Jaws plot/story

I actually remember watching Steven Spielberg’s “Jaws” growing up and never did I once think or acknowledge it as a “scary” film. It was a source of comedy and the basis for many playground games and bubble bath entertainment. Knowing now the technicalities of film, I understand clearly why and how a film based around a twenty-five foot great white shark, hunting in the ocean waters of a small beach town called Amity, would be categorized as a “horror/thriller.”

At first you would think the resolution would simply be that people should just stay out of the water until the shark moves on. After really paying attention, though, the viewer really discovers what a brilliant idea it was to build the tension of the premise by putting the livelihood (a.k.a. the survival) of the entire town (that depends on the visiting tourists on one of the most beach-going days of the year) at stake. What adds to the suspense of Jaws, in addition to the fact that you don’t see it for most of the beginning of the film, is that seeing the fin alone is like seeing the tip of the iceberg—you just don’t know how big the “enemy” really is. Using camera angles to mystify the shark, but focus on the actors’ emotions and emotional responses also allowed the suspense to build.

As well, the reader is never really given an explanation of why the shark would suddenly develop a blood thirst for humans. To deliberately go after a human shows an evolution in purpose within the mind of the shark leveling the battle of wits and intelligence between it and mankind. Unlike the shark films that followed that had sharks scientifically enhanced in one way or another, the fear of the unknown—a possibility that that could really happen naturally—builds on the already pending fear that comes with wondering how much smarter could and will it get.