The Merry Band of shark hunters in Jaws
“You’re gonna need a bigger boat”
-Brady
Someone recently asked me what the appeal of Jaws was all
these years later as it looks old and feels old. After thinking about that
question for a while and ultimately came to the conclusion that the fact that
Jaws is old is the best part of it. Jaws is one of those they don’t make them
like this anymore films, from the model shark used to the depth of the
characters presented on the boat (even with our only brief time with them)
everything is old fashioned, but old fashioned in the best way possible.
Jaws really isn’t a horror picture and shouldn’t be watched
at such. Instead the film is more like a well structured thriller with a shark.
The film is best at generating large amounts of suspense and atmosphere
throughout the film instead of providing scares per say. It begins with the
deep bassey score from John Williams blaring whenever the shark is near
provides a constant sense of suspense throughout the film. Also the model shark
is completely believable something that can’t be said about future CGI
counterparts.
The film also benefits from good thriller like characters that
enter the fray especially on the boat trip near the end of the film. The boat
shark hunting section is one of the greater sequences of film history thanks to
the characters on board and the tension that is established. This is thanks to
the three wonderful characters that are established and developed who all bring
their own ideas and quirks to the fray. Deep characters is one of the things
that makes Jaws a great film and differentiates itself from it’s imitators.
Jaws also began the blockbuster film. It is responsible for the creation of so many big budget fests that would follow. Stephen Spielberg created
his career off of Jaws and it’s evident why. Spielberg creates the near perfect
blockbuster doing things, like developing characters and creating atmosphere
that imitators would never catch on to. Thus is why Jaws is a great film and
Spielberg a great director and his imitators are not.
-Frederick Cholowski
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