Reply #9: I don't think it was intended as exploitative or disrespectful [View All]

[LeftyMom]

I think they included the scene both to explain Quint's fear/hatred of sharks but also to convey the horror of the event in a respectful way. There's no way one could to much research on shark/human interactions without reading an account of the sinking of the Indianapolis and gaining a great deal of respect for the horror those men faced. The death was likely compounded by some of the shark attack survival advice offered by the Navy at the time. They encouraged people to scare sharks off by thrashing and making noise, which acutally both attracted more sharks and signaled that the men in the water were prey. It probably contributed to losses due to exhaustion and sunsequent drowning as well to encourage that sort of wasted energy.