Film Review: Jaws

on
Steven Spielberg's Jaws (1975) was the classic phenomenon that induced an abiding fear onto the world, of going into the sea. The wildly famous and well known film stars a bloodthirsty, oversized shark that lurks in the dark waters of Amity Island, New England and preys upon the incognisant victims. With the highly anticipated summer approaching, bringing thousands of excited citizens to the island's sunny beach and sea, it is an all you can eat buffet for the hungry beast that patrols in its territory. 

Figure. 1. Jaws film poster.

Even though Spielberg says it is just a film about a shark, there is an expanse of other lingering motifs theorised regarding Jaws. Similar to Ridley Scott's Alien, (1979) Jaws can be perceived as a story that plays with our sexual fears, making the horror more personal than just witnessing a terrifying monster on screen. What Alien does with the creature's elongating monstrous mouth that resembles the vagina dentata, Jaws did just a matter of years before with the shark's gaping maw, that possesses an outnumbering set of razor sharp teeth. Vagina dentata represents the idea of a vagina with teeth, making it a dangerous weapon capable of emasculation towards a man's penis. The topic instils fear and anxiety around sex, ultimately making films like Alien and Jaws involve a monster that is also a murderous rapist. In order to multiply the power of this horror, it must expand into something more terrifying. For example, putting emphasis on sexual weaponry works  even better if it highlights both male and female genitalia, ultimately combining them into a singular gender, that possesses the power of both in one. With Alien, there is also a lot of imagery that represents the penetrating penis, as well as the killer vagina. For instance, the alien itself also has a head that resembles a penis as well as just the vaginal mouth, in addition to its semen-like saliva. For Jaws, it is not very different at all as we are looking at a predator with a particularly standing out shape. "The shark's body is itself phallic, and at its head a frightening and domineering power, represented by its mouth." (Ghingold, 2009) Not to mention the overwhelming size of the shark too, all of these features it holds is the perfect symbolisation of the undersea sexual predator. In addition to this, the deep and unknown underwater territory of the shark represents the fluidity and nature of the female womb.

Jane Caputi talks about Jaws in The Age of Sex Crime. (1987) She mentions the archetype of the "Terrible Mother," originating from myths in which the terrible mother has a toothed vagina, with the hero being the man who overcomes it. She compares this hero to the hero in Jaws; The Chief of police Martin Brody (Roy Scheider) who must venture into the unknown and slay the dominating beast. She writes "I have analyzed the underlying structure of Jaws to be the ritual and heroic annihilation of a symbolic female, the monstrous female of male dreams, epitomized by the great white shark." (Caputi, 1987:147) This unhinged sexual murderer's role is incredibly portrayed by such a dominant and primal hunter, which serves excellently considering most people will already be terror-stricken by a shark alone. The fact that these morbidly twisted desires now belong to a real life commonly feared carnivore as opposed to just a human being, multiplies the horror numerously as it puts the victims into a much deeper state of vulnerability. It also creates an atmosphere of dangerous territory, as no other creature under the sea is going to stop that shark. The humans are the only ones who might attempt to serve justice and kill this shark, but in order to do that they must first enter the unknown abyss that is the shark's territory, which it is deviously submerged in, invisible to those who it is both hunting and soon potentially hunted by. The circumstances cause all of the odds to be against the people, while the shark continues to victimise them immorally and with unstoppable force, possessing a more straightforward and primitive mindset that lacks any sympathy and awareness of the law it is breaking.

Regarding the sexual murders that the shark is committing, it extremely emphasises castration and emasculation from the way in which the monster attacks its prey. The swimmers are positioned vertically, with their torso above the sea leaving their lower body below exposed to the shark. When the sexual predator boosts itself up from the depths of the deep blue, it pounces at the victim from below them, ripping off everything from below the waist, including their genitals. This very strongly represents emasculation (which is the act of removing a man's penis and testicles) in an inordinate way. The ginormous vagina dentata is mercilessly at play, engulfing excessive amounts of the human body with its widely broadening lips and violently piercing teeth. While the shark's vicious traits seem to represent the vagina dentata more than a penis, it isn't so peculiar that all of its victims  are men or young boys, apart from the first victim at the start of the film. This really targets the topic of castration more and meddles with the sexual anxieties further, while still remaining scary for any kind of person who is getting torn into pieces by this aggressive sexual murderer. Saying this, the phallic symbolism lies within the shark's giant size, pointed body shape and tremendously strong force. Besides its teeth, it can use these more phallic attributes to force itself into objects like boats or piers, penetrating them with its penis shaped body and ripping holes in them, like a forceful sexual predator. So it is with the creature's berserk and violent nature, that it represents the ultimate and unstoppable gender, besides just the terrible mother archetype. It is horrifying to any person simply due to its predatorial nature, that uses its hunting instincts towards anybody. 

