Questões para Concursos

Something in the water? Why we love shark films From the Steven Spielberg classic Jaws, to predators stalking the Seine in Under Paris, there is no shortage of shark films. Hollywood and audiences love them, seemingly never tiring of the suspense, gore and terror. There are prehistoric giant sharks in The Meg, genetically engineered ones in Deep Blue Sea, and sharks high on cocaine in the ingeniously named Cocaine Shark. Even Donald Trump is a fan – he was reportedly due to play the US president in a Sharknado film, before becoming the actual president. I became hooked on them after watching James Bond film Thunderball, where the villain keeps sharks in his swimming pool. It led to a lifelong interest in shark films, as well as an irrational fear of swimming pools, even ones filled with chlorine inside leisure centres. Hayley Easton Street is the British director behind a new shark film, Something in the Water, which tells the story of a group of women stranded at sea. She explains that, as fan of shark films herself, she “absolutely wanted” to make the movie. So why are shark movies so popular? “It's the fear of what could be going on with the unknown of [the sea]” she tells BBC News. “Just being stuck in the middle of the ocean is scary enough. You're trapped in something else's world and anything could happen.” But despite Street's love of shark films, she did not want the ones in hers to be portrayed as marine serial killers. “We kill 100 million sharks every year” she notes. The director was also aware that the release of Jaws led to a huge rise in the hunting of sharks, partly because they had been portrayed as merciless killers. “As much as I love shark films, I love sharks.” “I was really conscious of that, because it's easy for people to start seeing them as killing machines... or monsters, which they are not.” She adds: “I feel it's more scary to have the realistic theme of it, that, you know, if you are out in the ocean and there are sharks and they do mistake you for something else, they will kill you.” Despite the huge success of Jaws, Spielberg has said he “truly regrets the decimation of the shark population because of the book and the film”. Spielberg is not the only person concerned about Hollywood's portrayal of sharks and the impact it continues to have. US marine biologist Andriana Fragola dedicates herself to educating people about sharks, often sharing videos of her diving with them. She says they are “misunderstood predators” that have been harmed by movies and the media. Andriana tells me that she has watched Netflix's new shark film, Under Paris, and was not impressed. “Their whole thing was it's about conservation, about studying them, but then the sharks are still eating people.” “So it's giving a little bit more of a rounded education and a little bit more depth to the story, it's not just people swimming at the beach and getting attacked and eaten.” “But the bottom line and what people can draw from the movie is that sharks are still really dangerous to people and they're just going to continuously hunt and eat people.” “If that was true, we would be reduced as a human species. Everyone who goes to the beach, they would be threatened.” Andriana says the perception of sharks causes a real issue for conservation. “It's a huge problem because people don't want to protect something that they're scared of.” “The perception from people is that they're dangerous to humans so we should eradicate them, and that's obviously a huge problem for conservation and getting people to want to empathise or sympathise with sharks and wanting to actually protect them.” “It's unfortunate because 100 million sharks are killed every year, and globally sharks kill fewer than 10 people every year.” “We're really focused on the sharks being the monsters and them being out to get us. In reality it's the opposite.” It is unlikely that Hollywood will stop making shark films, or we will stop watching them. But the figures show that far from being the serial killers of the sea, sharks are actually much more likely to be the victims of humans. (Charlotte Gallagher, Culture reporter, BBC 2024. Accessed: 29 July 2024. Available in: . Adapted.)

