PalmThe news of the week (quantitatively) was the attack by a fish on an Italian tourist on Arenal beach. Above the argument between the mayor of Felanitx and a municipal police officer and, of course, something as "irrelevant" as the fact that Mallorcan bus workers have declared an indefinite strike. Who will care about the working conditions of TIB employees if a lifeguard warns over the PA system at her first-aid post in first aid-friendly English: "No swimming due to shark attack!"? Glorious. We spent two days reading analyses, conjectures, speculations, and dissertations about the type of fish that had injured the elderly woman in the calf. I've lost count of the possible names the experts gave. None confirmed, by the way, that it was a shark. But it doesn't matter. If you announce the presence of a shark on a beach, you ensure there won't be a second victim. Deterrent effect.
The lifeguard, like half the world, has surely seen Shark, the Steven Spielberg classic that inaugurated the concept of the summer blockbuster just 50 years ago. I had seen it again just a few weeks before, and it retains all the elements that have made it a classic. It's paradoxical that the malfunction of the animal model forced Spielberg (he directed it at 27) to use only the fin in many scenes, a setback that contributed to the suspense.
In addition to the tension caused by the animal attacks, there's something more voracious in the film: the mayor's attempts to prevent panic from ruining the tourism business. The greed and exploitation of the goose that lays the golden eggs of a coastal location is eternal. The politician cares little or nothing about the victims as long as the bars, restaurants, and hotels continue to make money.
Shark It managed to make a generation afraid of going out to sea—even though the danger wasn't even possible—while changing the rules of Hollywood. It was released massively in theaters and potential viewers were bombarded with an unprecedented advertising campaign on television. The box office responded. And how. If we adjust the revenue for inflation, Shark It would be the seventh highest-grossing film in history. Spielberg paved the way for George Lucas and his galactic saga, and he himself followed the same formula with classics like Indiana Jones. Even today, half a century later, studios reserve their bets for the summer with the ambition of filling their coffers. The power of the fear of sharks remains intact, also to fill digital media with visits. Even if the shark on Palma beach were as fake as the one in Spielberg's film.
