Their presence serves as an indicator of ocean health, and they maintain the diversity of their environment. Sharks are the top of their food chain, apex predators, but they also maintain the ecosystem of the sea. Related Article: E3 2019: Shark RPG ‘Maneater’ Gets Explosive New Trailer I assume this is why Shark Week is so popular – giving us knowledge and insight into elusive and mysterious shark behavior. It feels like the ultimate culmination of our shark obsession: in the end, we identify with sharks. In 2018, Tripwire Interactive announced the PC game Maneater, in which you actually play as a shark, avoiding the threats of the ocean, finding food, and terrorizing beach-goers in your wake. Related Article: 5 Scenes that Remind Us- ‘Don’t Go in the Water!’ Maneater / Tripwire Interactive In Jaws: The Revenge (1987), we see a shark “out for revenge” – an emotion ratcheted up from homosapiens to give the shark “motivation.” The tagline even boasts, “This time, it’s personal.” Rarely do we see a shark just…being a shark (this abstraction become more potent with the notably bad CGI). They’ve become hyperbolized versions of themselves, hungry and vicious and somehow “enhanced.” Even the most basic iterations see the sharks adapting to improbable environs: in Shark Lake (2015) with Dolph Lungren, we see a bull shark adapted to freshwater. We want these creatures abstracted from what they actually are. Yet, removed from a few notable exceptions, shark films swim in the realm of absurdity. Knowing that the love of horror is rooted in catharsis, what possible relief does one get from the 2010 boom of Shark spectacle? It hasn’t let up, in fact it’s doubled down (about 47 Meters Down). That brings me to a seemingly unanswerable question: why sharks? They’ve gotten bad wrap in cinema as a prolific go-to monster of the deep. And it’s true, even at full size, it’s highly unlikely a shark would eat me, or any one for that matter, unless it mistook us for a seal. Anything this cute couldn’t possibly eat me alive. It seems the only water not covered is micro-sharks, like vicious little piranhas in shark form, and maybe that’s why this Funko Bruce Pop! is sitting on my mantle alongside Bret “The Hitman” Hart and Leatherface. No matter how bad these films are (most produced by the SyFy network), we still demand more. There have been films about two-headed and three-headed sharks, Dino-sharks, Sharktopi, Jurassic Sharks, Megoladons, Mega-sharks, and genetically-engineered Smart sharks. Sharks have been getting bigger, badder, and apparently are growing more heads. Related Article: Tommy Wiseau to Direct Killer Shark Movie ‘Big Shark’ Sharks just keep evolving in the imaginations of big monster filmmakers. And this is just the tip of the iceberg (another natural anomaly that hides its grotesque size underwater). This is the same year of the infamous first installment of the psychotic franchise Sharknado, which sees the natural terror of the shark clamp its teeth into the natural disaster of a tornado. In 2013, Ghost Shark imagined a new kind of haunted horror, creating a menace that attacks from bathtubs, ponds, and yes, even small cups of water. In 2011, Sharks made the leap into sand and snow (the films Sand Sharks and Snow Shark respectively), sending tremors through land-lubbers who thought it was safe to just stay out of the water. In recent years, sharks have jumped out of the water and into every mode of destruction imaginable. Despite the number of shark-bite fatalities being less than that of attacks by dogs, there is a primal charisma in sharks being cast as vicious maneaters. When Shark Week premiered in 1988, Discovery Channel’s ratings doubled from the year prior. We saw it last year in The Meg (2018), and we never stop going back to 1975’s Blockbuster smash Jaws. But we’re drawn to it, the elation and gravitas of seeing a bigger, bolder shark. Do those aerial photos of giant shadows under small boats give you the wiggins? Then you just might have it, too. The fear has a name, thalassophobia, and it’s the fear of deep bodies of water with things lurking in the unknown depths. Maybe the idea of owning such a renowned predator, giving it a home, makes me feel a little more in control of the deep, dark depths of the ocean. There is an abstract feeling of warmth and compassion when looking at the small (albeit large for Funko) shark.
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