Happy 4th of July with Jaws!

So I missed the actual 50^th anniversary but I wanted to take a moment to celebrate this excellent horror film, and we’re still getting it for 4^th of July.

In the summer of 1975, Steven Spielberg shocked audiences with his horror movie. A Great White Shark, hunting the people of Maratha’s Vineyard around 4th of July weekend. The movie was terrifying, brilliant, and features a score that filmgoers still know and love. To date, Jaws is still part of the cultural zeitgeist, with people who have never seen the movie still aware of aspects of it, and parts of the movie being memeified to this day. I absolutely adore Jaws. I think it’s one of the better creature features ever made, and that it brings so many excellent things to the table. From true terror, great characters, and storytelling, to even solid messaging.

So for this 4th of July, I thought we would take a look at Jaws. What’s so good about it. What it did right. And even an issue I have with it.

A quick recap for those that haven’t seen it, or if it has been a while. Jaws starts with young people on a beach and a girl rushes into the water to skinny dip. We are quickly introduced to that oh so famous score when she is stalked and killed by something in the water. Police Chief Brody wants to close the beaches in light of the attack, but the Mayor is against it because of how important tourism is. They declare that the girl died in a boating accident, something the audience knows to be false, and life goes on. Until another attack happens and does so in front of a crowd of people. At this point, Brody and the Mayor are still butting heads. Marine Biologist Hooper joins the fray and tells people that an unusually large shark is to blame. He and Brody keep going against the Mayor, who is insisting on keeping the beaches open until yet another attack happens. At this point, Brody and Hooper team up with shark hunter Quint and go out into the ocean to attempt to lure and kill the shark. When Brody finally sees the shark, he believes they are ill-equipped to handle it – “You’re gonna need a bigger boat” – but Quint will not be stopped. The group attempts to hunt the shark and eventually loses power to their boat, and it’s man vs. nature until the end.

So you have a blend of different horror. The creeping uncertainty where the audience knows before the characters that there is something out there, but we don’t know what. It builds to confirmation of a shark. Then once the men are on the boat we get Quint having his Captain Ahab-like tendencies, which shifts the horror to the dread of the men’s helplessness against this terrifying creature while in it’s domain. It is terrifying, thrilling, and a great blend of horror and adventure.

It is hard to pick which is better, the earlier act or, the more thrilling second and third. Before the Mayor finally comes to his senses and the three men go after the shark, you have a more suspense-heavy movie. There is great use of the unshown in horror. The quality of allowing the viewer to fill what is happening with their own mind. Most of this is for technical reasons, but much like technical limitations helped in Alien, it helps here. We don’t see the shark until much later. Instead, we are often put in the POV of the shark or are simply watching at a distance with other characters. We don’t get a lot of detail, just creeping and unknown horror. What is stalking the girl at the start of the movie? What is in the water with Hooper? What happens to the young boy on the beach? When well done it’s one of my favorite techniques in horror, and this movie is an example of that. It builds suspense and lets the audience fill in their own worst-case scenarios. We know it’s a shark based on the movie poster and general idea, but we are deciding just how big and awful. It is clever and well done.

That is not to say that the later parts of the movie, after we’ve seen the shark, are not also well done. Once the men are out on the water, we still have some slow build. Quint is an interesting but pretty awful character in a lot of ways. He brings something special to the movie either way. He is a bully, doesn’t seem all there, and, as I said, a bit Captain Ahab with his devotion to hunting and lack of ability to admit they need help. He is also compelling and has a certain “salty dog” quality that you kind of like. His spellbinding monologue about surviving the USS Indianapolis is highly regarded and remembered for a reason. Brody really wants to set things right but is a little uncertain and easy to pick on. Hooper is smart and nerdy but a pushover and can be annoying. All three characters bring something to the table and are really great and well-acted. Quint truly steals the show, though.

Quint’s obsession ultimately leaves the three men stranded and without a way to call for help, and the slow process of knowing these men are helpless and the shark is waiting them out is intense and builds a great deal of tension. When the climax hits, the shark is a bit less terrifying than the quick peaks and unshown nature we got earlier, but this is an age problem. In the end, I would much rather see the robotic Bruce (the nickname given to the shark) than some of the CGI sharks we have in more recent years.