Something in the water? Why we love shark films From the Steven Spielberg classic Jaws, to predators stalking the Seine in Under Paris, there is no shortage of shark films. Hollywood and audiences love them, seemingly never tiring of the suspense, gore and terror. There are prehistoric giant sharks in The Meg, genetically engineered ones in Deep Blue Sea, and sharks high on cocaine in the ingeniously named Cocaine Shark. Even Donald Trump is a fan – he was reportedly due to play the US president in a Sharknado film, before becoming the actual president. I became hooked on them after watching James Bond film Thunderball, where the villain keeps sharks in his swimming pool. It led to a lifelong interest in shark films, as well as an irrational fear of swimming pools, even ones filled with chlorine inside leisure centres. Hayley Easton Street is the British director behind a new shark film, Something in the Water, which tells the story of a group of women stranded at sea. She explains that, as fan of shark films herself, she “absolutely wanted” to make the movie. So why are shark movies so popular? “It's the fear of what could be going on with the unknown of [the sea]” she tells BBC News. “Just being stuck in the middle of the ocean is scary enough. You're trapped in something else's world and anything could happen.” But despite Street's love of shark films, she did not want the ones in hers to be portrayed as marine serial killers. “We kill 100 million sharks every year” she notes. The director was also aware that the release of Jaws led to a huge rise in the hunting of sharks, partly because they had been portrayed as merciless killers. “As much as I love shark films, I love sharks.” “I was really conscious of that, because it's easy for people to start seeing them as killing machines... or monsters, which they are not.” She adds: “I feel it's more scary to have the realistic theme of it, that, you know, if you are out in the ocean and there are sharks and they do mistake you for something else, they will kill you.” Despite the huge success of Jaws, Spielberg has said he “truly regrets the decimation of the shark population because of the book and the film”. Spielberg is not the only person concerned about Hollywood's portrayal of sharks and the impact it continues to have. US marine biologist Andriana Fragola dedicates herself to educating people about sharks, often sharing videos of her diving with them. She says they are “misunderstood predators” that have been harmed by movies and the media. Andriana tells me that she has watched Netflix's new shark film, Under Paris, and was not impressed. “Their whole thing was it's about conservation, about studying them, but then the sharks are still eating people.” “So it's giving a little bit more of a rounded education and a little bit more depth to the story, it's not just people swimming at the beach and getting attacked and eaten.” “But the bottom line and what people can draw from the movie is that sharks are still really dangerous to people and they're just going to continuously hunt and eat people.” “If that was true, we would be reduced as a human species. Everyone who goes to the beach, they would be threatened.” Andriana says the perception of sharks causes a real issue for conservation. “It's a huge problem because people don't want to protect something that they're scared of.” “The perception from people is that they're dangerous to humans so we should eradicate them, and that's obviously a huge problem for conservation and getting people to want to empathise or sympathise with sharks and wanting to actually protect them.” “It's unfortunate because 100 million sharks are killed every year, and globally sharks kill fewer than 10 people every year.” “We're really focused on the sharks being the monsters and them being out to get us. In reality it's the opposite.” It is unlikely that Hollywood will stop making shark films, or we will stop watching them. But the figures show that far from being the serial killers of the sea, sharks are actually much more likely to be the victims of humans. (Charlotte Gallagher, Culture reporter, BBC 2024. Accessed: 29 July 2024. Available in: . Adapted.)

Read the text to aswer the question. The enduring joy of Golden Girls: a wildly sassy sitcom that will always cheer you up A comedic masterclass with the best sitcom theme song of all time, Golden Girls pulled back the curtains on ageing and dealt with big-ticket issues. A zinger-infused maelstrom of shoulder pads, pastels and perms. Rattan furniture, DayGlo linen and Formica. There’s such a distinctive look, feel and vibe to The Golden Girls, the iconic sitcom that ran from 1985 to 1992, scooping up 68 Emmy nominations and 11 wins in the process. The brainchild of producer Susan Harris, the show spawned several acclaimed spinoffs and became an enduring work of high camp in the process. The premise? Three older women decide to live together: the stern, witty ex-teacher Dorothy Zbornak (Bea Arthur), the sweet but fantastically dense Rose Nylund (Betty White) and southern hornbag Blanche Devereaux (Rue McClanahan). At first it’s a matter of convenience, but before long, they become fast friends. During the pilot they’re joined by a fourth: Dorothy’s mother Sophia Petrillo (Estelle Getty), a nitpicky little shrew whose ability to cockblock our heroines saw her gradually become the Scrappy-Doo of the house. (Don’t @ me, Goldies, you know I’m right.) For a comedy that primarily took place within a Floridian kitchen, The Golden Girls boasted some serious talent. The four leads were all astoundingly adept at their craft. The golden girls themselves proved that the family you make is sometimes stronger than the one you’re born with. Dorothy, Rose and Blanche feel, at times, aged out of their previous lives. Careers, spouses, the world: all seem to be pushing them away. But the girls are proof that you can – and should – forge new bonds, even if it seems like your old life is done for. That you can make a new family, even if your old one rejects you. The Golden Girls pulled back the curtains on ageing, showing the ways in which old people can be flawed, passionate, monumentally stupid, brave – even at times, almost heroically horny. And it did so with an almost reckless willingness to be as wildly funny as it possibly could. The show ended up doing what many sitcoms do: use antagonism as heat to push the plot forward. It takes truly hack writers to defend needless antagonism as the only source of fuel to propel a story (I’m looking at you, post-Sorkin West Wing). The last two seasons of The Golden Girls aren’t terrible, but Sophia morphs from an old lady without boundaries to an ancient sociopathic prankster. But even with this odd acceleration towards a caricatured sitcom event horizon, the show still manages to roll out the hits. The two-part finale, written by Mitch Hurwitz (the creator of Arrested Development) and starring Leslie Nielsen as Dorothy’s love interest, ranks as some of the best in the show’s history. It also has – and I cannot stress this enough – the best sitcom theme song in the history of sitcom theme songs. In 2023, there are few things that will haul you out of whatever psychic muck you find yourself in than whacking on an episode of The Golden Girls. I promise you, once the credits roll, you’ll find yourself lying on the lanai in your mind, feeling somehow much lighter than you did before. (The Guardian 2024, The Guardian website. Accessed: 06 February 2024. Available: . Adapted.)

