Introduction
It’s no surprise that one of humankind’s deepest fears is the ocean. Oceans cover about 70% of the Earth, yet today, more than 80% of the ocean remains unexplored. In fact, scientists know more about the surface of the moon than about the depths of the ocean. Unbelievably, creatures with fiction-like names such as goblin sharks, zombie worms, and vampire squids and vampire fish exist in dark ocean depths of 1,000-3,000 feet beneath the ocean surface. Moreover, although 94% of life on Earth is aquatic, about two-thirds of these marine animals remain unidentified. The genre of ocean ecohorror uses these incredulities and uncertainties about the ocean and features grotesque or even real monsters emerging from the depths of the ocean, revealing humans’ intense fear of the unknown, especially regarding the ocean.
Additionally, ocean ecohorror features a prominent theme of nature’s vengeance on humankind, or at the very least nature reminding humans of the power dynamic between nature and humans. While ocean pollution is generally thought of as a more modern, post-19th century issue, human disrespect for the natural ocean environment extends much further in the past. In fact, for centuries, oceans have been a receptacle for ships filled with society’s unwanted: objects have been dumped into the sea and ships have been burned or set on a voyage of no return. These ships, known as “Flying Dutchmen,” can be seen in 17th-century folklore and practices, but more recently in the post-World War II era when ships would dump toxic products such as PCBs or outdated chemical weapons.
Today, ocean dumping can be seen in areas such as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, which is a collection of non-biodegradable marine debris, mainly consisting of microplastics, among other items, scattered around the Pacific Ocean. However, this is just the surface, as in reality, about 70% of marine debris sinks to the bottom of the ocean. Thus, as a consequence of humans harming the environment by polluting the ocean, ocean ecohorror often features “what-if” scenarios of nature seeking revenge on humans for the harm they have caused.
With further knowledge being explained about ocean eco horror to continue its meaning and its relation to our text. We have five different multimodal texts to help understand the use and effect of ocean eco horror in different media. Beginning with the video game Subnautica, a survival adventure game that takes place on a foreign planet covered by water in which the player must survive the dangerous unknown of the underwater environment. The game has diverse animals of marine life as well as an unknown alien race that has been living on the planet for whoever knows how long. To sum up the video game, Subnautica uses an engagement that is very unique with the combination of exploration of the underwater world.
Now Subnautica itself isn’t necessarily considered eco horror however in great detail and observation you can consider and understand how ocean eco horror is related. For example the dangerous sea creatures that inhabited the ocean life were mutations and had evolved from the response of human activity. The Reaper Leviathan and Ghost Leviathan were both very hostile towards the player, a psychological response that could have been evolved due to unsupervised human technology and pollution.
To continue, with such unprotected and hazardous human activity Subnautica also features a vast spectrum of environmental hazards. Including acid pools, radiation, and much more. Furthermore, they were all in response to human activity and its dangers of exploiting natural resources without any awareness of their environment. In conclusion, Subnautica depicts the actions of humans having no remorse for their actions as a result of the consequences being faced for the natural world.
For our next text, the film Jaws, directed by Steven Spielberg, has a considerable massive relation to our ocean ecohorror exhibit. Having multiple themes as well as hidden themes in which would be recognized with great observational skills, Jaws was based on a novel in which the film directed a small town island of stereotypical white American community. However, an incident had happened in which the citizens and mayor had found a shark attack happening over a series of times. This shark would prey on swimmers and boaters in the surrounding waters. A group of men chose to kill this shark to end the attacks and to save the community financially and environmentally.
The film captures an underlying theme of the fear of the unknown or the dangers of curiosity of the surface below. However in relation to ocean ecohorror Jaws captivates the negative consequences of human actions on nature itself. The shark's habitat is being destroyed by the tourist industry resulting in the shark being lured close to shore for food which then leads to the killings of swimmers and boaters. It also touches the topics of profit over the concerns of the environment. A great example would be the mayor of the town in the film who refuses to close the beaches due to the fear of the profit from the tourist industry, resulting in great decline of the town. The town was rather known for its tourist location. With such inconsideracy the shark attacks continue putting the town in more danger. The last theme to touch on is conservation vs. preservation, with the ending of the film being the death of the shark, the damage was not impacted on the shark however the community and its environment and how the balance of killing sharks is at risk of the ocean. Putting an image of sharks as deemed killers however human activity caused the lurking of sharks to shore.
In our third text we have selected another film, Godzilla directed by Ishiro Honda. The main idea of Godzilla is the prehistoric sea monster that had been awakened by the chaos of humanity in which it began destroying the city with great power that it had, with attributes of being tall and strong. However in the film Godzilla at first was seen as a villain causing havoc and destruction to the earth but towards the end of the film he was seen as a protector of the earth defending earth against monsters and great threats to the planet. In relation to the theme of ocean ecohorror, we will explore the deeper theme of environmental destruction in Godzilla. Once again the result of human activity from nuclear welfare and dangerous science and technology being enacted by humans there was a resemblance or analogy being made in the film of the atomic bombins of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The reflection was to bring commentary of the tragic event and its relation to humanity. Furthermore, as time went on this film did become a cultural icon and symbol of Japanese pop culture. To further explain the topic of discussion, Godzilla is a metaphor of nuclear dangers and the failure to protect and preserve our environment.
The next text we have included is the book Moby Dick written by Herman Melville. A story that involves a sailor and his crew to find and kill, in revenge, the white whale Moby Dick who had bitten the sailors leg off. The journey is dangerous and involves harsh conditions at sea. However where the novel impacts the reader are the morals learned as well as religion and mythology of nature's existence. The themes touched in this novel that we will discuss are the man vs. nature aspect and humans desire for vengeance. The novel itself touches environmental issues such as the whaling industry and the depletion of whale populations. Also a minor theme of beauty and fragility between the natural world and whales.
The last theme explored that we will touch about is in the text of a French short film called Hybrids. In context, Hybrids is a film set into the future of the brink of mass extinctions of marine life due to pollution of plastic waste. The film uses a father figure and daughter to help demonstrate how they created mechanical sea creatures using the plastic waste and metals found in the ocean life to give them a new life. As a result, it causes an attraction to create an underwater world of mechanical sea creatures. The theme discusses many themes of ocean ecohorror such as ocean pollution, marine conservation, and the effect of human activity on the natural world. It further opens the doors of innovation and creativity that lies within our minds of addressing environmental problems and encourages views to protect the environment. The idea of the film is to bring awareness to the immediate need to protect the oceans marine life and plastic pollution.
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- Ocean Ecohorror Luke Fincher