Jaws- Misconceptions about Sharks

Jaws is a 1975 thriller directed by none other than Steven Spielberg, the same director of Jurassic Park and it’s later franchise installments.

This film stars Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, Richard Dreyfuss, Lorraine Gary, and Murray Hamilton. Roy Scheider stars as the lead police chief Martin Brody.

The setting is in the summer season on Amity Island, a summer resort town where tourists come to be by the beach and swim in the ocean, little do they know what lurks beneath the waters.

Without having seen the movie with a title like Jaws, you already know who the villain/antagonist of this film is. The antagonist is none other than the Great White Shark, the monster of the ocean, or so this film makes it out to be.

As the Great White is depicted as the antagonist of this film, you can be sure to expect a lot of blood and death at the hands or ‘jaws’ of this world renowned predator, the monster and reigning king of the ocean.

I personally had some qualms about this film. While it’s an interesting idea, the premise and sole focus of making sharks out to be the so called ‘bad guy’ was where I believe they ultimately went wrong. It was one thing in the film Jurassic Park to use dinosaurs as the antagonist since dinosaurs are extinct, but sharks aren’t. This film along with it’s many sequels may have just been what started the craze to kill and cull sharks and may have started the international phobia about sharks due to misconceptions portrayed in the film.

Sharks are a predatory species. Depending on the species, they hunt crustaceans, fish, seals, dolphins and other sharks. This also varies based on their size. You’ll notice no where in their diet does it say they eat people. They do not purposely go after human beings. In fact most great white shark attacks aren’t committed by great whites and if they are it’s purely because great white sharks are known to test bite. They test bite buoys, boats, and other inanimate objects, they are looking for food not going out of their way to hunt humans.

In fact, sharks don’t like the taste of human flesh and when it is consumed they have digestive issues. They’d much rather have a fish or seal.

So, although the idea for the film seemed to be a great one at the time, it has since then caused problems for the shark species due to all the misconceptions created by the film.