Read the text to aswer the question. The enduring joy of Golden Girls: a wildly sassy sitcom that will always cheer you up A comedic masterclass with the best sitcom theme song of all time, Golden Girls pulled back the curtains on ageing and dealt with big-ticket issues. A zinger-infused maelstrom of shoulder pads, pastels and perms. Rattan furniture, DayGlo linen and Formica. There’s such a distinctive look, feel and vibe to The Golden Girls, the iconic sitcom that ran from 1985 to 1992, scooping up 68 Emmy nominations and 11 wins in the process. The brainchild of producer Susan Harris, the show spawned several acclaimed spinoffs and became an enduring work of high camp in the process. The premise? Three older women decide to live together: the stern, witty ex-teacher Dorothy Zbornak (Bea Arthur), the sweet but fantastically dense Rose Nylund (Betty White) and southern hornbag Blanche Devereaux (Rue McClanahan). At first it’s a matter of convenience, but before long, they become fast friends. During the pilot they’re joined by a fourth: Dorothy’s mother Sophia Petrillo (Estelle Getty), a nitpicky little shrew whose ability to cockblock our heroines saw her gradually become the Scrappy-Doo of the house. (Don’t @ me, Goldies, you know I’m right.) For a comedy that primarily took place within a Floridian kitchen, The Golden Girls boasted some serious talent. The four leads were all astoundingly adept at their craft. The golden girls themselves proved that the family you make is sometimes stronger than the one you’re born with. Dorothy, Rose and Blanche feel, at times, aged out of their previous lives. Careers, spouses, the world: all seem to be pushing them away. But the girls are proof that you can – and should – forge new bonds, even if it seems like your old life is done for. That you can make a new family, even if your old one rejects you. The Golden Girls pulled back the curtains on ageing, showing the ways in which old people can be flawed, passionate, monumentally stupid, brave – even at times, almost heroically horny. And it did so with an almost reckless willingness to be as wildly funny as it possibly could. The show ended up doing what many sitcoms do: use antagonism as heat to push the plot forward. It takes truly hack writers to defend needless antagonism as the only source of fuel to propel a story (I’m looking at you, post-Sorkin West Wing). The last two seasons of The Golden Girls aren’t terrible, but Sophia morphs from an old lady without boundaries to an ancient sociopathic prankster. But even with this odd acceleration towards a caricatured sitcom event horizon, the show still manages to roll out the hits. The two-part finale, written by Mitch Hurwitz (the creator of Arrested Development) and starring Leslie Nielsen as Dorothy’s love interest, ranks as some of the best in the show’s history. It also has – and I cannot stress this enough – the best sitcom theme song in the history of sitcom theme songs. In 2023, there are few things that will haul you out of whatever psychic muck you find yourself in than whacking on an episode of The Golden Girls. I promise you, once the credits roll, you’ll find yourself lying on the lanai in your mind, feeling somehow much lighter than you did before. (The Guardian 2024, The Guardian website. Accessed: 06 February 2024. Available: . Adapted.)

