They were two notes that changed the world of cinema - E and F, F and F sharp – that iconic der-dun-der-dun of a predator stalking its prey. Composer John Williams’ score for the film Jaws still has the ability to shred nerves even now, 45 years after it was released. Williams described the melody as, “grinding away at you…instinctual, relentless, unstoppable”. But it was not just cinema that it changed – it also changed how we view an entire species of animal.
Jaws created an image of the shark as an out-and-out aggressor, a menace running free in the ocean. It was an image taken up with gusto by Hollywood studios. There have been, since Jaws, 87 films about sharks, including the 6-strong Sharknado film franchise, about a couple who are plagued by recurring encounters with sharks who have been sucked from the ocean by a tornado and deposited in their general vicinity. The premise is absurd but the message clear: you are never safe from the depredations of the shark.
This celluloid vilification reached such a peak after the release of The Shallows in 2016, that a group of marine biologists wrote an open letter to Columbia Pictures warning that portraying a Great White as vengeful was a gross and dangerous mischaracterisation. Still, though, the view remains of sharks as big, aggressive and immutably bad. But how far is that actually accurate? Are they really the monsters they have been portrayed to be? Or are they more sinned against than sinners? As we launch our new 14-piece shark capsule collection, which ranges from technical jackets, half-zip fleeces to swim briefs, we take a deep dive into the world of the shark.
The first thing to know about sharks is that they do not begin and end with the Great White, but rather exist in enormous variety. There are 500 different species that we currently know of. There are bioluminescent sharks, mother sharks (which stay pregnant for as much as two years), hound- and cat sharks, goblin sharks, even a carpet- and nurse shark. To say nothing of the latest discovery by marine biologists: the walking shark, which uses its fins as legs and can shuffle out of the water, from tidepool to tidepool, while holding its breath for up to an hour. In fact, according to marine biologists, of the 500 varieties, only 7 ever pose any danger to humans – and even then, only under extreme circumstances. As Dr Lauren Smith of Saltwater Life, a marine research and conservation organisation based in the UK, says, “sharks are wild animals and should be respected. I have been fortunate enough to encounter many species in the wild none of which have exhibited aggressive behaviour”
The truth is, in the relationship between humans and sharks, it’s the former who are often predatory, says Dr Smith. Blue sharks in the Atlantic are particularly under-threat and subject to unceasing slaughter. “Overfishing of sharks in an unregulated manner is their greatest threat, they are targeted for their meat and their fins. Destruction of important habitats such as mangroves which provide nursery habitats for many new-born shark species, also impact their survival,” says Dr Smith.
