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Film
Jasmine Kwan 12J
16/07/2024 |
JAWS (1975)Director: Steven Spielberg
Jaws is a first and classic summer blockbuster. It easily broke box office records previously set by The Godfather (1972) and The Exorcist (1973), grossing a then unprecedented $100 million within 60 days.
Summer, when an insatiable great white shark terrorizes Amity Island in South Australia, new police chief Martin Brody's first instinct is to close off the beaches. However, Mayor Larry Vaughn and several of the local businessmen disagree since the coastal town runs their living on tourist business. A passionate oceanographer Matt Hooper and a grizzled shark hunter Quint, along with the chief, voyage on the dreading expedition to eliminate the aquatic beast. The shark 'Bruce' is purposefully portrayed to be horrifying. The largest modern fish, whale sharks, only feed on planktonic organisms including krill, jellyfish and crab larvae. Although measuring 12 m in length, they are not aggressive and don't threaten humans. In fact, they're very gentle with divers - very different to how Bruce was shaped to be in Jaws. The actual great white shark in the film is canonically 7.62 m (25 ft), 6613.8 lb - compared to the modern great white 5.83 m (19.1 ft) in length and around 2,000 kg (4,410 lb), which is a difference of approximately 1.79m. However, without research, the audience wouldn't be able to tell the difference of the film vs the actual size. Does knowing that the size of the great white is imaginarily larger than realistic, help with the audience's fear? Perhaps not. This leads to another question that arises – in the film, sharks are villainised and perhaps prone to be misunderstood by the general public. Shark-human interactions might not always be threatening. People are not a part of their natural diet, and they primarily feed on smaller fish and invertebrates. ‘Sharks have been known to attack humans when they are confused or curious. If a shark sees a human splashing in the water, it may try to investigate, leading to an accidental attack.’ – says the National Ocean Service. ‘The Jaws effect’ is a known phenomenon where people are excessively and irrationally scared of sharks after watching Jaws. People’s perceptions of sharks are based solely on fictional media products most of the time, due to the lack of understanding on the animal. Imagine the effect of Jaws on the population that already have a fear of deep water (thalassophobia), fear of sharks (galeophobia), and fear of large underwater creatures and objects (megalohydrothalassophobia) – strengthening negative views and providing excessive fear for the general audience. - Why do people like shark films? - They're often sensational, thrilling, and people watch them for the shock factor - which is enjoyable for people who seek thrill - a same mechanism as roller-coasters lovers. Jump scares, although not as frequent as typical horror films, also appeared in Jaws - when a rotting body showed itself on the bottom of the boat. However, shark films are not on the same level of fearful as other horror films – so that it may be more acceptable to casual watchers. The Jaws franchise has released multiple sequels: Jaws 2 (1978), Jaws 3-D (1983), Jaws: The Revenge (1987), Jaws: Cruel Jaws (1995) – showing its shocking popularity – although some reviews said that the quality of the films and the plot has gone down, meaning that less people are interested in its sequels anymore. Popular examples of 'the sharksploitation genre' films also include 47 feet under uncaged and The Meg, which are essentials among shark-thrill lovers. Relating to shark films, dinosaur films are also of a similar sci-fi genre. A classic is the Jurassic Park and Jurassic World franchise – which I will talk about in my next article. Please look out for it! |