Read the text to aswer the question. The enduring joy of Golden Girls: a wildly sassy sitcom that will always cheer you up A comedic masterclass with the best sitcom theme song of all time, Golden Girls pulled back the curtains on ageing and dealt with big-ticket issues. A zinger-infused maelstrom of shoulder pads, pastels and perms. Rattan furniture, DayGlo linen and Formica. There’s such a distinctive look, feel and vibe to The Golden Girls, the iconic sitcom that ran from 1985 to 1992, scooping up 68 Emmy nominations and 11 wins in the process. The brainchild of producer Susan Harris, the show spawned several acclaimed spinoffs and became an enduring work of high camp in the process. The premise? Three older women decide to live together: the stern, witty ex-teacher Dorothy Zbornak (Bea Arthur), the sweet but fantastically dense Rose Nylund (Betty White) and southern hornbag Blanche Devereaux (Rue McClanahan). At first it’s a matter of convenience, but before long, they become fast friends. During the pilot they’re joined by a fourth: Dorothy’s mother Sophia Petrillo (Estelle Getty), a nitpicky little shrew whose ability to cockblock our heroines saw her gradually become the Scrappy-Doo of the house. (Don’t @ me, Goldies, you know I’m right.) For a comedy that primarily took place within a Floridian kitchen, The Golden Girls boasted some serious talent. The four leads were all astoundingly adept at their craft. The golden girls themselves proved that the family you make is sometimes stronger than the one you’re born with. Dorothy, Rose and Blanche feel, at times, aged out of their previous lives. Careers, spouses, the world: all seem to be pushing them away. But the girls are proof that you can – and should – forge new bonds, even if it seems like your old life is done for. That you can make a new family, even if your old one rejects you. The Golden Girls pulled back the curtains on ageing, showing the ways in which old people can be flawed, passionate, monumentally stupid, brave – even at times, almost heroically horny. And it did so with an almost reckless willingness to be as wildly funny as it possibly could. The show ended up doing what many sitcoms do: use antagonism as heat to push the plot forward. It takes truly hack writers to defend needless antagonism as the only source of fuel to propel a story (I’m looking at you, post-Sorkin West Wing). The last two seasons of The Golden Girls aren’t terrible, but Sophia morphs from an old lady without boundaries to an ancient sociopathic prankster. But even with this odd acceleration towards a caricatured sitcom event horizon, the show still manages to roll out the hits. The two-part finale, written by Mitch Hurwitz (the creator of Arrested Development) and starring Leslie Nielsen as Dorothy’s love interest, ranks as some of the best in the show’s history. It also has – and I cannot stress this enough – the best sitcom theme song in the history of sitcom theme songs. In 2023, there are few things that will haul you out of whatever psychic muck you find yourself in than whacking on an episode of The Golden Girls. I promise you, once the credits roll, you’ll find yourself lying on the lanai in your mind, feeling somehow much lighter than you did before. (The Guardian 2024, The Guardian website. Accessed: 06 February 2024. Available: . Adapted.)

Read the text to aswer the question. The enduring joy of Golden Girls: a wildly sassy sitcom that will always cheer you up A comedic masterclass with the best sitcom theme song of all time, Golden Girls pulled back the curtains on ageing and dealt with big-ticket issues. A zinger-infused maelstrom of shoulder pads, pastels and perms. Rattan furniture, DayGlo linen and Formica. There’s such a distinctive look, feel and vibe to The Golden Girls, the iconic sitcom that ran from 1985 to 1992, scooping up 68 Emmy nominations and 11 wins in the process. The brainchild of producer Susan Harris, the show spawned several acclaimed spinoffs and became an enduring work of high camp in the process. The premise? Three older women decide to live together: the stern, witty ex-teacher Dorothy Zbornak (Bea Arthur), the sweet but fantastically dense Rose Nylund (Betty White) and southern hornbag Blanche Devereaux (Rue McClanahan). At first it’s a matter of convenience, but before long, they become fast friends. During the pilot they’re joined by a fourth: Dorothy’s mother Sophia Petrillo (Estelle Getty), a nitpicky little shrew whose ability to cockblock our heroines saw her gradually become the Scrappy-Doo of the house. (Don’t @ me, Goldies, you know I’m right.) For a comedy that primarily took place within a Floridian kitchen, The Golden Girls boasted some serious talent. The four leads were all astoundingly adept at their craft. The golden girls themselves proved that the family you make is sometimes stronger than the one you’re born with. Dorothy, Rose and Blanche feel, at times, aged out of their previous lives. Careers, spouses, the world: all seem to be pushing them away. But the girls are proof that you can – and should – forge new bonds, even if it seems like your old life is done for. That you can make a new family, even if your old one rejects you. The Golden Girls pulled back the curtains on ageing, showing the ways in which old people can be flawed, passionate, monumentally stupid, brave – even at times, almost heroically horny. And it did so with an almost reckless willingness to be as wildly funny as it possibly could. The show ended up doing what many sitcoms do: use antagonism as heat to push the plot forward. It takes truly hack writers to defend needless antagonism as the only source of fuel to propel a story (I’m looking at you, post-Sorkin West Wing). The last two seasons of The Golden Girls aren’t terrible, but Sophia morphs from an old lady without boundaries to an ancient sociopathic prankster. But even with this odd acceleration towards a caricatured sitcom event horizon, the show still manages to roll out the hits. The two-part finale, written by Mitch Hurwitz (the creator of Arrested Development) and starring Leslie Nielsen as Dorothy’s love interest, ranks as some of the best in the show’s history. It also has – and I cannot stress this enough – the best sitcom theme song in the history of sitcom theme songs. In 2023, there are few things that will haul you out of whatever psychic muck you find yourself in than whacking on an episode of The Golden Girls. I promise you, once the credits roll, you’ll find yourself lying on the lanai in your mind, feeling somehow much lighter than you did before. (The Guardian 2024, The Guardian website. Accessed: 06 February 2024. Available: . Adapted.)

