I live on Martha’s Vineyard and I write for island businesses so I have various Google Alerts set for “Martha’s Vineyard”…
I’m shocked, really shocked, to see the number of articles being written world wide about the shark that may or may not have been seen off our southern coast. When I searched Google for ‘Martha’s Vineyard shark 2008″ I got up to the early 400’s of the 48,000 returns – and they were still articles about the shark.
Here’s the story: last week some lifeguards and a man said that they saw a shark in the Atlantic off the coast of South Beach causing panic and the closing of a couple of beaches. I myself was a total baby about the whole thing and I swim on the north side in the Sound. Then, it turned out that the ‘gentleman’ who said he saw the 16′ shark was only teasing. So, there was no shark…maybe. Two seals had been found dead – from a supposed shark attack – in the last month or so. And lifeguards claimed to have seen a dorsal fin 2 1/2′ sticking out of the water.
…and now people all over the world are writing about it. They’re having a blast with the whole Jaws thing (Jaws was filmed here back in the day) and coming up with catchy headlines. It was exciting when there actually might have been sharks and now it is extraordinary that someone made it up…the entertainment is endless.
Are people sick of writing about the presidential race? The war in Iraq? I get that…so maybe they aren’t bored. Maybe they’re stressed and looking for relief…and a little bit of excitement.
I think that, even though it’s been, what, 30 years, that Jaws shark still captures people’s imaginations, and the idea of a real, live shark where Steven Spielberg filmed HIS, well … that just has to be cool, right?
(Yeah, I know, not necessarily, but when you’re a mass-consciousness icon like that shark–with John William’s theme song–you’re going to draw attention. Personally, I’ve never even seen the entire movie and can live without it. The scenery is good, though.)
What you say is true…something about this whole shebang strikes me as hilarious…Did you ever see the movie, ‘The Holiday’???? If not, you must…”Just two notes and you’ve got a villain” (one of the main characters about the Jaws theme song….)