Jumping the shark is crossing the point where something ever popular no longer guarantees the attention previously received, especially when the publicity effort only serves to highlight its inappropriateness. This is especially true for television series or other entertainment outlets.
The idiom "jumping the shark" is condescending, most commonly used in reference to gimmicks that do not work because it promotes something. This is similar to "over peak" but more specifically indicates a reluctance to acknowledge the failure. Initially the phrase was used to describe a television comedy episode with a gimmick or an inconvenient event trying to keep the interest of the viewers. The moments labeled as "shark leaps" are considered an indication that the authors have spent their focus; that the show has deviated incurably from an older and better formula; or that the series as a whole declines in quality.
Popularized by Jon Hein's radio personality in the 1990s and early 2000s, this phrase originated from a scene in the fifth season episode of Happy Days sitcom where Fonzie's character skipped the shark while in air-ski. This is considered a ranking tactic, as he gets lost outside of the original storyline of the sitcom.
The use of "shark leaps" then extends beyond the television, indicating the moment when brands, designs, franchises, or the evolution of creative effort decreases, or when it changes prominently in style into something undesirable.
Video Jumping the shark
History
The expression jump the shark is based on the scene in the fifth season premiere episode of the American Happy Days TV series entitled "Hollywood: Part 3," written by Fred Fox, Jr., which aired on September 20, 1977. In the episode, central figures visited Los Angeles, where Fonzie (Henry Winkler) water-ski answered his courage challenge by wearing his typical swimsuit and leather jacket, and hopping more than the shark locked up. This action was created as a way to showcase Winkler's real life water ski skills. However, the scene was also criticized for betraying the development of Fonzie's character, because in the early episode, Fonzie skipped over fourteen barrels in television action; the action made Fonzie seriously injured, and she confessed that she had been foolish to take such a dangerous risk just to prove her bravery.
For an event that at the beginning of the season described the experiences of teenagers and families that could be universally linked to nostalgic backdrop of the 1950s, this incident marked thematic changes. The lionization of the increasingly super human Fonzie, who was originally a supporting character in the series, became the focus of Happy Days. The series continued for seven years after the acrobatic Fonzie, with a number of changes in cast and situations.
On the WTF podcast of Marc Maron, Ron Howard talks about the phrase for the first time used by Happy Days against Donny Most: "Donny reads it and he's a bit down, then say 'what do you think the script?' shrugging his shoulders and responding to 'people love the show, it's hard to argue by being number one' and he's looking up and saying, 'he's jumping on a shark right now?' It's the first time I've seen that phrase shut up, before it's over, You have to give Donny Most a props. "
The phrase "jump shark" was coined in 1985 by Jon Hein's roommate at the University of Michigan, Sean Connolly, when they talked about a favorite television show that had gone downhill, and the two began identifying other events where "jumping sharks" had happened. Hein describes the term as "The decisive moment when you know from now on... everything is downhill... it will never be the same." In 1997, Hein created a website to publish the current list of about 200 television shows and his thoughts on the respective moments of "jumping sharks"; sites became popular and grew with examples of additional user contributions. Hein then writes two books "Jump The Shark" and then becomes a regular on The Howard Stern Show around the time he sells his website to Gemstar (owner of TV Guide ).
In the 2010 Los Angeles Times , former Happy Days author Fred Fox, Jr., who wrote the episode that spawned the phrase, said, "[Shark Leap]] episode Happy Days that deserves his fate? No, no. All successful events eventually start to decline, but this is not Happy Days ' time. "Fox also showed not only for the episode's success (" great success "with over 30 million viewers), but also for the continuing popularity of this series.
Fonzie is not the first character to jump sharks. In the novel P. G. Wodehouse 1922 Right Ho, Jeeves , Bertie Wooster's cousin, Angela jumps a shark while water skiing in the French Riviera. This event is not a cultural reference, but is the main plot point in the novel, leading to, inter alia, broken engagements, hunger strikes and many midnight assignments in the garden.
Maps Jumping the shark
Wider usage
This idiom has been used to describe a variety of situations, such as the state of advertising in the age of digital video recorders and the views of rural education policy, the anomalous pursuit of corporate acquisitions, and the decline of the republic into the degraded democracies and empires..
Example
Automotive journalist Dan Neil used the phrase to describe Mini Countryman, a much bigger evolution than the previous small cars marketed by Mini. In March 2011, in a review titled "What Part of 'Mini' Do You Not Hold, BMW?". Neil said the bigger car left the corporate design ethos and that "with citizens, small sharks have been skipped".
Similar to the example above, the Truth About Cars automotive blog uses the phrase in the 2010 retrospective snippet to describe Cadillac Cimarron, the re-assembled Chevrolet Cavalier division of the Cadillac luxury car sold in the 1980s which eventually became a commercial failure that did great damage. for brand image; "Yes, as if there were any doubt, GM actually jumped sharks with Cimarron, and that led the way to what was the most painful decade of GM ever, in the eighties.Only GM could have such a huge arrogance to think it could go with dress up Cavalier and mortgage her as a BMW fighter, without even touching the machine, among other sins. "
In September 2011, after Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann repeated the anecdotes he shared with him claiming that the HPV vaccine caused "intellectual disability", radio commentator Rush Limbaugh said, "Michele Bachmann, he might have blown it up today. it - he may have jumped a shark today. "
In August 2014, City Manager Black Rock City, Nevada described Burning Man, the annual event in the Black Rock Desert, as a "shark leap", when the events of 2014 - which had previously been noted for the core values ​​of the self-radical expression and independence - VIPs are very luxurious, mobile towers, private jets, and "glamping".
Nuke fridge
In 2008, the Time magazine identified the term modeled after the "shark jump": "nuke refrigerator". Specifically applicable to the film, this magazine defines the term: "to eliminate the Hollywood franchise with a disappointing sequel".
This phrase comes from a scene in the fourth film Indiana Jones and Indiana Jones and Crystal Skull Empire, where Indiana Jones survived an atom bomb by adjusting itself to a lead-lined refrigerator. The blast wiped out its surroundings but sent a fridge that flew far enough for the protagonist to avoid getting hurt. The scene was criticized scientifically.
Within two days of the film's premiere, the phrase "nuke the fridge" has become viral, portraying the same movie scenes stretching confidence. Director Steven Spielberg later said that the scene was "my silly idea" and was happy to be part of the pop culture phrase, while film executive producer George Lucas took the same belief that Jones would have a chance even to survive the explosion..
References
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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