The movie, up until the climax, does a great job of building. We are given just enough to keep us terrified, but there isn’t an overwhelming kill count. It is not a rampage, but rather enough for us to be truly afraid of what is hunting these people. The ocean scenes are well done by giving us a few looks at the shark and, ultimately, enough knowledge to know this is no normal Great White.

Then a dramatic, bloody, and scary climax. If you want to do a movie that slowly builds to one climax, take note. Yet shockingly, while it has slow burn features, Jaws never loses that adventure edge. It’s not, say, as fast-paced as Jurassic Park, but the Spielberg part horror part adventure roots were definitely in this. The result, in this case, is a much scarier movie than his later ones, which I appreciate.

It is also a bit timeless. While, again, the shark has not aged perfectly, the fact that they were forced not to rely on showing it so much serves not only the horror, but helps keep the movie from being “too old” in the eyes of newer audiences. Every year a new crop of horror fans finally watches Jaws, and unlike a lot of older horror movies, they don’t need to be able to appreciate something despite its age. Jaws manages to branch across generations really well. I think part of this, aside from the solid use/not use of the shark, is that the horror itself is also understandable for audiences of all ages and generations. Being killed by a shark is scary. Being lost and stranded on the ocean is scary. Man vs. nature stories are scary because they are where we realize just how weak we are in comparison to the power that is the natural world.

It is also where I have my issue, though. My issue really with all shark-based horror. I love sharks and movies like Jaws really did have a negative impact on the public perception of these creatures. Sharks, especially those like Great Whites, are already scary to most people. Jaws only furthered that fear. The notion that we should protect sharks and not fear them is not a very popular one, and movies like this certainly didn’t help. Especially not with its tenuous relationship to true stories. – the novel was inspired by an actual shark attack – I think more and more this notion of “scary thing in a movie is bad in real life” is starting to go away, however, there will always be a certain blend because you are talking about a “killer” that you could very well meet your own tragic fate with. I still love Jaws and shark horror movies in general, but am aware of the negative impact they have in some people’s minds.

So that is my little soapbox. And there is an effort by the horror community and the people who make these types of movies to actually use them to spread love and appreciate as well as fear. Jaws has been featured during certain marathons and events and people use the fear and excitement to take the time to say “but here’s the truth.” I think the winds are shifting on this ultimately for the better. So that’s the end of that digression!

I think another timeless aspect of it is the characters themselves. Brody is a sympathetic character. He wants to do what is right by his people, but he is constantly stopped from doing so. He is much weaker than Quint, seemingly, but he rises to the occasion over and over. He is also a good father, the scene with him and his son at the dinner table feels a bit out of place in the rest of this horror story, but it is great for development and showing who Brody is.

You also have Hooper, the expert, who is trying his best. He is constantly belittled by Quint, but in the end, his knowledge is actually rather important. Although not more so than Quint’s real-life experience. However, Quint’s attitude ultimately puts them all in danger.

I am not alone in thinking the Mayor is timely for really any generation, but especially ours. Whether intentional or not, there is a lot of debate over how much Spielberg’s calling out of things is ever done with intent, but that is a different conversation. The Mayor in Jaws is really a perfect picture of power. A man hell-bent on ignoring the dangers in front of him as experts and those wanting to save lives give him all the evidence and planning so they can stop what we know is coming. And ultimately, him ignoring it in favor of money and to avoid the risk of losing his power. When I said this movie was still being used for memes, the Mayor is a huge piece of that. Often reflecting Millennial and Gen Z feeling like they are screaming at a brick wall with our concerns. See the many memes related to the scene of the Mayor discussing the billboard graffiti while Brody and Hooper are trying to tell him more people will die.

In the end, year after year, this movie remains popular and well-loved for many reasons. It’s scary, has great characters, wonderful cinematography, and uses limitations to its benefit. In fact it’s pretty wild to think that so much of this movie being great was the result of how difficult and terrible filming this movie was.

If you haven’t seen Jaws, you should do so. Even if you don’t love horror. It is one of the more approachable horror movies as it’s not overly gory (though not lacking gore entirely), and it again brings qualities of other genres to it. If it’s been a while, I would always suggest a re-watch. It really is a wonderful movie and one I always enjoy. Happy 4^th!