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Jaws (1975)Steven Spielberg

Cast

Roy Scheider ... Brody

Robert Shaw ... Quint

Richard Dreyfuss ... Hooper

Lorraine Gary ... Ellen Brody

Murray Hamilton ... Vaughn

Carl Gottlieb ... Meadows

Jeffrey Kramer ... Hendricks (as Jeffrey C. Kramer)

Susan Backlinie ... Chrissie

Jonathan Filley ... Cassidy

Ted Grossman ... Estuary Victim

Chris Rebello .. . Michael Brody

Jay Mello ... Sean Brody

Lee Fierro ... Mrs. Kintner

Jeffrey Voorhees ... Alex Kintner

Craig Kingsbury ... Ben Gardner

Figure 1. Film Poster

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Jaws is one of the very few films that makes the audience feel nothing towards a character after watching them being ripped

apart by a shark, films like Final Destination have a similar feeling where the audience awaits the death of another character.

Steven Spielbergs Action thriller is a film about a man eating shark based on a novel of the same name by Peter Benchley, though

the novel doesnt compare to the classic that is Jaws, the author co-wrote the film adaption, Jaws is a film that displays good

editing prowess and understanding of the camera, this all well and good but it could have damaged the success of the film as

therere no characters who connect to the audience, but the popularity of the film on release says a lot about the societysconsciousness.

Spielbergs film is very atmospheric, it does a good job of bringing the audience into this world, however comical its believable

mostly because it doesnt constantly scream in your face but gradually builds suspense, and it makes you wait. Where the film

fails is in character development, all the characters are odd and seem out of place, the main characters just barely able to passas a believable character, but to the benefit of the film the shark (which physically isnt believable) stands out, its a real threat

and as well as being the films McGuffin it pushes the male lead and becomes the main character, though it isnt visible most part

of the film do to how the story is structured theres this 3D effect happening where the sharks presence is felt everywherethemenace is utterly realistic(Maslin, 2012), the sharks the most threating and scary when it isnt visible and this is a testament to

the director, they werent able to achieved realism with the technology available but they used other means and it was successful.

Visually the film isnt special, but what it loses in its visuals it more than makes up for with atmosphere and suspense, Jaws needs

to be studied further to understand why it works, it s weird formula isnt fully understood but what seemed like random choices of

camera angles and shots all worked together to scare the audience when it wants to.

Figure 2. Jaws main character?

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The star of the film is the shark and none of the human characters are memorable, theyre almost invisible and almost all thecharacters are replaceable, characters are simply functions of the action(Canby, 1975), theyre like stage hands, only showing

importance when theyre needed before retreating backstage with their tails behind theyre back, Characters are needed but

arent important, they seem to be there as a little catalyst that pushed the story forward.

With a film like Jaws Spielbergs intentions come to question, it might be clear by the way the film was structured and he might

have been successful, in an online article Spielberg is quoted saying I wanted to make a movie that left its mark, not at the box

office but on peoples consciousness(Graham, 2012), and its evident that though character come off a bit plastic, this was his

intentions, so the film was successful in many ways. The editing of the film was done by Verna Fields and in many ways this is what

got into people consciousness, as the shark in the film is famously known to look unrealistic, it was the editing that made Jaws

what it was.

Unlike most films Jaws doesnt build suspense with silence, but it guides the viewer with an interesting music score which build up

to a brink where the viewer is left waiting, audio is very important in this film, and it wouldnt work without it down to the fact that

the film tells the audience what to think without them knowing, it guides you till it has you where it wants you before throwing a

shark in your face, this might be overlooked but it was essential for Jaws successful jump scares .

In a review written by Dan Rubey he describes how the film should be approached, he states that Jaws should be approached

critically in terms of that consciousness rather than as the private vision of a director(Rubey, 1976) though this seems to

discredit Spielberg for the success of the film, it shows the directors awareness of the public and how hes able to make the best

out a collective mind set, technically Jaws is brilliant and it achieves what it Spielberg set out to do, this meant it matured gravely

and years later in 2013 the film shows its age, but the art of the superb editing and display atmosphere still remains.

