Aahana Swrup
In ‘The Shallows,’ Nancy, a surfer, journeys out alone to a secretive beach, something of a hidden gem, during her trip to Mexico. While the beach itself remains magical and memorable, real trouble strikes when the young woman has an encounter with a deadly white shark in the ocean. As a result, the protagonist becomes stranded in the ocean, finding momentary safety on a small rock no farther than 200 yards from the shore. With a serious leg injury and a bloodthirsty shark circling the waters, escape and survival almost seem impossible. However, while Nancy is on her own in this predicament, she isn’t entirely alone. A seagull, revealed to be named Steven in the film’s credits, becomes a fellow castaway on the rock on account of an injured wing. Therefore, with the tide steadily rising and threatening to take the rock under with it, Steven’s survival becomes as perilous as his human companion’s. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Nancy Fixes Steven’s Wing and Gives Him a Shot at Survival
Nancy first meets Steven the Seagull on the rock that eventually becomes a haven and a saving grace for her. Her inadvertent foray into the shark’s feeding ground has sustained her a gruesome leg injury, along with other scrapes and scratches. The bird, on his part, seems to be in a similar boat as her. Steven and other seagulls like him had been circling the dead whale’s corpse since it turned up. Naturally, this made them a target for the shark that killed the whale and is currently stalking the waters. The birds that couldn’t fly away fast enough ended up dying in the sea, while Steven, who had hurt his wing, was left grounded for the foreseeable future. Therefore, much like Nancy, he too seems to be in a doomed predicament.
However, unlike the surfer, who also happens to be a med school student and creatively resourceful with her jewelry, Steven can’t do anything to fix up his own injury. As a result, he’s left stranded on the rock indefinitely. Initially, Nancy doesn’t have any friendly feelings towards the bird, as she remains too busy battling with her own sense of hopeless despair and desire to fight for her life. Yet, over time, she inevitably begins to grow fond of the bird. Furthermore, after experiencing multiple failures in attempts to call for help, she grows determined to fight for her own survival. Yet, before she puts her own plan for escape into motion, she decides to help her winged friend out.
Nancy uses her medical knowledge to figure out that Steven’s injury is actually a dislocation in his wing bones. As such, she pops the bone back into place, ensuring that the seagull has its freedom of movement again. Afterward, she sets him on a piece of a broken surfboard and pushes him out into the ocean towards the shore, away from the shark’s hunting ground. Although she can’t be sure, she hopes that her actions are enough to give the seagull a chance at his own survival. By the end, once Nancy’s own battle has been fought and won, the surfer finds herself back on the beach. There, she glimpses a seagull with the same blood marking on its wing, identifying it as Steven. The dup both survive, mirroring each other’s stories.
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