Jaws

It's become so much a part of our culture — the lines ("This was no boat accident"; "You're gonna need a bigger boat"); the behind-the-scenes stories (the mechanical shark wouldn't work); the response (beach attendance dropped); the analysis (it represents our fear of primal natural forces); and, of course, the music — that it's difficult to say anything new about Jaws. All that's left is to agree that its classic status is deserved.

Two things stand out after thirty years. Firstly, long before Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan, Spielberg could show a dark sensibility, despite his subsequent reputation for lightness. Although the film's opening shark attack has no gore or blood (or shark, for that matter), it is unnervingly brutal as the female victim is dragged back and forth across the surface of the water. The second attack is accompanied by a geyser of blood, despite the victim being a kid, a demographic that was usually treated delicately in movies.

Secondly, even though Jaws is not an epic, has no grandiose scenes of any kind, Spielberg makes good use of the wide screen. Long before filmmakers became too conscious of how their films would play on video, movie canvases were treated as rectangles, not squares. Spielberg is always aware of that, composing even low-key talking scenes carefully so that the actors are spread out across the screen.

Jaws is first and foremost a Horror film, and Spielberg earns his scares honestly. Two of the biggest — a head that appears under a boat, and the first time the shark rises out of the water — are similarly filmed: 1) they’re done in one shot, instead of with a sudden close-up; 2) neither the body nor the shark "jump into the scene"; one floats into view while another rises; and 3) there is no jarring music. It's so much easier to use sudden movement and sound effects to scare the audience, but Spielberg avoids the easy tricks. (The head scene does include a close-up and a musical blast, but they both occur after you've already jumped out of your seat.)

Article Author: Paul De Angelis

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