Editorial

Staff · Issue 31, Jul/Aug 2006 · pp. 4

Products mentioned: Nikon 15mm lens, 16mm fisheye lens

Readers Lives Come on down Just a quick note in response to your editorial in UWP30, “Come on down”. You’ve hit on a subject that’s also been bothering me to no end - dramatization of the ocean’s predators in order to hype a supposedly educational programme/show/ exhibition. It’s not just the Plymouth Marine Aquarium; how many times have you seen Discovery Channel and even the National Geographic Channel airing shows with breathless, carnival side- show headlines as “Hunter Hunted” or “Jaws: Top Predator”. Invariably, the trailers for these shows use clips of a shark (usually a great white for impact), mouth agape, battering into a cage as if to devour the cameraman whole. The voiceover is usually done in a deep baritone, set to a soundtrack that would not be out of place in a B-grade Hollywood horror movie. Cut to commercial, and there’s a short advert by the WWF trying to educate the a…