Instead of the researchers going, “Oh, wonderful! We eagerly await your results!,” they mostly just asked, “Hey, stop fucking with the sharks.” Scientists already have plenty of their own research on tonic immobility, research that is a whole lot more valuable than what I assume is a montage of quick cuts of a scuba diver trying to flip a great white over in a less-than-controlled environment.
Again, a real-life scientist, the Director of Research at the New England Aquarium, shared their confused feedback: “I certainly don’t see the scientific value. Why do they need to confirm this other than to mess with a white shark for the sake of messing with a white shark?”
Related: In Australia, Sharks Can Walk
All Shark Experts Are Guys Named Mike
Lastly, Shiffman & Co took exception with the lack of diversity amongst researchers featured in the programs. I can already feel the comments section ballooning into a gas giant below me. But whatever your opinions on representation in media, and whatever stance you may have adopted from a 5-foot-7 contrarian child on YouTube, the overwhelmingly white male corps of talking heads is not representative of the community they’re (poorly) representing.
See, the field of shark research in the U.S. is, in fact, NOT a male-dominated field. More than half of the scientists are women. As Shiffman piercingly points out, not only are there more white males featured in the program, there were specifically more white dudes named Mike than there were women, period, across 32 years. They also showed little to no interest in talking to scientists from any of the locations they actually visited, who, you know, have likely spent a large portion of their life studying the specific shark being filming.
Instead of a realistic, global study on shark life, we pretty much ended up with a gallery of experts that looks like a fraternity spring break trip.