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Jaws

Jaws follows the story of a killer shark terrorizing the waters near Amity Island. Police chief Martin Brody wants to close the beaches after attacks but the mayor refuses to hurt tourism. Brody enlists a zoologist and shark expert to help him hunt and kill the shark. After dangerous encounters, Brody is believed to be the sole survivor and kills the shark by blowing it up from the inside.

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Emily Friswell
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61 views3 pages

Jaws

Jaws follows the story of a killer shark terrorizing the waters near Amity Island. Police chief Martin Brody wants to close the beaches after attacks but the mayor refuses to hurt tourism. Brody enlists a zoologist and shark expert to help him hunt and kill the shark. After dangerous encounters, Brody is believed to be the sole survivor and kills the shark by blowing it up from the inside.

Uploaded by

Emily Friswell
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Jaws, directed by Steven Spielberg in 1975, follows the story of a killer shark in the waters by Amity

Island- a tourist hotspot. Police chief Martin Brody (Roy Scheider) wants to close the beaches but
the town’s Mayor (Murray Hamilton) refuses to do so because of the 4th of July weekend. After
many more deadly shark attacks, Brody enlists the help of zoologist Matt Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss)
and Shark Expert Quint (Robert Shaw) to find and kill the shark. They set out in a boat, and conquer
many obstacles until finally Brody, thinking he is the only survivor of the trio manages to kill the
shark by blowing up a pressurised container inside of the shark’s mouth.

Fig 1. Jaws Movie Poster

Although, on the surface, Jaws is only about the attack of a killer shark, there are many
different versions of what the story is ‘really’ about. As mentioned by Ebert: “There are no
doubt supposed to be all sorts of levels of meanings in such an archetypal story, but
Spielberg wisely decides not to underline any of them.” (Ebert, 1975). This means that the
audience is allowed to draw their own conclusions about the story of the killer shark and
what it represents. People’s conclusions widely range from an exploration of masculinity to
corruption within authority. As Kermode suggests: “First things first; Jaws is not about a
shark (…) the underlying story of Jaws is more complex than the simple terror of being eaten
by a very big fish.” (Kermode, 2015). This suggests that there is more to the story than just a
killer shark, as the film does allude to a deeper, more psychological meaning.
Fig 2. The killer shark

“As a film, it has been variously interpreted as everything from a depiction of masculinity in
crisis to a post-Watergate paranoid parable about corrupt authority figures.” (Kermode,
2015) The film could be a depiction of masculinity as it shows the three men ‘battle’ against
the shark while also battling against each other to prove who’s more alpha. Similarly, the
idea of having to prove your masculinity is shown through Brody’s character. He starts off as
a seemingly powerful police chief, but his lack of authority is soon shown through the Mayor
overpowering his obviously correct suggestion to close the beaches after the first shark
attack. Then by the end of the film it is thought that Brody has proven his masculinity as he
was the one that finally defeated the all-powerful killer shark.

Fig 3. Brody and the Mayor

Also, Jaws could be interpreted as a post-Watergate paranoid parable about corrupt


authority figures. This refers to the Watergate scandal which involved a cover up by
President Nixon which led to the idea of abuse of power and corrupt authority figures. In
the film, this refers to the corrupt authority figure of the town’s Mayor. As anyone would
know if there had been a shark attack the right thing to do would be to close the beaches
until the shark was dealt with, but corruption within the town’s authority shows itself as the
Mayor decides to keep the beaches open, knowing that another shark attack was probable,
just because he couldn’t bear to miss out on the tourist trade during the 4th of July
weekend.

Finally, some suggest that the film could be about many things, or just about a killer shark
but as Smith suggests: “for most audiences Jaws was just one hell of a ride (as one critic put
it “I wasn’t scared – and neither was the man under my seat)” (Smith, 2000) This alludes to
the fact that whatever Jaws is about the film is still very intense and commends Spielberg’s
work.
Illustration List
Figure 1 Jaws Movie Poster (1975) [poster] At: http://www.impawards.com/1975/jaws.html
(Accessed on 15/2/18)
Figure 2 The killer shark (1975) [film still] At:
https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/jaws/images/4/45/Jaws-shark-eating-
boat.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20131110103458 (Accessed on 15/2/18)
Figure 3 Brody and the Mayor (1975) [film still] At: https://www.legendarytrips.com/wp-
content/uploads/Brody-Mayor_talk_Amity-Island_Chappaquiddick-Island-
Ferry_Edgartown_Marthas-Vineyard_Jaws_1975.jpg (Accessed on 15/2/18)

Bibliography
Ebert, R (1975) ‘Jaws’ In: Roger Ebert [online] At:
https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/jaws-1975 (Accessed on 15/2/18)
Kermode, M (2015) ‘Jaws, 40 years on: ‘One of the truly great and lasting classics of
American cinema’ In: The Guardian [online] At:
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/may/31/jaws-40-years-on-truly-great-lasting-
classics-of-america-cinema (Accessed on 15/2/18)
Smith, A (2000) ‘EMPIRE ESSAYS: Jaws Review’ In: Empire Online [online] At:
https://www.empireonline.com/movies/empire-essay-jaws-2/review/ (Accessed on
15/2/18)

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