Sharksploitation

I'm not talking about the subgenre itself; rather, it's a new 2023 documentary added to Shudder a few days ago that I viewed last night: 

How do I become a “professor and monster expert”?

A few days ago, this new documentary dropped on Shudder and as I've seen enough shark movies to have my own Letterboxd list, this was enough to intrigue me. To be totally judgmental and speak blindly, this had to be more informative (not to mention, more truthful) than anything on Shark Week this or any year, but I’ll say more about that later.

The documentary was more than just mentioning Jaws then showing the literally hundreds of films-whether or not they feature sharks-that it inspired. There’s also folklore explained and various aquatic monster movies from before ’75 until they mention how Jaws was such an unprecedented smash, everyone wanted a piece of that pie, resulting in so many ripoffs that it became its own subgenre. Personally, I wasn’t that interested in the section of the film where all the low or even micro-budget entries are covered as with those, the effects are so horrid and the tone is too dumb for me to enjoy it. That’s why you shouldn’t expect me to ever talk about the Sharknado films. That’s just personal preference and I have few complaints about Sharksploitation.

Various talking heads involved with those movies are interviewed (including Corman and Dante) but there’s also those in the marine biologist field as a conservation message is stressed. The unfortunate phenomenon that many sharks were killed out of fear after Jaws was released is for certain a talking point. One highlight was Dr. Emily Zarka, the “professor and monster expert” I mentioned in the beginning. That name was dropped in case anyone has ever watched those Monstrum shorts on PBS’s website; I had only heard of it without ever clicking “play.” Although, I should do so as it covers folklore from around the world.

A talking point was how in 2013, one of the Shark Week shows was a faux documentary about a megalodon not only still in existence despite going extinct over 3 million years ago, but that there was footage of it attacking humans. As that was never later denounced by the network, apparently there are plenty of people today that still believe it to be true… that is one of many reasons why I never watch Shark Week. A week that (likely) perpetuates the negative stereotypes around the species and (probably) full of fake/inaccurate information, staged scenes and utter nonsense… no thank you. A documentary about films cashing in on Jaws was I presume far more informative than any of those programs. As for the similar competing week they have on the National Geographic Channel… I hope it’s not as sleazy but I can’t say either way.

That likely unpopular opinion stated… no matter your opinion of Shark Week, if you’re familiar with this subgenre or heck, even enjoy sharks as a species and hope man does not eradicate even one variety of them, this may be of interest to you.