Would you consider Jaws a little too slow?

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I actually can't tell if this is really good satire or you're a crazy person. Your screen-name doesn't help.
That person believes the moon landing was a hoax, so there ya go.
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I actually can't tell if this is really good satire or you're a crazy person. Your screen-name doesn't help.

Admittedly, I'd like a version of Jaws where Quint wears skinny jeans.



Victim of The Night
If I may piggy-back on this thought:

Something that I think that Jaws does really well is portray the rollercoaster of experience and emotion during a very specific threat.

What the land-based scenes show really well is also the tension between action and inaction. Someone needs to deal with the shark. But does that someone need to be Brody? Risking your life to protect others at the possible cost of losing your life and your family losing their father/husband is no small choice. Those family scenes really drive home that his affection for his family is both what drives his decision to help and what makes it so hard to do.

The land-based sequences also reveal the way that many people respond to a threat when the most obvious solution (stay out of the water!) is against their own self-interest. First there's the denial ("Shark, what shark? Everyone will be fine. Get in the water!"); then there's the grasping at saying it's solved ("Yay! This dude caught a shark! Must be the one!"). In the face of greed and lack of logical thinking, someone needs to step up to protect the citizens from themselves.
This is all excellent, Tak.
This is why Brody is easily, as he's supposed to be, my favorite character in the movie and one of my favorite movie characters. He left New York because he'd had enough constant danger and suddenly, in this idyllic little town, he's thrust into a choice to protect these people he barely knows and who frankly don't treat him that well, and to go against the town leaders and risk his position as well, or simply do what his job requires and take no personal risk. Despite him being an outsider, suddenly everyone is looking to him for answers.
Meanwhile, he has a family and he's afraid for them as any normal person would be. The movie does a great job of escalating that additional stake with the scene with the kids and the boat on their pier and Elaine and then with the scene where his child is actually in the water with the shark when another child is killed.
Scheider really shines in this role, I cannot imagine anyone else capturing everything he put on screen for the audience. I personally think it's like a master-class in an unexpected place, a performance that's overlooked when it should be in the acting textbook.

And all of that is why my favorite scene in the film has no shark in it and takes place on land.



"I'm sorry Martin... she's wrong."
"No, she's not."



Victim of The Night
The real lesson of Jaws is that being
WARNING: spoilers below
too manly will get you eaten, but being a reformed girl-man will make you a hero.


Must be why the film is so popular with 8 year old girls.
I mean, you're not wrong.



Admittedly, I'd like a version of Jaws where Quint wears skinny jeans.
I've always been a little sad that we've never gotten to see the deleted scene where Brody and Hooper braid each others' hair and play MASH.

No, wait, we need hipster Jaws. All the arguments take place in an Urban Outfitters. Quint tells a tragic story of how a delivery to the locally-owned co-op went wrong. "So anyway . . . we delivered the quinoa."



Meanwhile, he has a family and he's afraid for them as any normal person would be. The movie does a great job of escalating that additional stake with the scene with the kids and the boat on their pier and Elaine and then with the scene where his child is actually in the water with the shark when another child is killed.
Right. It creates a push-pull between him feeling like they are at risk, and risking his own life.

As a father, he can also connect to the woman who loses her child. I think that having someone with a family and feeling the weight of that and how it impacts the main character is what elevates Jaws above a lot of other shark (or even monster/creature) movies.

The shark attacks are effective and frightening, but they aren't the heart of the film. Brody is the heart of the film, and all of the scenes on land do a great job of raising the stakes for his character.

My sister and her best friend ordered a pizza and watched Jaws together every Friday night for like a year. The film is definitely deliberate, but I'd never think to call it slow.



Saw's one of the best things I've ever seen. HAHA! I SAID IT! HAHA! HAAAAHAHAHA! And I like it more than Jaws! AAAAAHAAAA!
It's been a while since I've seen Saw, so my memory of it is pretty fuzzy, but I remember enjoying it a whole lot. I have a feeling I'd like it less if I were to revisit it though.



Hot chocolate >>>>>>>>>>> tea > coffee
I love Jaws and all, but this is the most ludicrous exchange on this thread.



I love Jaws and all, but this is the most ludicrous exchange on this thread.
Are you discriminating against me because I love hot chocolate? How dare you?!?!



Registered User
I actually can't tell if this is really good satire or you're a crazy person. Your screen-name doesn't help.

It's what I think the movie/book is about. The plot really isn't three guys go hunting for a shark. It's a lot deeper than that, which is why I think the OP doesn't really get the movie. All that boring stuff before they get to the fishing part of the movie is necessary to the plot.



bleh... If you think that I'm crazy, then great. Hey, did you know that Moby Dick is about hunting a white whale? You'll love it!



Victim of The Night
Right. It creates a push-pull between him feeling like they are at risk, and risking his own life.

As a father, he can also connect to the woman who loses her child. I think that having someone with a family and feeling the weight of that and how it impacts the main character is what elevates Jaws above a lot of other shark (or even monster/creature) movies.

The shark attacks are effective and frightening, but they aren't the heart of the film. Brody is the heart of the film, and all of the scenes on land do a great job of raising the stakes for his character.

My sister and her best friend ordered a pizza and watched Jaws together every Friday night for like a year. The film is definitely deliberate, but I'd never think to call it slow.
Exactly.