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I found it very interesting to watch these 5 horror movie trailers, all based on sharks, and compare some of the common themes. The majority of the trailers started with an isolating, underwater sequence in which there is a strong, ominous feeling of being hunted. There also tends to be a theme of a shark being strongly hinted at- maybe we see gills, or a fin- before being shown in its entirety, which is a much more impactful moment. There was also generally a happier scene towards the middle of the trailer, with either happy music or ominous music, both somehow managing to be in contrast with what was being shown. The majority of the trailers also showed the fight with the shark in some way- either with the shark attacking a character suddenly to startle the viewer, or by showing us characters aiming harpoons or guns, or by having a fast-paced action sequence with explosions. While it was definitely the case that no trailer really incorporated all of these, there was a definite sense of common methods and themes being used in these trailers.

In all of these trailers, the theme of ocean creatures was incorporated via a shark, the main antagonist of what we are shown. In most of these trailers, some threatening feature of the shark was exaggerated- it is either especially intelligent, bloodthirsty, or huge, or some combination of the three. The trailer for The Meg was interesting because it also incorporated a giant squid, which appears to be a very serious threat until the shark, a much bigger threat, tears it away from the vehicle the character is piloting. Regardless, in all of these trailers, the shark is seen as an enormous threat, and the environment seems to implicitly reinforce that in many of the trailers. Often, the character is stranded in one way or another in the shark’s habitat- there is a definite sense that the shark is the one in control, which I thought was an interesting theme. I also thought it was interesting how prevalent the shark is in this genre- while there are some other ocean-related horror movies that do not focus on a shark, it is by far the most common enemy in a movie that incorporates the theme of ocean creatures, enough so that it stands out as a common enemy in all horror movies in general.

Horror is a genre of fiction that uses a variety of storytelling methods to invoke a feeling of dread, terror, or disgust in the reader/viewer. In movies, there is particular emphasis on unsettling or startling the audience, or some spiraling combination of both. Movie trailers in general tend to feature fast pacing and frequent cuts to maximize the content that can be shown to the audience in a short period of time. Horror movie trailers often focus on unsettling the audience while conveying some of the story for the movie, and mixing in or ending by startling the audience to further invoke a sense a fear.