Hi all! Below is an assignment explaining the 5 step media critical process applied to what I love, which is all things sharks!
Description
- During the 2019 Shark Week episode “Expedition Unknown: Megalodon”, the film crew seems to resort to dramatic music and camera tricks to imply to the viewership that the Megalodon might still be out there swimming around in the oceans.
- Lesser informed viewers might not know that the Megalodon went extinct 3.5 million years ago. Does the crew actually think the prehistoric shark still exists, or is it a ploy to drive up the viewership?
- An example of this thinking is the recent movie called “The Meg’ coming out. It gained a lot of traction in Hollywood.
Analysis
How to evaluate the film crew’s intentions. The audience needs to have an understanding of:
- The film crew and Network’s operations
- The shift in music tones, camera angles and the boat crew’s intensity during the ‘simulated events’
- What the Network’s target demographic is and how they respond to these media and their messages
- I think they are trying to go for shock value to increase viewership which is their primary job before actual research
Interpretation
- What does this mean for the viewers that aren’t as naïve, but also question to whether there is something out there that we haven’t discovered? The Carcharodon Carcharias, or Great White Shark, is a splitting, albeit shorter image of a Megalodon, which leads me to believe there are some that grow past what has previously been recorded as average size. An example of this is how during many of the specials, you can find many references to the Great White.
Evaluation
- As a whole, Shark Week is a lot of fun for the whole family, but anything referencing the Megalodon should be considered purely fictional from a modern-day standpoint.
- Strengths: Informative and captivating
- Weaknesses: relying too much on a ‘ghost’ and constant airing of a tired, widely debated subject
Engagement
- Many people who have cable have engaged, consumed, interacted and downloaded the content. Shark week is available on many different platforms, it’s even of Spotify!
- The public perception of Shark week is pretty positive unless you count yourself amongst the hardcore shark enthusiast
- The audience members seem likely to share with their families/significant others the information they’ve learned, as I did!
