MERMAIDS
Do you remember those mockumentaries (or docufictions if you prefer) that The Discovery Channel produced?
The one most people remember is from Shark Week 2013, MEGALODON: THE MONSTER SHARK LIVES, but there was a whole slew of them. VOODOO SHARK, SWAMP CRYPTID, THE SUBMARINE, and the 2004 classic THE LAST DRAGON to name a few. But despite MAGALODON getting most of the press, the one that has stuck with me was from the year before, airing on Animal Planet in 2012, MERMAIDS: THE BODY FOUND.
For the unfamiliar, the premise was that mermaids are real and scientists are actively hiding their existence from us. At the center are two scientists who claim to have found the titular body while researching the mass beaching of whales only to be intimidated and silenced by the government. Amateur footage from fishermen and ocean floor cameras is provided as supporting evidence and a trusty Animal Planet narrator goes over the Aquatic Ape Hypothesis to explain how mermaids could be real to the viewer.
Now when I say this Monster Week special stuck with me, I don’t necessarily mean that in a good way. At the time, MERMAIDS was Animal Planet’s most-watched program ever, and people didn’t get the memo that it was fake. The History Channel had been losing credibility steadily in the years since ANCIENT ALIENS, but Discovery and Animal Planet weren’t quite to that point yet and people took the sensationalist marketing at face value.
Sure, the official press release states that it’s science fiction, or at least the editor’s note did, but all of the marketing that people actually saw framed the film as an exposé. Hell, the official website was a single page claiming to have been shut down by the government. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) had to release an official statement reiterating that no evidence of aquatic humanoids has ever been found after receiving numerous phone calls accusing them of hiding the truth.
The phenomenon of viewers believing movie magic isn’t rare. Discovery would repeat the feat the following year with MEGALODON and folks truly believed ABC was literally killing contestants on the prime-time show WHODUNNIT. But for me, the part that makes what happened with MERMAIDS worse is that people ignored the real conspiracy in favor of the fantastical one. The mass beaching of whales those scientists were supposed to be studying was real. Sonar testing resulted in the deaths of hundreds of whales, and the Navy denied it for years. Without the dedicated work of marine biologists and activists forcing the truth out, hundreds more would have died without anyone knowing why.
Fiction is fun. It’s fun to pretend, and sometimes it’s fun to laugh at folks being gullible. But for some reason, in 2021, I find myself thinking back on these fake documentaries and audience reactions without much laughter. Also, the Aquatic Ape Hypothesis is just bad science - Alister Hardy and David Attenborough should be ashamed.
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Sadly (or perhaps not) MERMAIDS isn’t available to stream from any of the usual places, but if you’re in the mood for a good mermaid movie, check out THE LURE which comes recommended by Bears Rebecca so you know it’s good.
“A nightclub hits the jackpot when two sisters with siren-like voices emerge out of nowhere and become the hottest act in town. The tricky thing is that they are mermaids, and feast off the flesh of entranced men to satiate their bloodthirst. One of them, Gold, has come ashore with dreams of stardom and a hatred of men; the other, Silver, only wants true love. The fantastical horror musical from Polish director Agnieszka Smoczynska packs more creativity, more visual flair, energy, excitement and originality into its running time than most trilogies.” - Bears Rebecca Fonte