Read the text to aswer the question. The enduring joy of Golden Girls: a wildly sassy sitcom that will always cheer you up A comedic masterclass with the best sitcom theme song of all time, Golden Girls pulled back the curtains on ageing and dealt with big-ticket issues. A zinger-infused maelstrom of shoulder pads, pastels and perms. Rattan furniture, DayGlo linen and Formica. There’s such a distinctive look, feel and vibe to The Golden Girls, the iconic sitcom that ran from 1985 to 1992, scooping up 68 Emmy nominations and 11 wins in the process. The brainchild of producer Susan Harris, the show spawned several acclaimed spinoffs and became an enduring work of high camp in the process. The premise? Three older women decide to live together: the stern, witty ex-teacher Dorothy Zbornak (Bea Arthur), the sweet but fantastically dense Rose Nylund (Betty White) and southern hornbag Blanche Devereaux (Rue McClanahan). At first it’s a matter of convenience, but before long, they become fast friends. During the pilot they’re joined by a fourth: Dorothy’s mother Sophia Petrillo (Estelle Getty), a nitpicky little shrew whose ability to cockblock our heroines saw her gradually become the Scrappy-Doo of the house. (Don’t @ me, Goldies, you know I’m right.) For a comedy that primarily took place within a Floridian kitchen, The Golden Girls boasted some serious talent. The four leads were all astoundingly adept at their craft. The golden girls themselves proved that the family you make is sometimes stronger than the one you’re born with. Dorothy, Rose and Blanche feel, at times, aged out of their previous lives. Careers, spouses, the world: all seem to be pushing them away. But the girls are proof that you can – and should – forge new bonds, even if it seems like your old life is done for. That you can make a new family, even if your old one rejects you. The Golden Girls pulled back the curtains on ageing, showing the ways in which old people can be flawed, passionate, monumentally stupid, brave – even at times, almost heroically horny. And it did so with an almost reckless willingness to be as wildly funny as it possibly could. The show ended up doing what many sitcoms do: use antagonism as heat to push the plot forward. It takes truly hack writers to defend needless antagonism as the only source of fuel to propel a story (I’m looking at you, post-Sorkin West Wing). The last two seasons of The Golden Girls aren’t terrible, but Sophia morphs from an old lady without boundaries to an ancient sociopathic prankster. But even with this odd acceleration towards a caricatured sitcom event horizon, the show still manages to roll out the hits. The two-part finale, written by Mitch Hurwitz (the creator of Arrested Development) and starring Leslie Nielsen as Dorothy’s love interest, ranks as some of the best in the show’s history. It also has – and I cannot stress this enough – the best sitcom theme song in the history of sitcom theme songs. In 2023, there are few things that will haul you out of whatever psychic muck you find yourself in than whacking on an episode of The Golden Girls. I promise you, once the credits roll, you’ll find yourself lying on the lanai in your mind, feeling somehow much lighter than you did before. (The Guardian 2024, The Guardian website. Accessed: 06 February 2024. Available: . Adapted.)

Sorry for the delayed response 01 Have ___ (1) e-mail you’ve been meaning (but not really) to reply to? Read below for some 02 reasons why your response has been delayed: 03 • I totally meant to respond to this earlier, but I didn’t know ___ (2) answer to your question 04 and I kept not caring enough to ask anyone. Now ___ (3) weird amount of time has passed, 05 so I’m going to loop Laura (cc’d) into this e-mail thread to see if she can handle this. Laura? 06 • Sorry for ___ (4) delay! I put off answering your e-mail until I had ___ (5) even more tedious 07 task that I wanted to avoid. Thanks! 08 • So sorry that I’m just getting to this now. There were six other people on this e-mail thread 09 and I was hoping that one of them would answer your question and I could just go on living 10 my life. (Available at: https://www.instagram.com/p/CsHm²YnteFa/ – text especially adapted for this test).