Jumping the Shark: White Shark Representations in Great White Serial Killer Lives—The Fear and the (Pseudo-)Science

Abstract

Sharks are among the most endangered nonhuman animals on the planet because of industrial fishing, the shark meat and fin trade, expanding recreational fishing, and other anthropogenic causes. White sharks (Carcharodon carcharias), the most visible in popular culture, remain vulnerable (VU, IUCN Red List) and understudied, although population recovery is having a measure of success in regions like the Eastern Pacific and the Northern Atlantic of the United States. As numbers rise, Jaws associations also remain in vogue in programming that emphasizes human–wildlife** conflict such as Shark Week’s Great White Serial Killer Lives. Network marketing typically promotes this content by hyping shark science. Textual analysis, however, suggests that exposure to pseudoscientific narratives and unethical fear-inducing images is counterproductive to wider support for conservation programs and public recognition for sharks’ rights to their habitats.

The viewer doesn't always seem to care—response to fake animal rescues on YouTube and implications for social media self‐policing policies

“…approaching a dangerous animal in a National Park too closely, or attempting to pick up a venomous species, e.g. Neme, 2010) and, for species consistently portrayed in the media as ‘savage’ or ‘evil’, there may be negative impacts on public support for necessary conservation, or human‐wildlife coexistence, efforts (Cermak, 2021; Neme, 2010).…”

Editors’ Introduction to the Special Issue “Communication in Defense of Nonhuman Animals during an Extinction and Climate Crisis”

“…The scholars who responded to our call (from our home countries of Spain and the USA) propose solutions for media-makers and animal advocates to inspire protection of free-living species such as sharks, coyotes, parakeets, fishes, and octopuses, while showing concern for the human animal species as well. To begin, Iri Cermak directs entertainment and documentary film producers in how to defend one of the most maligned animal species, great white sharks, by ceasing the exploitation of people's fears of them as "maneaters" via "pseudoscientific narratives" and instead inspiring respect for sharks, protecting them from human attacks and the fishing industry (ab)use (Cermak 2021). Claudia Alonso-Recarte explores the popularity of the Tiger King docuseries during pandemic lockdowns and how its focus on anthropocentric drama does a disservice to conservation efforts to protect big cats, while critiquing the injustices they face in captivity (Alonso-Recarte 2022).…”