out the notes I’ve taken on each – https://docs.google.com/document/d/1v47AOmoYcOCET_EmgY6SK3shJJZfdZaZpWBbpgjeMeA/edit?usp=sharing.

Jaws: (8/10 – Negative [Portrayal]) While it is egregious with some of its exaggerations of sharks, the “Classic Shark Movie” definitely deserves its title as it holds up surprisingly well compared to some more recent shark movies. Story-wise, it has some holes that if fixed would make the movie perfect, but the plot makes sense for what experience it is trying to create. I can definitely see how the obsession and paranoia around sharks may have started.

Jaws 2: (3/10 – Negative) This was an unnecessary sequel to the original that dragged on too long with too many new characters with weak connections made with the audience. The shark (in the shark movie) takes a back seat to the various characters and is once again misleading in its aggressiveness.

Seaspiracy: (9/10 – Positive) If there was one film I’d recommend after this week, it would be this one. This documentary was fantastic in terms of storytelling, message, and investigative journalism. It is a “must-see-to-learn” because of what it finds related to fishing.

Shark Week (Season 2004: Episode 1 – “A Boy’s Fight to Survive”): (7/10 – Mixed) This episode was a decent documentary that applauded the resilience in a boy who survived and recovered from a shark attack. This struggles between attempting to inform audiences on best practices with sharks and entertaining or intense, shark attack scene reenactments.

Shark Week (Season 2008: Episode 1 – “Day of the Shark”): (6/10 – Mixed) This episode was a compilation of various shark attack stories, and Discovery took liberties to try to make each as engaging as possible. Similarly, it runs into the same issue as the 2004 episode of “education vs. entertainment.”

Shark Week (Season 2016: Episode 1 – “Isle of Jaws”): (8/10 – Positive) This episode was a solid dive into White Sharks and their potential migration patterns with no substantial villainization, just a little injected TV excitement.

Shark Week (Season 2016: Episode 8 – “Wrath of a Great White”): (4/10 – Negative) This episode was pretty weak in its “crime scene investigation” story, relying instead on the fear factor of the White Shark. Riding the line between documentary and simple shark-watching, educating the audience isn’t given full attention as the leader of the crew mainly searches for bigger and bigger sharks.

The Meg: (7/10 – Mixed) This movie is as good as a Godzilla or King Kong movie: okay story and pretty good visual effects. It is inspired by Jaws with its characterization of the Megalodon, but it also attempts to spin a kinder narrative to real-world sharks and oceans.

Meg 2: The Trench: (6/10 – Mixed) Although not as bad as Jaws 2, this movie mimics the performance of the sequel by focusing on a “human-based” story and not living up to the original. Visual effects were better, but they were given less attention in favor of the “conflict-of-interest” story between “discovering the depths” vs. “exploiting our oceans”

The Reef: (2/10 – Negative) This movie seems like Australia’s version of Jaws 2 with half the budget, half the action, and no story (with a literal plain text conclusion). No real action occurs until an hour in, ironically making it one of the more accurate “shark horror” films because of how long it takes for sharks to arrive to the group and how the shark only attacks when the people move around erratically and desperately.

The Reef: Stalked: (6/10 – Negative) Like Jaws 2, this movie was more focused on the human story than the original, but it had a much healthier balance of story and shark hunting, though at the expense of some of its predecessor’s “realism.” The characters are also relatively reasonable and well-informed on sharks, though there are some peculiar moments like the main character Nic saying “We’re going to trap [the shark] and drown it.”

Sharknado: (3/10 – Negative) This movie’s CGI was terrible, with Jaws, a movie released 40 years prior, looking significantly better. Sometimes, it is “fun-bad” with some ludicrous scenes and an already ludicrous premise that should likely be understood by most audiences though some relatively “lighter” assumptions like sharks’ aggression may be overlooked and accepted.

Sharkwater Extinction: (8/10 – Positive) This documentary was very well put-together and storied that at times got repetitive. It relied heavily on facts to communicate its message which are effective occasionally but quickly get boring.

Shark Girl: (8/10 – Positive) This documentary was particularly inspiring to me as “Shark Girl” was a 19-year-old student who loves sharks, did some significant investigation into sharks and the fishing industry in Australia compared to the rest of the world, and attempted to make significant change. The production was decent though a little rough around the edges with some interesting facts, statistics, and ways to approach better awareness for sharks.

That concludes my weeklong escapade into shark and shark-adjacent films. I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did (hopefully more). Would I do it again? Definitely not. In contrast to Matt Hooper’s quote in Jaws on the shark, there is a limit to what I’m gonna do. Next week, I’ll be taking a statistical look on the various factors affecting shark attacks using the information from the “Australian Shark Incident Database” and yearly changes in Australian white shark populations from “A Review of the Biology and Status of White Sharks in Australian Waters,” so swim by to learn about the results I find and the potential leads to conduct my own “crime scene investigation.”

Citations

Andersen, K. (Producer), & Tabrizi, A. (Director). (2021) Seaspiracy [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.netflix.com/

Bonaventura, L., & Avery, B. (Producers), & Wheatley, B. (Director). (2023) Meg 2: The Trench [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.netflix.com/.

Bonaventura, L., Avery, B., & Wilson, C. (Producers), & Turteltaub, J. (Director). (2018) The Meg [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.netflix.com/.

Campbell, S., Stewart, B., & Stewart, R. (Producers), & Stewart, R. (Director). (2018) Sharkwater Extinction [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.amazon.com/Amazon-Video/b?ie=UTF8&node=2858778011.

Christian, J., Kingston, N., Robertson, M., & Traucki, A. (Producers), & Traucki, A. (Director). (2022) The Reef: Stalked [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.amazon.com/Amazon-Video/b?ie=UTF8&node=2858778011.

Kaufmann, G. (Producer), & Kaufmann, G. (Director). (2014) Shark Girl [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.amazon.com/Amazon-Video/b?ie=UTF8&node=2858778011.

Kurr, J., Pelletier, C., & Golden, T. (Creators). (1987-) Shark Week [Television series]. Retrieved from https://www.discoveryplus.com/.

Latt, D. M. (Producer), & Levin, T. (Director). (2013) Sharknado [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.amazon.com/Amazon-Video/b?ie=UTF8&node=2858778011.

Malcolm, H., Bruce, B. D., & Stevens, J. D. (2001, September). A Review of the Biology and Status of White Sharks in Australian Waters. CSIRO Marine Research, Hobart. https://publications.csiro.au/rpr/download?pid=procite:1d0d13e5-7a60-4e65-be78-636e6f2dd22e&dsid=DS1.

Meagher, P. (2024). Australian Shark Incident Database [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10476905.

Robertson, M., & Traucki, A. (Producers), & Traucki, A. (Director). (2010) The Reef [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.amazon.com/Amazon-Video/b?ie=UTF8&node=2858778011.

Zanuck, R. D., & Brown, D. (Producers), & Spielberg, Steven (Director). (1975) Jaws [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.amazon.com/Amazon-Video/b?ie=UTF8&node=2858778011.

Zanuck, R. D., & Brown, D. (Producers), & Szwarc, J. (Director). (1978) Jaws 2 [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.amazon.com/Amazon-Video/b?ie=UTF8&node=2858778011.