Mega Jaws - Pop or Porn?

Have we all been screwed?

Meaning myself, BAD, Kristina from Niuwave Media who acted as the local facilitator and put her reputation on the line, as did Papa who mediated the contacts to a storyteller in Rukua, the Tui Cacau who graciously agreed to being interviewed, the Fiji Audio Visual Commission who facilitated the shoot – and above all, Fijian ancestral beliefs and traditions?
I hope not – but things sure look suspect!

I’m talking about Mega Jaws by Yap Films.
It has just aired on History Channel Canada and is slated for SyFy as part of Beast Legends , a series about mythical creatures that are being re-created through computer graphics. The episode explores the legend of Dakuwaqa, Fiji’s best know, albeit by no means only Shark God.
And yes, we were part of it!

From our initial correspondence.

Day 2 - The bite force test - we have obtained a Gnathodynamometer from the University of Oklahoma. The Gnathodynamometer measures the bite force of sharks. We would like to have Steve dive with it. Is that possible? We can bring it and have you and your team check it out.

"Experiments": as already discussed, I believe that kind of "off-the-cuff" stuff to be utterly useless, scientifically irrelevant and in the present case, a disservice to sharks which are once again being reduced to "teeth", if you get what I mean. I actually blogged about just such a "feat" here. So, the bad news is that the answer is "no thanks".

I assure you that we are not reducing sharks to merely "teeth."
In fact, we are hoping to work with Dr. Sam Gruber to show just how intelligent sharks are. We have had extensive discussions with him already and I am very hopeful that we will be able to work with him.

Day 4 - Final Sequence - Dakuwaqa prevents a modern day pirate ship boat from pirating.

Dakuwaqa preventing piracy etc.
Look, in the softest possible way, some tribes here really believe in the Shark God and one must be culturally sensitive. You would also not dream about re-writing the Holy Bible and staging some bogus miracle by Jesus Christ which you just happen to make up on the fly - right? Thing is, there's no piracy in Fiji and even if there were, D just doesn't do those things. D helps members of selected tribes by guarding their boats during ocean crossings and by saving those people (and no others) when they may get shipwrecked. He apparently also punishes miscreants on Taveuni. He also will not attack the people of Kadavu as he lost the fight with Kadavu's guardian spirit, the Octopus. He apparently also helps corral the fish during fish drives on Beqa. Full stop.
What you propose is going to be viewed by some as sacrilege and the last thing we want is to be the operation that has enabled that stuff. So, if you want to re-enact anything, do re-enact what people will tell you when you interview them whilst you're scouting.

Piracy – Your notes are completely understandable.
The problem that I am having is that we are operating without knowing exactly what we will hear from the tribal leaders. My hope is to have Kristina from Niuwave visit them this week so that we have a better idea of what we’ll hear about DW from them. Once this happens we can start to write the scenes of our show based directly on what hear from the tribal chiefs. This is quite urgent as there are computer graphic portions of our show that need to be confirmed and approved as soon as possible. We also don’t want to offend anyone and want to describe and portray the legend accurately.

Keep in mind that once again, people here really do believe in the legends as part of their unique cultural heritage and that it is not automatic that they will be willing to share them with outsiders - this requires a lot of respect and cultural sensitivity and needs to be approached accordingly.
I cannot emphasize enough that Fiji is not Hawaii with its bogus "traditions" and that the indigenous population are proud of their heritage and thus need to be treated with respect and not as some actors in some kind of "native soap opera". Having said this, there's no need to embellish anything anyway: you will be able to record fascinating stories against the backdrop of a fascinating country, people and huge predatory sharks: more than enough for great programming! Are we on the same page regarding this?

I hope my answers above show that we are on the same page.
If you have any concerns or comments please let me know and it would be great to keep the lines of communication open as we move forward. I am really looking forward to working with you.

Light blue is yours truly, dark blue is Jeff Thrasher of Yap who acted as Director.

The Fiji shoot was not easy.
During our research, we came to understand that the legend of Dakuwaqa is complicated and that different traditions are in part contradictory. Untangling the confusion is difficult as people won't easily share with strangers, the more as they have been convinced that upholding their ancestral beliefs may be regarded as being un-Christian.

