Music: a shark’s biggest threat
I do not usually watch scary movies, but when I do, I press the mute button at every scary part. When a scary movie’s audio contains the high-pitch screech of a violin, or the accelerando of a deep pulse, I anticipate something is about to pop out onto the screen. My perspiration from fearful anticipation alleviates when I press the mute button, and suddenly, without sound, I am unafraid. The creature that jumps out becomes distant and I barely flinch. The impact that background music has on its audience is powerful.
One film where I found this muting tactic to be extremely useful on was for Jaws. The iconic ‘Duh-Nuh’ soundtrack from the film has become widely recognized. This background music is so heavily associated with sharks that I feel as if that tune pops in my head at the slightest mention of the species. The portrayal of sharks in the media can heavily influence the perception of the general public.
To test this idea, I decided to do a mini experiment with one participant: myself. First, I found a video on sharks from the BBC series, Blue Planet.
From viewing this clip, I was able to observe how documentaries utilize background music to portray Sharks as the bully of the playground. From 0:26, the background music is uplifting, where a flute and an oboe participate in a melodic duet with an accompaniment of strings. This part of the video clip shows only schools of small fish swimming. I would like to note that the narrator, David Attenborough, has a very soothing British accent and describes the scene with a light tone that complements the visual. The music makes an intense shift, however, around 2:35. Bass and cello parts enter at an intense low register with a flighty flute part in a call and response manner. The ominous music following the entrance of the sharks provides the viewer with a strong association between the emotions the music evokes and the visual of the sharks. Not to mention, David Attenborough’s tone shifts from serious and intense.
My personal experiment involved witnessing the impact that music makes on the visual clip. I played back the clip of the sharks’ entrance and put it on mute while listening to the background music from the earlier, more uplifting part of the clip. With the happier music in the background, the sharks were portrayed as elegant creatures. While my observation is most likely biased, I still believe that the effect that the music had on my perception of sharks was incredibly strong. The tonal shift that documentaries use to spark interest in their viewers is incredibly impactful on not just my attention to the material, but on my overall opinion of sharks.
Well, that personal experiment was just me, but I was inspired by a study conducted in 2010 that used over 2,200 participants to look at the idea that the use of intense background music on shark films have negatively shaped the perception of their species.
Apparently, shark populations have declined worldwide due to “overfishing, finning, and habitat degradation” where many are threatened with extinction. This negative view of sharks relates to the availability heuristic where our brain forms a ‘mental shortcut’ based on things that we tend to notice more than other things. Shark attacks are possible, and sharks are predators by nature. However, the amount of portrayal and dramatization of shark content in the media exceed that which seems to occur in real life. With the impact of the media portraying sharks in a dangerous light, people often are unable to accurately guess the amount of shark attacks that occur per year. A study conducted in 1984 in Papua New Guinea found that people there were twice as likely to be killed by a coconut on the beach than a shark. I have been hit in the head with a coconut before, I have never witnessed a violent shark attack, yet I still find this data to be surprising. This is partially due to the fact that media does not portray daunting scenes of coconuts falling from the sky, it is clearly much more exciting to most to witness the ‘predator of the sea’.
Within the study, they hypothesized that when footage of swimming sharks is set to portentous music, viewers will perceive the sharks with more negativity compared to cheerful background music or silence.
The study consisted of approximately 2,200 American citizens between the ages 18–73 who participated online. They randomly assigned each participant to one of six 60 second clips. Half of the clips showed a video of sharks from a Blue Planet documentary series; the other half provided just an audio clip. The video or audio clip either played ominous background music, uplifting background music, or was silent. The audio-only option was to provide clarity on whether or not there was a distinct audio-visual impact on perception or if it was impacted from audio alone.
Each participant, after being assigned one of the six clips, had to answer questionnaires about their perception of sharks and their willingness to conserve shark-life. Their results concluded, from three different versions of the study, that the participants who viewed the clip with the ominous soundtrack rated their perception of sharks more negatively than those who watched the same clip with uplifting music or silence. In addition, they found no significant differences between the uplifting and silent background noises toward positive or negative ratings of sharks. With regards to the audio-only clips, there was no noticeable difference with any of the ratings, proving that their perception is not driven by music alone.
There is evidence that negative music can impact the perception of sharks for participants, but does the uplifting music impact the viewers perception in any way? The researchers conducted three different versions of the experiment including a section to measure the participant’s willingness to conserve sharks. They found that participants who viewed the shark clip with the uplifting background music chose to conserve sharks more than other participants. The participants who viewed the clip with silent or ominous background music did not want to conserve sharks, therefore it can be assumed there is some sort of behavioral effect of the music itself. It is important to note, however, that only the third version of the experiment showed significant effects on uplifting music and willingness to conserve sharks. Moving forward, this method should be replicated in order to gain stronger results.
The media often uses intense and scary music to portray sharks in a negative light. This can serve as a tactic to increase intensity in a documentary’s cinematography; however, the consequences of music choice have been proven to impact the actual perceptions of sharks. Moving forward, more research should be done in other means on the idea that background music can impact the perception of the viewer. Perhaps this individual has seen shark clips with uplifting background music?
It is evident that music has a critical impact on not only the viewers’ perception of sharks but also their expressed willingness to take action in conserving the species. This phenomenon of the effect of music is likely not exclusive to the example of sharks. One relevant application of this phenomenon of music affecting not only opinion but also action is in its relation to consumer behavior. Advertisements found on a multitude of platforms have a drastic effect on consumers thoughts and also their subsequent buying decisions. We may view the consumer decision process as a bi-product of advertisements as a microcosm of human behavior in that our effected thoughts directly influence our actions. The next time you are watching a commercial with a catchy jingle, the music probably impacts your perception of the product more than you would expect. And with that said, I will leave you with my favorite example of a commercial impacting perception:
