Review: Jaws by Steven Spielburg (1975)

Figure 1 - Jaws

Jaws is a horror/thriller made by Steven Spielburg in 1975. The films plot follows a shark beneath the water as it kills a girl swimming in the sea on Amity Island. We see Martin Brody the chief investigator investigate the attacks. We see the shark attack more and more people as people try to come up with a way to getting rid of the danger. The shark is talked about way more than it is ever seen within the movie, we do not see the shark in the flesh for the majority of the the first third of the film. A strong use of visuals is used to create the illusion of this 'invisible shark', such as the scene in which there are four characters on the wooden pier. They attach the bait to the pier and throw it in the water, hoping to attract the shark towards them, but then the shark pulls the pier apart, dragging it off into the distance, and then turning around and heading back to the shore. ''Floating objects are used all through the movie to suggest the invisible shark. After Brody, Quint and Hooper put out to sea in Quint's leaky boat, they fire harpoons into the shark. In the crucial action sequences at the end, we are often looking at kegs and not a shark, but the premise is so well established that the shark is there.'' (Ebert, 2000).

Throughout the film there is a strong use of primary colours. For example, the blue of the water, the yellow sand on the beach and the vibrant red blood. Although the shark seems to lack this same colour. It almost seems lifeless until it bites it's next victim. Within the film, Quint describes the shark as ''The thing about a shark, he's got lifeless eyes, black eyes, like a doll's eyes. When he comes after you, he doesn't seem to be living until he bites you, and those black eyes roll over white.''. 

Figure 2 - Attack

There are suggestions that the shark is represented as a serial killer and a sexual predator. We are placed into the sharks POV and see shots of women's legs and bikini bodies. The first scene within the film we don't see the shark kill her in one bite, we see her being tortured, smaller bites to make her more scared and to please the sharks own enjoyment, yet when attacking male victims, the shark kills them without hesitation. ''Then again, why must the shark be male? This is quite a presumption on everyone's part; consider in its place that the shark is female and a grotesque realisation of the vagina dentata myth, a pure castration machine.'' (Eggert, 2012). The shark could be seen as a nightmarish creature for both genders, mutilating and killing people without any sort of motive.

Steven Spielburg clearly plays with the idea that the audience actually 'enjoy' getting scared, to some degree. For example, the scene in which Brody is examining a book on sharks, seeing pictures of victims and gory photos, we see his wife Ellen approach him from behind. Even though we watch her approach, when Brody jumps, so do we. It is almost a bit of fun. Spielburg further adds plenty of these 'false scares' into the rest of the film, perhaps to distract the audience in their expectations of the rest of the jump scares to come. ''Even Brody's tension around the water implants an irrational unease about the ocean in view, inciting a common observation about Jaws that it ''does for the ocean what Psycho did for the shower.''. (Eggert, 2012). 

Figure 3 - Jaws 1975

Hitchcock defined suspense as a scene at a table. During the conversation, the camera would show the audience that there is a bomb under the table, counting down. All of a sudden, the conversation becomes unbearable for the audience to watch. In reverse, would be the bomb just suddenly going off, creating shock. It could be said that Chrissie's death could be seen as that bomb under the table, and the rest of the film is the ticking, creating huge suspense for the audience. This is until the bomb explodes, in the form of Quint' boat. This use of suspense along with the use of score by John Williams throughout the movie, creates a thrilling experience for the audience. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Ebert, R. (2017). Jaws Movie Review & Film Summary (1975) | Roger Ebert. [online] Rogerebert.com. Available at: http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-jaws-1975 [Accessed 3 Mar. 2017].

Eggert, B. (2017). Jaws – Deep Focus Review. [online] Deep Focus Review. Available at: http://deepfocusreview.com/definitives/jaws/ [Accessed 3 Mar. 2017].

ILLUSTRATIONS:

IFC. (2017). Check Out the Winners in IFC’s #SharksSweeps Beach Feet Contest. [online] Available at: http://www.ifc.com/tag/jaws [Accessed 3 Mar. 2017].

Libbey, D. (2017). One Change Steven Spielberg Would Make To Jaws If He Filmed The Movie Today - CINEMABLEND. [online] CINEMABLEND. Available at: http://www.cinemablend.com/news/1526020/one-change-steven-spielberg-would-make-to-jaws-if-he-filmed-the-movie-today [Accessed 3 Mar. 2017].

ShortList Magazine. (2017). 15 Things You (Probably) Didn't Know About Jaws. [online] Available at: http://www.shortlist.com/entertainment/films/15-things-you-(probably)-didnt-know-about-jaws [Accessed 3 Mar. 2017].