Much like last year’s mockumentary “Megalodon: The Monster Shark Lives”, Discovery Channel’s first episode of this year’s Shark Week has come under fire for it’s fictional account of “Submarine,” a giant man-eating great white shark with roots in a South African urban legend. “Shark of Darkness: Wrath of Submarine” plays out like a documentary, though it’s actually just an account of fictional events, plagued with less-than-convincing acting and special effects, in the eyes of many viewers.
Twitter was lit up with disgruntled viewers on Sunday night when the episode premiered, and numerous online media outlets have since voiced their distaste in Discovery’s decision to peddle out another faux “documentary.”
In Discovery’s defense, the show did contain the following vague disclaimer.
Events have been dramatized, but many believe Submarine exists to this day.
While most viewers realized from the get-go that this is a piece of fiction, others bought into it as a real-life account of a ‘monster shark’ with an appetite for humans. “Submarine” was noted to have an “insatiable taste for human blood,” and had adapted methods to attack humans more efficiently.
Is this really the kind of message Discovery Channel should be sending its viewers about sharks?
You can check some other opinions about Shark of Darkness by following the links below.
Atlantic White Shark Conservancy’s “We Need to Talk about Shark Week.”