Figure 3. The leading man?

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Illustrations

Figure 1: http://ia.media-

imdb.com/images/M/MV5BOTUwMzY4NzI4Nl5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwMDgzNjk3OA@@._V1_SY317_CR12,0,214,317_.jpg

Figure 2:http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2012/jun/14/jaws-reviewFigure 3:http://www.totalfilm.com/reviews/cinema/jaws-1

Bibliography

Caby, V. (1975) characters are simply functions of the action. In: nytimes [online]

http://www.nytimes.com/1975/06/21/movies/moviesspecial/21JAWS.html(Accessed on 10/02/2013)

Graham, J. (2012) I wanted to make a movie that left its mark, not at the box office but on peoples consciousness. In: totalfilm

[online]http://www.totalfilm.com/reviews/cinema/jaws-1(Accessed on 10/02/2013)

Maslin, J. (2012) the menace is utterly realistic. In: thepheonix [online]http://thephoenix.com/Boston/news/141703-review-

jaws/?page=2#TOPCONTENT(Accessed on 10/02/2013)

Rubey, D (1976) should be approached critically in terms of that consciousness rather than as the private vision of a director. In:

ejmpcut [online] http://www.ejumpcut.org/archive/onlinessays/JC10-11folder/JawsRubey.html(Accessed on 10/02/2013)

http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BOTUwMzY4NzI4Nl5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwMDgzNjk3OA@@._V1_SY317_CR12,0,214,317_.jpghttp://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BOTUwMzY4NzI4Nl5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwMDgzNjk3OA@@._V1_SY317_CR12,0,214,317_.jpghttp://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BOTUwMzY4NzI4Nl5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwMDgzNjk3OA@@._V1_SY317_CR12,0,214,317_.jpghttp://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BOTUwMzY4NzI4Nl5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwMDgzNjk3OA@@._V1_SY317_CR12,0,214,317_.jpghttp://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2012/jun/14/jaws-reviewhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2012/jun/14/jaws-reviewhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2012/jun/14/jaws-reviewhttp://www.totalfilm.com/reviews/cinema/jaws-1http://www.totalfilm.com/reviews/cinema/jaws-1http://www.totalfilm.com/reviews/cinema/jaws-1http://www.nytimes.com/1975/06/21/movies/moviesspecial/21JAWS.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/1975/06/21/movies/moviesspecial/21JAWS.htmlhttp://www.totalfilm.com/reviews/cinema/jaws-1http://www.totalfilm.com/reviews/cinema/jaws-1http://www.totalfilm.com/reviews/cinema/jaws-1http://thephoenix.com/Boston/news/141703-review-jaws/?page=2#TOPCONTENThttp://thephoenix.com/Boston/news/141703-review-jaws/?page=2#TOPCONTENThttp://thephoenix.com/Boston/news/141703-review-jaws/?page=2#TOPCONTENThttp://thephoenix.com/Boston/news/141703-review-jaws/?page=2#TOPCONTENThttp://www.ejumpcut.org/archive/onlinessays/JC10-11folder/JawsRubey.htmlhttp://www.ejumpcut.org/archive/onlinessays/JC10-11folder/JawsRubey.htmlhttp://www.ejumpcut.org/archive/onlinessays/JC10-11folder/JawsRubey.htmlhttp://thephoenix.com/Boston/news/141703-review-jaws/?page=2#TOPCONTENThttp://thephoenix.com/Boston/news/141703-review-jaws/?page=2#TOPCONTENThttp://www.totalfilm.com/reviews/cinema/jaws-1http://www.nytimes.com/1975/06/21/movies/moviesspecial/21JAWS.htmlhttp://www.totalfilm.com/reviews/cinema/jaws-1http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2012/jun/14/jaws-reviewhttp://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BOTUwMzY4NzI4Nl5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwMDgzNjk3OA@@._V1_SY317_CR12,0,214,317_.jpghttp://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BOTUwMzY4NzI4Nl5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwMDgzNjk3OA@@._V1_SY317_CR12,0,214,317_.jpg