For those seeking general enjoyment, this is one of the few instances where I do believe the 1975 movie Jaws is better than its 1974 book counterpart. The movie’s plot is more streamlined and forwent parts of the book I didn’t care for. That said both movie and book have strengths that lend them to still being relevant in environmentalism conversations today.
First, the movie—which is, admittedly, one of my all-time favorites.
The movie Jaws, to me, has an entirely different message than the book. In the film the shark is the obvious conflict. It is the antagonist and villain, the face of nature when we cannot understand or control it. The story is one of what people do when faced with nature inexplicably turning on us. In the 70s, it was a perfect film for people still figuring out how society interacted with nature in an ever-developing industrial setting. Nowadays, still a classic thriller, it can speak to the still looming question of how the animals around us will adapt to a human-changed world, and what that means for us.
Now the book. I propose… it’s not about the shark.
For those interested in and committed to reading Peter Benchley’s novel, some spoilers are included below. Instead, I’d recommend reading something else from my archives.
As a horror-loving girl fascinated by predators and natural disasters, I expected more shark attacks and gore from this book (and yes, the total of six deaths is not something to be brushed off). However, the brunt of the book dealt with all the drama and dealings of the people of Amity Island. Focusing on this led to a better understanding of the stakes faced in the town’s dealings with the rabid shark, which threatened the summer tourists and — truly the only source — of income for the locals. This focus, though, also led to layers of stakes for each of the characters. Each of the individuals was dealing with things they saw as completely out of their control. Things that, when they didn’t go the desired way, had the potential to ruin their lives. Things that a ravenous killer shark can be a perfect allegory for.
First, Police Chief Martin Brody, the main protagonist and only sane person in Amity, found himself facing an uncontrollable threat in the shark itself. However, he was also facing the tension between doing what he felt was right for Amity (using his police authority to close the beaches), and doing what was best to keep his job and keep supporting his family (respecting the mayor’s wishes to keep the beaches open — and risk the shark). He was dealing with the bureaucratic pressures far out of his sphere of influence and governing the choices of everyone else around him.
Next, Ellen Brody, Martin’s depressed wife. She faced with a life that she perceived as no longer in her control. She had given up her family’s rich, summer-crowd lifestyle so that she could marry Martin, without realizing just how much she would miss the luxuries. She was constantly thinking back on the choices she could’ve made differently, instead of looking at why she made the choices she did in the first place, and what she could do with her life now. It was that focus on a now uncontrollable past that led Ellen to having an affair with Matt Hooper — which, in my opinion, Martin did not deserve.
Third, Mayor Vaughn was probably the character that lost control the most. In the novel, he had gotten in too deep with the mob (understandably this would have over-complicated the film). He had invested so much of his life into real estate that was rapidly losing value; real estate which — killer shark aside — is always at the whims of unforgiving markets.
Even the marine biologist Matt Hooper embodied the feeling of helplessness and lack of control — though a little differently. Hooper was a character stuck at a crossroads. He had grown up as one of the visiting rich-summer-kids yet had become a year-round beach and ocean lover. He was a biologist who wanted to learn everything about sharks but also wanted to slay the dangerous, monster one. In a way, Hooper was full of choice paralysis. Of course, I would also say that Hooper embodied the uncontrollable nature of things that do not depend on our own choices. In his final moments (left out of the movie), if he had just put down his camera, picked up his harpoon instead, the shark still would not have turned away. It didn’t matter what Hooper had done or chosen; the shark would have gotten him.
The only character that didn’t give into the theme of lack of control was Quint, a local fisherman and career shark hunter. My belief, from reading the book, was this was because Quint was a character that had relinquished control. He did not expect anything from the shark. He did not assume he knew its ways, or that it had any motives. He simply let the shark be what it was and do what he needed to do. Quint accepted the situation as it was — and a part of me wonders if he was happier than the rest of them for it, even though he got eaten too.
The book Jaws’ great white shark was not the villain. It was the antagonist, the driver of change, sure. But more than that, it was a great unknown that made the characters confront their fears and take control of what they could when they had none elsewhere.
But the shark was not the villain. The villain was the mistakes of the people involved: the cheating wife, corrupt mayor, mob, and the rich folks who had built an inequitable system that forced the town to depend on them every summer just to survive the winter. At the end, it was the story of people forced to face being without control, and the kinds of choices they made when it happened.
There is still value to be taken from Jaws in relation to our modern environmental issues. We all know now that sharks are not substantial dangers — and do not often attack people — but the ocean is still one of our great unknowns and can still work as a metaphor for things we see as outside our control. This is especially true when it comes climate change, where we have lost control of so many variables due to the past choices of society, the choices we are now to paralyzed to make, the greed of those in power, and the frustrating bureaucracy above the common people trying to make a change.
The shark of Jaws was no great evil… it simply was. As Quint accepted, it was just a shark. An inexplicable shark to be sure, but still just a shark looking for food. It was the people that caused the most pain, that didn’t stop the shark after the first tragedy, and that were face to face with something they just had to do something about.
We are at that point with climate change. It is not some big evil with a malicious motive aimed at our demise. It is something we caused, and now… it is simply something we must learn to deal with.
