After a lifetime of being scared of deep water at the very hint of this movie's existence, I finally took the time out to see Jaws. Like many people over the past 34 years or so, I found it to be an impressive and thoughtfully composed film from a time where filmmakers were able to paint with slower, more delicate
strokes. In my continuing pursuit of "the source" of pop-culture conventions, Jaws boasted several seeds to references for the years to come, not even counting the ominous music from über-composer John Williams.
My old screenwriting professor cited this this movie in class several times, specifically the feeding frenzy monologue, and the also the use of a main character who is scared of the water contending with a shark. As such, this film had more than just a silver screen legacy, it carried some nostalgia beyond the fourth wall. While some of the screenplay elements in Jaws may seem obsolete today, modern spins on this story only ever seem to come off as stripped down versions of the original, and the problem with stripping something down is that you might not even realize what you're missing.
As one of the best known movies of people doing battle with wildlife, Jaws is kind of the anti-Moby Dick - it tries to prove that you really can take revenge on an animal. Structurally, I suppose Jaws is a classic example of "man vs. nature"; however, I don't believe in "man vs nature" as a form of conflict, it's only man vs. himself disguised cleverly as something else. When a character is contending with the elements, he is only ever doing battle with their own internal issues. When the conflict is finally resolved the only party the emerges having changed is man, and if you don't wind up any different on the other end of the confrontation, then it isn't really dramatic conflict, is it? Well, not according to me it isn't.
30 years later, I think the pop culture reference I hear most often in relation to this movie is that the shark looks fake. Of course it looks fake! They did the best they could with the tools at their disposal, but I think we learned from Lucas' reduxed Star Wars that CG effects do not a better film make. Despite the title, the movie isn't about the shark, it's about everybody's reaction to the shark. A movie of this kind made today wouldn't take the time to examine the predicament of the jackass mayor or reminesce over shark feeding frenzies. Modern CG technology would eliminate the need for clever mood setting photography, and the ever sliding censors guidelines would make sure we saw every gruesome detail of the aftermath, not just Richard Dreyfuss' post mortem examination notes. So there's lessons in here that modern directors should keep in mind - the devil you know is always better than the devil you don't know: As soon as you're able to give form to the lurking menace in the waters, you remove one of its most powerful ways to instill fear. Sometimes showing less is really showing more.
The Verdict: While there are elements of the movie that are clearly dated, this is a movie released in 1975. Jaws certainly lives up to its classic status, and still has something to teach the movie guys who think they know everything. Even if you're scared of deep water like I am, you might as well see it. I mean, why carry the burden of being scared without the payoff of having actually seen the movie?
September 22, 2009
