From the Steven Spielberg classic “Jaws,” to predators stalking the Seine in “Under Paris,” there is no shortage of shark films.
Cinema enthusiasts in Hollywood and worldwide audiences remain captivated, seemingly never getting tired of the suspense, violence, and fear that horror movies portray.
There are prehistoric giant sharks in The Meg, genetically engineered ones in Deep Blue Sea and sharks altered by excessive cocaine in the film Cocaine Shark.
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I developed an interest in them after watching the James Bond movie “Thunderball”, in which the antagonist keeps sharks in his pool.
This sparked a lifelong fascination with shark movies and, surprisingly, a deep-seated and unwarranted trepidation of swimming pools, even indoor pools lined with chlorine.
Hayley Easton Street is the British director who is behind the new shark film, Something in the Water, in which a group of women is stranded at sea.
She declares that, being a fan of shark movies herself, she “absolutely wanted” to make the film.
Why are shark movies so incredibly popular? “It’s the fear of the unknown that lies beneath the surface,” she tells News.
Being stranded in an ocean in the middle of nowhere is beyond frightening. You’re a captive in someone else’s environment and anything can go wrong at any moment.
Forensic psychologist Professor Susan Young concedes that the fear of “the unknown, being alone and helpless” holds a lot of sway.
She states that watching frightening shark movies in the comfort of your own home or at a cinema “permits you to confront your fears without any risk of actual harm… and release the emotional tension you’ve built up in a safe and controlled setting.”
Prof Young adds: “Individuals can confront and assess the limits of human behavior by viewing extreme content, thereby testing their own limits and boundaries through a process that ultimately yields emotional release, akin to catharsis.”
She explains that Sigmund Freud’s theories relate as, “from a psychodynamic viewpoint, these films tap into unconscious fears and desires and provide a safe outlet for exploring repressed emotions and instincts such as aggression and the fear of death”.
The diver was provided with a fin to use.
Recreating realistic depictions of Hollywood sharks poses a significant challenge.
The production of Jaws was haunted by Great Whites used in mechanical effects, one had sunk and the metal had corroded due to the ocean’s salt water.
The lead actors were frequently left sitting idle, awaiting the completion of a prop shark.
In 2022 it turned out that the fiasco actually resulted in a “much better movie” as he had to be “resourceful in figuring out how to create suspense and fear without seeing the shark itself.
It was only a matter of good timing that the shark kept breaking, I’d say,” he said. “It was my fortunate luck and I believe it’s the viewers’ lucky break as well because I believe it would have been a spookier film without observing as much of the shark.
Street explains they were operating with a limited budget on the set of Something in the Water, and the team devised an ingenious solution.
We created a tiger shark fin,” she remembers. “We had a very skilled diver, Baptiste, who could hold his breath for a very extended period.
We fitted him with a fin and offered an underwater scooter that allowed him to move approximately at the rate of a shark.
It was great because the actors could actually interact with a shark fin, so they could understand what it would be like to have these sharks swimming around them.
Despite Street’s fondness for shark films, she did not intend the sharks in her movie to be depicted as maritime serial killers.
she notes.
The director noted that the release of Jaws sparked a massive surge in shark hunting, largely due to their portrayal as pitiless killers.
I must confess, I have a great affection for both movies featuring sharks and the sharks themselves.
I was very much aware of that, as it’s simple for people to start considering them as killing machines… or monsters, which they are not.
She adds: “It’s even more terrifying when the theme is realistic, when you think you’re at the beach and sharks might confuse you with prey, and they’ll attack you.”
Due to the massive success of “Jaws,” Spielberg has stated that “he genuinely regrets the devastation of the shark population resulting from the book and the movie… I truly regret that deeply.”
A significant challenge for conservation efforts
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Steven Spielberg is not the only person concerned about how sharks are depicted in Hollywood films and the ongoing influence it continues to have.
United States marine biologist Andriana Fragola is devoted to educating others about sharks, frequently sharing videos of her dives with them.
She claims they are “misunderstood predators” who have been damaged by movies and the media.
Andriana informs me that she recently watched the new shark movie, Under Paris, on Netflix and was not impressed.
They see their efforts as centered around conservation, centered around studying these animals, but at the end of the day the sharks are still causing harm and fatalities among humans.
It’s providing a more comprehensive view and a deeper understanding of the story, it’s not just limited to people swimming at the beach and being attacked. At the core, what viewers can take away from the movie is that sharks remain a genuine threat to humans and will continue to pursue and feed on them.
If that were true, we would be diminished as a human species. Anyone who goes to the beach would be at risk.
The director and co-writer of Under Paris, Xavier Gens, states that he is also an environmentalist.
Although the threat in Jaws is the shark, Spielberg wanted to “emphasize the risks of human avarice” in his film.
Andriana asserts that the public’s perception of sharks creates a genuine obstacle to promoting conservation efforts.
It’s a significant issue because individuals tend to refrain from safeguarding something that instills fear within them.
The public’s perception is that sharks are a threat to humans, leading to a misguided mindset that they should be eliminated, which poses a significant obstacle to conservation efforts and promoting public understanding and compassion towards these magnificent creatures.
It’s unfortunate because an estimated 100 million sharks are lost annually, while globally, sharks claim fewer than 10 human lives every year.
Our primary concern is the perception of sharks as terrifying creatures seeking to harm us, which is quite the contrary to reality.
It is unlikely that the film industry in Hollywood will cease producing movies about sharks, or that audiences will stop watching them.
In reality, the data indicates that sharks are not the ruthless predators of the sea, but are themselves more frequently confronted with threats from humans.
