Jaws (1975)
- Movies With Morty
- Oct 30, 2019
- 3 min read
Paving The Waves For Cinema History?.
Jaws (1975) tells the tale of how a great white shark attacks a community by striking fear into them and eating them whilst they swin the ocean at Amity beach and is considered one of Steven Spielberg’s masterpieces and paved the way for how movies were made.
Written by Peter Benchley & Carl Gottlieb and directed by one of cinemas most loved directors Steven Spielberg, this movie paved the way for how films were produced and made and stroke fear into its audience creating such a buzz it’s now a horror masterpiece, to some that is.
I’ll admit....
I’ve never actually watched Jaws in its entirety and have only seen the key scene through media study’s/university. So having changed that now I can say that I can appreciate the production and technical aspects that went into making this film.
It really did set a bar for how films would be made going post-1975 and how to create suspense and tension. It has some mouth dribblingly stunning cinematography that has to be seen to be fully appreciated and the camera work was especially exquisite, the scene above was particularly infamous for the use of zooming into Brody’s face when he realises the shock and horror that the shark he’s been telling people is in fact real and is eating the people of Amity.
I also do appreciate the use of Jaws and how technically hard it must have been to be working with a mechanical shark and getting the shots needed and the timings of when the gills would flap ect. I also appreciate how difficult working in the water it must have been for the camera crew and having to be super careful to not get any of the cameras water damaged, that would be one expensive invoice that’s for sure!.
However....
The film for me was enjoyable but what I did find very hard to watch was how the sharks were treated and the social issues that surrounded the film.
Now I know the film was made and published around 1974/75 and social issues such as Animal Hunting wasn't a massive point, but I found it extremely hard sitting and watching people being proud of killing sharks, the scene where they catch a tiger shark and the community all stand around it to get pictures for the local newspaper whilst it is hung up made me feel really uncomfortable and how the film ends, I won't spoilt it (although it’s been a good 40 years since it’s been out now) but the ending shot really upset me.
I understand that these sharks weren’t real and they were either puppets or mechanical but the issues stills stands with me. Showing people hunt this shark only encourages animal hunting more, especially those who actually believe in this trait. It’s fills me with sadness and some disappointment in Spielberg for making a film that basically promotes this.
I also disagree completely that sharks are bad creatures and this film created that stigma that sharks are dangerous. It stroke fear into people that much people wouldn’t swim in our ocean's and would be terrified of the creatures. Sharks are just like any living being and have feelings too, they will obviously hunt for food and will attack if they are being attacked.
To conclude....
I do really appreciate how this film changed how cinema was looked upon and how it also changed the game when it came to horror and creating suspense and tension, it didn’t win all those Oscars for no reason. At the same time however, I can’t rate it very high for the simple factor of the issues it creates on Animal Hunting and also creating the stigma that sharks are bad creatures.
Rating- ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5
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