Jaws - Defining the Summer Blockbuster

the modern summer blockbuster and the

Mega Movie event as a whole can be

traced back to the summer of 1975 and

the debut of director Steven Spielberg's

Jaws. in an instant the Hollywood System

of film making was altered forever and

the idea of a summer blockbuster film

was born the years preceding the hit

film were filled with decidedly smaller

Budget Cinema with more films that fell

into the aour theory of filmm defining

the landscape than ever before the post

Jaws world of Hollywood would soon be

defined by big budget special effects

heavy Cinema like Star Wars which

brought in huge crowds for especially

huge profits the story of a great white

shark terrorizing the people of Amity

island in the summer and police chief

Martin Brody played by Roy shider the

man dedicated to stopping it quickly

became the highest grossing film of all

time both in North America and

internationally it's a moment in film

history that is still being felt today

while jaw's massive success and

influence can be attributed to the idea

of right time right place right movie

Spielberg's Mega hit is not a touchstone

film simply because of its box office

reshaping profits rather Jaws is a high

Watermark when it comes to the so-called

popcorn film in its wake countless

massively budgeted movies have attempted

to replicate its formula pop culture

influence and Legacy although there are

dozens of like-minded films that have

come along in the decades since Jaws

Remains the Paragon of Blockbuster film

making understanding its incomparable

success and its many elements is to

understand what makes or breaks any big

budget mainstream movie A defining

quality of Blockbuster Cinema is high

concept effects Focus spectacle that

dazzles the audience but not necessarily

the critics but with Spielberg and

screenwriters Peter benchley who wrote

the original novel and Carl gotle

understood was that characters were the

way that audiences would be truly hooked

into the narrative through relatable

protagonists the stakes become more

personal far scarier and much more

memorable while the concept of a killer

shark and the quest to kill it is simple

enough the team behind Jaws did not

speak down to the audience instead the

Nuance character work throughout the

film makes it much more engaging than

many of the films that would imitate it

in the following decades one of the most

crucial pieces to the successful puzzle

that is Jaws is that during the

adaptation process the characters of

benchley's Novel were made far more

likable for the big screen while the

story as a whole is largely intact an

affair between Matt Hooper played by

affair between Matt Hooper played by

played by Lorraine Gray was eliminated a

great amount of levity within the

narrative was added and the characters

in general were made into people that

the audience could more easily identify

with and root for from the start that

last bit is absolutely essential here as

Jaws is far more interested in having an

intimate focus on its protagonists than

just on Thrills and chills that in large

part is why the film has aged so

magnificently while the language of

Cinema has continued to speed up and the

special effects featured have looked

worse over time audiences are still C

captivated because of how Spielberg

makes them invest so deeply into the

story Brody in particular stands as the

quintessential workingman hero whose

bluecollar life nuclear family and

bluecollar life nuclear family and

audience While most will immediately

think of the shark attacks and high SE

large portions of the film that are

Thrills when they recall Jaws there are

devoted to much smaller character

moments far removed from anything shark

related by tracking Chief Brody through

daily life in Amity and paying attention

to the relationships he has with his

wife and sons AI es better understand

the protagonist of the film as well as

the quaint life that defines the Island

Town moments like a receptionist

describing a complaint about a group of

kids karate a neighbor's fence or

Brody's walk through town that is

constantly interrupted by the requests

of locals are given just as much thought

as the special effects heavy action set

pieces throughout the film these

character focused scenes balance and

stand in direct ju opposition to the

shark related Horrors Brody's paranoid

watching of the Fourth of July

beachgoers is constantly interrupted by

the off-kilter locals which inevitably

leads to tragedy a long day of shark

hunting gives way to a night of drinking

and storytelling between Brody Quint and

Hooper resulting in the Stellar speech

concerning the USS Indianapolis which

gives greater context to Quinn's mindset

each of these moments push forward

character development and create a more

robust setting for the film Amity island

is both widely relatable and also

distinctly quirky just like as many

characters it's a complete integration

of character details and narrative that

cannot be unraveled because Spielberg

specifically wanted it to be part of his

film hiring gotle to improve benchley's

original draft through detailed

character work as well as the help of

several other writers and the use of

improvisations from actors too many

