A Sociological Look At Jaws Essay Research

A Sociological Look At Jaws Essay, Research Paper

The movie I choose to review was Jaws, which is one of my favorites and a timeless classic. A traditional story about man against beast takes place on an island that depends on its summer tourist business. When the summer season in threatened by a series of shark attacks three men are sent out to track down a great white shark.

The three main (human) characters are Brody (Roy Scheider), the police chief, who came to the island from New York looking, so he thought, for a change from the fears of the city. There’s Quint (Robert Shaw), a caricature of the crusty old seafaring salt, who has a very personal reason for hating sharks. And there’s Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss), the rich kid turned oceanographer, who knows best of all what a shark can do to a man, and yet is willing to get into the water with one

The movie starts just before the summer boom with a girl running out in to the ocean for a midnight dip. She is undoubtedly attacked by a shark and when she is found on the beach the next morning the town officials dismiss the find as a boating accident.

Chief Brody who is not convinced of that is was a boating accident fears it was a shark attack. With the safety of not only the islanders but also the coming tourist crowds Brody tries to close the island off the tourists until the problem is solved. The Mayor sensing what Brody is up to stops the Chief from cutting off the islands only means of income. The Mayor tells Brody that no one is sure what happened to the girl and no decision like this can be made with the evidence at hand. Brody unwillingly agrees.

When there is another attack, this time on a small child and in broad daylight, a meeting is called to discuss what to do about the islands problem. The Chief decides t call the mainland for help but being an island of fishermen the locals have only on thing on their minds. This is where we get to meet Quint. Quint is convinced that the only way to solve the problem is to hunt it down. He offers his services, for a nominal fee of course. In the end the Mayor decides that the best way to deal with the problem is by offering a reward to anyone who catches the shark.

In comes Hooper. He arrives just in time to see the parade of fishermen cast off in any thing that’ll float in hopes of catching the prize shark. With chaos erupting all around Hooper asks to see the first victim. In studying the victim Hooper discovers that she definitely did not have a boating accident and that it was a shark much larger than any he has seen before. Down at the docks someone does manage I to reel in an impressive sized tiger shark. While everyone is giving out pats on the back Hooper is the one that finds out that the wrong shark has been caught. He states that while this species has attacked humans and is foreign to these waters the bite radius doesn’t match up to the first victim.

Being an outsider no one is inclined to listen to Hooper. To proven his point Hooper and Brody sneak down to the docks to cut open the shark. Among many strange findings none are human remains. This piques Hooper’s curiosity and he drags Brody (who is afraid of boats and water) out on his boat to see what they can find in the waters surrounding the island. They come across a boat wreck and upon closer inspection they discover that the wreck is the work of the sought after shark.

With the evidence they’ve uncovered Hooper and Brody go to the Mayor and demand he shut down the beaches. With no physical evidence that the wrong shark has been caught the Mayor decides to open the beaches for the 4th of July.

The 4th of July is a bright and sunny day but no one is going in the water. The Mayor, fearing the worst, coaxes on of his friends to make the first move and go for a swim. In no time everyone is in the water enjoying their 4th of July.

By this time Sheriff Brody’s summer help has arrived and he’s got every man he can spare on the water looking for the shark. When a commotion erupts over a phony shark sighting there is an attack in a pond that opens up to the sea. A man is attacked and killed with the Chief’s son not 40 yards away in his own boat with some friends. Brody’s son is dragged out of the water and rushed to the hospital and treated for shock. With an attack hit so close to home the Mayor who seems to be shell-shocked agrees to sign the forms to pay Quint what ever it takes to catch the shark. This brings together our troop of heroes Quint, Hooper, and Brody. They set off in Quint’s boat, the Orca, to hunt down and catch the shark on the open ocean.

As they are loading the boat Quint is giving Hooper grief. “Working class hero crap” as Hooper puts it and you can see almost right away that Brody will become a mediator between the two. They soon set off with Quint as Captain, Hooper as first mate and Brody as a deck hand of sorts.

As the hunt pursues you can see that the closer they get to capturing the shark the closer they become to each other. The real turning point is when the three are up late one-night swapping shark stories and drinks and the shark attacks the boat. The attack leaves their motor handicapped and they most ban together and work harder to bring in the shark. The next day while trying to draw the shark closer inland Quint pushes the motor over the edge and it finally breaks down. Left stranded