Summary 
The Bay is a found footage, eco-horror film in which a mysterious parasitic outbreak wreaks havoc on a small seaside Maryland town, which the government tries to cover up. On the 4th of July, while the town members celebrate by the bay and partake in their annual crab festival, people suddenly start developing boils, lesions, and other bizarre symptoms. No one is quite sure what is happening, or how this infection is transmitted, but people are dying on the spot, hospitals are overcrowding, doctors are unsure, and fear spawns into panic. The town is shut as government officials confiscate any video footage they find, shut down news channels, cut down phone lines, all in the effort to cover up the incident and contain the panic. But, one new coming reporter, Donna, who witnessed the entire event and recorded the city’s turmoil, is able to retrieve and assemble other digital evidence from the day – in hopes of revealing the truth and exposing the government’s unscrupulous cover-up.

Eco-horror themes

• Mystery & Unknown

The movie begins with a fast-paced montage of clips from the day the parasite took over the small town of Claridge. This immediately sets the mysterious mood of the film, which is continued throughout as the audience doesn’t learn about the nature of the parasite deep into the latter parts of the film. The characters in the film further exemplify this mysterious mood. The doctors and the CDC are unaware of why people are exhibiting such severe symptoms. The oceanographers aren’t able to figure out what is causing so many fish to die. And the police don’t know the cause of deaths. 

Additionally, the fact the opening scene is immediately followed by clips of people enjoying their time by the bay, gives a sense of calm, tranquility and slow-paced life. This juxtaposition highlights how the public is totally unaware of what is going to hit them, and emphasizes the mystery for the audience.

• Deserved Harm

A theme prevalent across many Eco-Horror texts is this notion of ‘deserved harm’. Certain characters in texts are harmed more than others by the ecohorror element because of their behavior and nature – in turn critiquing the ideals these characters embody. In The Bay, we too can see that different characters are affected by the parasite to different degrees. Some immediately start bleeding, begin moving uncontrollably, and die on the spot, while others develop boils over time. But, given that the film provides little background about the characters  – barring the narrator – this varying degree of harm characters face doesn’t highlight ‘deserved harm’. Rather, it alludes to the idea that environmental issues develop over time, come with signs, and can be stopped when people recognize their implications instead of ignoring them (Hollinger, 6:49).

• Helplessness

The Bay demonstrates the theme of helplessness by highlighting the relationships destroyed by the ecohorror element. An instance of this is the little girl whose parents abandoned her, and she finds herself seeking refuge alone in the staircase of the overflowing hospital. On a call with her friend, she says “I don’t want to hang up. I don't want to be by myself”. This highlights the fragmented relationships and helplessness people, even little children, face as a result of the parasitic outbreak, creating a gloomy mood amongst the audience. This sense of helplessness is further exemplified by the high angle camera shot (on the left), which shows the girl as a tiny figure in the vast, empty stairwell, with dark and flickering lights. Levinson uses this high angle shot combined with dark lighting throughout the movie to highlight the notion of helplessness, whether it's the shot of Stephanie carrying her baby alone across the road after her husband succumbs to the isopod, or the pan across the entire town with bodies lying all around.

Another instance which highlights this theme of helplessness is when the deputy kills the sheriff, while blabbering, “we’re all going to die”,  and then proceeds to kill himself. The fact that the police, who are supposed to take care of the situation, and ensure the town is safe, resort to killing each other because death is inevitable, exemplifies the sense of helplessness this little town has fallen into. This also shines light on the notion that nature is always stronger than humans, regardless of whatever human beings may resort to.

• Calm vs Chaos

The film highlights this notion of calm vs chaos very well, and uses different settings to achieve this. Scenes on land, whether that’s doctors running across the hospital, treating patient after patient, or people running around on the bayside, chaos remains a prevalent theme. But, scenes in the water, which is where the parasite originated from, are much calmer in contrast, whether it's the two teenagers swimming or the couple on the boat. This highlights the notion that nature will always transcend humans.

Furthermore, the scenes in the CDC are quite calm, which is counterintuitive because this outbreak has vast implications (and hence you expect more disorder than shown), but the calmness shown by members of the CDC shines light on their lack of understanding of the parasite, and foreshadows the cover-up they, and the government instigate (theNewBee, 12:01).

• Ignorance and Corruption  

The film highlights the ignorance and corruption of the government and other authorities. Warnings regarding the bay’s toxic conditions were already brought upon to the mayor, but he chose to downplay and ignore them, in order to avoid the negative attention he would receive. He chooses to serve his own agenda of winning the re-election, and alleviates the blame off himself, and hopes that nature will figure itself out. The same ignorance and corruption can be seen with the police who cut off all phone lines, leaving citizens to fend for themselves, and with the government, who cover up this entire parasitic outbreak as a “rise in sea temperatures”. Ultimately, this shines light on the idea that governments and authorities tend to downplay and even hide environmental concerns, and human beigns not only mistreat the environment, but also one another (Hollinger, 10:03).


Relation to overall theme 
The film relates to the overall theme of  “unnatural transformations in ecohorror (mutations/diseases/pandemics)” as the film is based on an isopod that mutates and becomes a deadly killer. The isopod in the film, cymothoa exigua (which exists in the real world), is a tongue eating bacteria that attaches itself to fish, and eats its tongue (Taylor). In this film, the bay’s water, which is filled with pollutants, chicken excrement, and chemicals,  provides a ‘toxic soup’ for this isopod to mutate, and develop into a flesh-eating, human killer. The unnatural transformations are not only seen in the isopod itself, but in the humans it infects. People grow huge blisters, boils, and eventually holes in their body as the isopod cuts through their flesh.