Sharks
...oper). Sharks are real creatures, unlike Dracula, outer space creatures, or other totally fictional monsters. Shark attacks do happen and people learn about them in the news so many people believe that the events in the movie are entirely plausible and realistic. “Spielberg [the director of Jaws] believes that everybody likes to dice with death. After ‘Jaws’ I think a lot of people will rush into the water, not out of it. It’s gambling with the unknown”(Cooper). I disagree with Spielberg and think Jaws kept people out of the water. Douglas Long, a graduate of the Department of Integrative Biology now at the California Academy of Sciences and the Department of Biology at St. Mary's College in Moraga also disagrees; he said after the movie people were reluctant to go to the beaches. In either case the media/movie had a strong affect on the public. If Spielberg is correct, people who like to dice with death and gamble with the unknown will be driven to undertake ocean swimming. In any event, nearly all ocean swimmers who saw the movie had the thought of Jaws in their head at some moment while they were in the water. Their actions were affected whether they were afraid to go out past a certain depth or a certain distance away from land or purposely went out further in the hope of encountering a shark. There are two obvious reactions that can be engendered in people based upon the image of sharks portrayed by the media, one is positive and the other negative. The movie Jaws created in the general public a fascination in sharks. People, especially young children, want to learn more about them after seeing the movie. In general, many people are fascinated by the image and behavior of sharks. On an intellectual level, the movie makes people want to know if this is how sharks really behave and it fosters a fearful respect for the shark as a formidable creature – the perfect eating machine. So on the positive side, “Jaws” helped create a strong interest in sharks among a wide variety of people, interest that will hopefully lead to the furthering of education on sharks. As is often the case, however, many times emotions rule over reason, and negatives can overcome positives. People become terrified of sharks and are reluctant to go into the ocean. They are afraid to go boating on the ocean out of the fear that the boat might sink. Vacation plans have been altered due to some people’s fear of sharks. Largely, this is a result of the stunning images of sharks and shark attacks shown in Jaws, its sequels, and knock-offs. People get the wrong perception of sharks, that they are cruel, cunning and premeditated eaters of humans. People tend to accept what they see in the movies so they willingly accept the notion that sharks are man-eaters and all sharks are dangerous to humans. Another negative consequence that results from movies such as Jaws is sharks all around the world have been slaughtered. Even harmless sharks get a bad reputation and are killed because of the media. An enormous reason for sharks being slaughtered is due to shark enthusiasts and such people who want shark memorabilia. Since, there is a great demand for shark fins and shark related products in the world, the number of sharks in the ocean is decreasing significantly. The slaughtering of sharks has the potential to throw the ecological system of the oceans out of balance. “By 2017 it is anticipated that 20 species of shark could become extinct due to hunting, indiscriminate fishing techniques and, ultimately, man’s greed.” (Long). Another startling statistic is that “100 million sharks are slaughtered each year.”(Long). This information comes from a Berkley University study by Douglas Long who I aforementioned above. So, how far is this going to be taken? Are we going to let a creature that has dominated the ocean for more than four hundred million years, long before dinosaurs roamed the earth, become extinct in the relatively soon future? Now the question is what does any of this consumer demand for shark products have to do with the media? Well, the answer is simple; the media displays this outward malicious appearance of sharks that in turn creates fascination of sharks that the public gets drawn into either positively or negatively. This also brings up an ethical question. Is it wrong to be killing sharks in order to sell products and make a profit? I do not believe it is wrong to an extent. I believe that there should be a limit on how many sharks we let be killed for this purpose. This would do two things, first, it would let more sharks live and there would be a decrease in the slaughtering of sharks and second it would make the memorabilia more valuable because it would be harder to obtain. One thing is for sure though the threat of extinction should never be there. Besides Films, the media also has an effect on people’s perceptions of sharks through newspaper reports and television coverage. “The media coverage was prompted by a bull shark biting off the arm of an 8-year old boy on a Florida beach July 6, 2001. Overnight, shark bites and sightings became major international news, triggering countless TV news reports and front-page stories and culminating in the Weekly World News tabloid declaring: ‘Castro trained killer sharks to attack U.S.’”(Legon). The articles produced by this one shark attack made people unjustifiably terrified of sharks. The media exploits shark attacks they cover to a great extent. Such exploitation makes people believe the attacks are more common and more likely to happen than what they are in reality. What people didn’t realize and what the media didn’t tell people was that in 2001 there were thirteen fewer shark attacks than the year before. So, shark bites and attacks were actually on the decline, but because of these articles and the news coverage people acted like it was a huge problem in the world, which everyone needed to worry about. George Burgess, a marine biologist, who is at the head of the International Shark Attack File, “hopes education programs will help to counter the damage done by the media coverage in 2001 … We have to get the truth out. Sharks are not bloodthirsty killers. They’re amazing animals that deserve our respect and need our protection.” (Legon). What are the chances of being involved in a shark attack? Most People do not realize the chance of being attacked by a shark is almost non-existent. Due to the massive media coverage of every shark attack, the public’s concern for and understanding of ...