Blockbusters put generic archetypes as

their leads and hope that the spectacle

around them will excuse it others will

throw in a moment of character

development as an afterthought pasting

it into the script once everything else

is done in order to avoid accusations of

cardboard characters too bad it's just

as noticeable as not having it in the

film why does Jaws have such big Stakes

despite having a generally small focus

in its story because it's legitimately

terrifying it's amazing that this film

was rated to PG long before the creation

of PG-13 and has remained a mainstream

feature scene by people of all ages there

are severed limbs shown in all their

Stumpy Glory

decapitations images of real life shark

attacks and the blood squirting death of

a child it's messed up yet Spielberg's

magical touch renders the whole thing

magn IC and insanely watchable from the

very first shot Spielberg creates a

language of skin crawling vulnerability

through the use of shark POV as it hunts

underwater bolstered by composer John

Williams indelible lurking two notes

score think of just how many shots are

simply focused on the legs of potential

victims swimming Carefree in the ocean

the residents of Amy Island are

defenseless oblivious and ready to be

ripped into at any moment nearly every

victim is taken from the feet up which

preserves the air of mystery around the

shark while making the idea of fighting

back laughable while Jaws shouldn't be

classified as a horror movie because of

its Adventure film language and

structure it uses the strengths of the

genre to its Advantage whenever it has

the chance this creates a lurking Menace

that forces Brody into action the real

terror Spielberg creates is combined

with delicately human moments which

means that once the bodies start piling

up the deaths feel far more human and

begin to weigh heavily on Brody in

particular Mrs ker slapping Brody in the

wake of her son's death and his

brokenhearted moments with his young son

at the dinner table that follow are

quietly crushing they believably fuel

his dedication throughout the rest of

the film which is tempered by a very

human and correct

fear give us a kiss, why I need it as the

film brilliantly transitions

into its narrowly f focused yet

adventurous second half the fear felt

previously informs what could be a much

more light-hearted Adventure The Mystery

of the shark is slowly pulled back

through subsequent reveals but it only

grows more terrifyingly

active as the ocean bound Triumph of

Brody Hooper and Quint find themselves

outmatched against the 25t seab Beast we

fear for their lives and thrill at their

triumphs all three actors deliver

Stellar performances bouncing off one

another in the most electric of ways as

Spilber continues to balance the big

moments with the small you go inside the

cage cage goes in the water you go in

the water sharks in the water our

shark farewell Ando to you fair Spanish

ladies farewell Ando you

Ladi the three may be voluntarily at war

with the great white but they are a no

less danger than the unsuspecting

swimmers back at Amity it's easy to see

that in the wake of Jaws movie studios

began to search for the next big summer

hit that would put their finances well

into the black the summer movie season

became the time for big budget

Adventures that would bring in the

widest audience possible and while that

would result in as many positives like

clearing the way for Star Wars Superman

Indiana Jones and the like as negatives

the slow but sure sidelining of

financing for Niche films in favor of

Surefire Blockbusters it's far more

interesting to look at jaw's influence

on film creation over film financing

Spielberg had no ambition of making a

film that changed lives with jaws

although its lasting impact on shark

related fears is most certainly

indicative of its success in scaring

audiences but that doesn't mean that he

looked to create a quickly forgotten

piece of cinematic gossamer most

Blockbuster films are not designed to be

worldview altering experiences for

viewers however they have no excuse for

being forgettable junk food the

Transformers franchises of the world are

not the child of Jaws they are the

result of Studios who would rather shell

out a name brand than a thoughtout film

films like madmax Fury roads Star Wars

Jurassic Park the Dark Knight and more

prove that a high concept film can have

a large budget simple premise and a wide

appeal but also be determined to be the

absolute best that it can be should Jaws

have been as truly stupid as the

hundreds of would be Blockbuster films

that look to be as successful as

Spielberg's Landmark movie then the idea

of a summer blockbuster would not have

been born in 19 75 the films that seek

to capture the magic Thrills and

innovation of Jaws are the ones that

will be remembered across the decades to

follow that may not always result in the

massive box office success that Jaws

once had but that's not the True Legacy

of this Timeless Masterpiece jaw's True

Legacy can be seen in the best and

brightest of films that Captivate the

entire world smile you son of

a and as for itself it remains and will

continue to remain one of the classic

masterpieces of Blockbuster film making

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