Title

Looking through the Beast's Eyes?: The Dialectics of Seeing the Monster and Being Seen by the Monster in Shark Horror Movies.

Authors

FUCHS, MICHAEL

Abstract

In his seminal essay "Why Look at Animals?" (1977), the late John Berger argued that the visual relationship between humans and other animals is a one-way street: humans look, whereas animals are observed. However, in one of the most iconic opening scenes in (horror) film history, viewers are invited to share an animal's look: To the sound of alternating Es and Fs, "we" look through a great white shark's eyes, as she (presumably) scours the ocean for food. But to what extent do "we" look through the animal's eyes? To what degree does this point of view merely pretend to be an animal's, although it is clearly anthropocentric, caught in a human-made technological apparatus which, in fact, controls the (representation of the) animal? This article discusses three shark horror movies in an attempt to offer (partial) answers to the questions raised above. Of course, the shark's POV framed by, and filtered through, the cinematic apparatus can neither tell us what being a shark feels like, nor help us humans understand the animal. However, I will suggest that by acknowledging that animals are outside of human logic and understanding, these movies provide room for critical reflection.

Subjects

HORROR films; WHITE shark; CARCHARODON; SHARK attacks; FOOD

Publication

Mise-en-Scène, 2018, Vol 3, Issue 2, p3

ISSN

2560-7065

Publication type

Academic Journal