As a minimum, there’s one Dakuwaqa who may be living in the village of Rukua on Beqa but who may have also left when the Fisherman Clan of Rukua re-located to the islet of Benau near Taveuni following a dispute over a sweet pudding.
Then, there’s also a Dakuwaqa who was born as a human being but went to live in the sea whereas his brother became the first Tui Cacau, or Paramount Chief of the province of Caucadrove encompassing parts of Vanua Levu and Taveuni.
And then, there’s also another Dakuwaqa of unknown origins that likes to engage in fights and is mentioned in the legend about why Sharks don’t attack the islanders of Kadavu.
And yes, there's more!

Anyway, Jeff arrived with Associate Producer Alex McIntosh, likeable hosts dashing Steve Leonard and Kathryn Denning (beautiful, majestic killing machines??? Really???) and filmed on the Shark dive, in Rukua and on Taveuni.
Apart from the inevitable clusterfuck and raw nerves, the shoot was uneventful, the animals cooperated, the team was genuinely pleasant and everybody seemed very happy with the results.

Once they were back in Canada, we had the following exchange.

As per today’s conversation, I’m giving you my footage for free.
I know that you and Alex understand that Dakuwaqa must be treated differently than, say, Dragons as this is not a legend but a living God. We’ve talked about it before, you can thus just not “add” to the story by inventing stuff like the “pirate attack” etc, the same as you can also not “add” to the Bible. I also know that you understand that I’m a Shark conservationist and as such take exception to people reducing Sharks to teeth, aggression and attacks. Hence the following conditions: you may NOT use my footage if in the final edit

• Dakuwaqa turns into some toothy aggressive monster, etc (he is essentially a protector)

• The Sharks are being depicted along the usual stereotypes, with mention of attacks, testosterone , aggression and the like. You have now witnessed yourselves how timid they really are despite of their size.

Also, that footage is for this show only and must be destroyed upon the completion of the show.

I assure that we meet the requests that you laid out in your email and are not painting sharks and vicious, predator machines.
We have acknowledged your requests and have a copy of your email with the materials release that you signed while we worked together in Fiji. The show is coming together quite well and I think you'll be very happy with it. The underwater cinematography is impressive across the board and the shark feeding/dive scenes are amazing. I am sure you’ll also be happy with how our story is respectful of the Fijian people and their culture.

So, I hear you ask, what’s the fuss all about?
Why I’m increasingly concerned is that I literally stumbled across a synopsis of the episode on the Beast Legend website. As far as I can remember, it explains that after Fiji, the team travels to Florida to meet Burgess who assists in reconstructing the jaws of a Shark that is larger than the Megalodon to serve as a template for the Shark God. They also travel to Bimini where they meet Doc who explains the various Shark senses.
The final reconstruction then apparently displays computer graphics of a gigantic Dakuwaqa attacking a nuclear sub (!) wanting to perform illegal test in Fiji waters!

Having asked Yap for clarifications, they have all gone AWOL.
Not only are they playing ostrich, they have also deactivated the link which is http://www.beastlegends.com/episode-guide/mega-jaws/ – not quite what I would call being transparent and accountable, and trying to address my concerns!
So, what are we to believe?

Thing is, I do have some understanding for poetic license and the constraints of wanting to produce a successful program. In that sense, a larger-than-life toothy Shark God may be regarded as Pop culture and not strictly Shark Porn.

But the buck stops at the depiction of real Sharks and above all, at Fijian culture - and when it comes to that, I’m increasingly becoming apprehensive!
Or am I just being a paranoiac sissy?

So here’s the deal.
I’d be very interested in any feedback from viewers in Canada. The episode can also be viewed online once it is not anymore not currently available.
Opinions?

As to the good people over at Yap.
I shall send them this post so that they have yet another chance and clarifying the matter – as in living up to one’s claims of integrity, high standards!
Fair?

Anybody taking bets?

PS taken up by Patric here. What can I say - he's a Canadian!
Just kidding - as is he!

PS2 just had a good talk with Jeff who being a freelancer cannot officially speak for Yap. Very good convo that has gone a long way in assuaging my fears. Kudos for having chosen to respond!
More as I get to see the episode.

PS3 read Diving Discoveries' comments here.