Figure. 2. Jaws film still.
In addition to the gory fate that the victims meet and suffer from, it transcends much further due to the fact that their gruesome end represents something deeper. It is as if the vagina dentata is swallowing these people, as if to suggest birth being reversed. These hunted targets that were brought into this world from the womb, are now being taking from the world, being barbarously engulfed by the womb that is the deep, dark sea. Going way beyond the act of castration now, these victims are being unwillingly returned back into the void of nothingness in which they once emerged from. This makes the sea become a much more deranged and dark atmosphere, that shouldn't be entered. So you could say, that the words "terrible mother" fit accordingly to this twisted occurrence. 

If it still isn't enough to convince you, then look at the nature of the attacks. The shark doesn't just eat these people because it wants food, it heinously torments its prey and makes them feel the formidable fear and incapacitating pain before finishing them off. It seems to know they're suffering, and receives pleasure from it, sadistically enjoying every moment of it. "The killer watches and follows its prey, and then attacks with prolonged jabs, as if savouring the moment. The first victim Chrissie is not eaten straight away but bitten - as if the shark enjoyed it." (Dowell, 2015) This style of ill mannered attacks presents the hunter as more of a sexual predator, hell-bent on committing extremely vile acts of rape and sexual murder. The brutality of the film attacks our most deeply internal anxieties and personal fears, which are very rarely spoken about or considered. In order for us to understand the predator's intentions more clearly, Spielberg places the audience's view in the sharks eyes at times. We are made to look up towards the top of the sea, with the victim in sight. Gradually the camera approaches the swimmer, taking us with it. It puts us in the killer's eyes so that we can understand their awareness of the prey. This danger is presented exclusively to the audience, before the victim even has a clue. This method escalates tension rapidly until the climax is reached and the anticipated brutality unfolds, which we have been nervously expecting beforehand. The POV shots in Jaws make the audience not feel as if they are the ones attacking the swimmer, but more so that they are sharing the predator's vision and are pathetically incapable of preventing the killings, which can be quite torturous for the viewer to endure. It is these kinds of shots that are complimented nicely by the film's famous score, which builds the tension higher and higher without rest, causing panic and intense anxiety amongst the audience. 

Figure. 3. Jaws film still.
So with Jaws having a shark that takes up this evil and sickening inhumane role, of the unstoppable and cruel sexual predator, it brings a much stronger sense of comfort when we witness the hero finally defeat it. These factors make the shark more than just a primitive animal trying to survive, it makes it an awful sexual predator, allowing us to immediately have a stronger feeling of hate and disgust towards it. If you're now looking at an aggressive sexual predator, any sympathy you may have for the shark is eliminated, just as though it would be if you were looking at a human sexual predator. Ultimately, Jaws contains all that it needs to express this sexual horror context on a much deeper level. It is no wonder that it had such a severe effect on audiences at the time of release, as it digs much deeper into our personal fears and subconscious anxieties, rather than just stopping at Galeophobia. 

Illustrations List
Figure. 1. Jaws Wiki, Jaws film poster. http://jaws.wikia.com/wiki/Jaws (Accessed 02/03/18)
Figure. 2. Brehmer N, Jaws film still. http://wickedhorror.com/features/retrospectives/the-shark-is-still-working-jaws-at-40/ (Accessed 02/03/18)
Figure. 3. Horton H, Jaws film still. https://filmschoolrejects.com/candid-camera-four-best-ways-use-pov-shots/amp/ (Accessed 02/03/18)

Bibliography
Caputi J. (1987) The Age of Sex Crime. Bowling Green University Popular Press. P.147. (Accessed 02/03/18)
(Accessed 02/03/18)

Comments

Post a Comment