Jaws

Jaws was the first movie that we have watched in class that hasn't left me confused about some part of the film. I enjoyed it very much, this was the first time that I had seen Jaws.

One of the things that I enjoyed about this movie was how it went along with the post-watergate theme, even though it wasn't trying to focus on watergate. Throughout the movie Mayor Larry Vaughn (played by Murray Hamilton) was trying to cover up the fact that there was a shark that had been attacking people on Amity's beach. Eventually when Mayor Larry Vaughn realizes that there is no way to cover his tracks any longer, he says that he was acting in the towns best interest. It is quite obvious that he wasn't thinking in the towns best interest at all, in fact very much the opposite. This whole plot with the Mayor though was very much a reflection of not being able to trust the government, as a result of what happened with the whole watergate scandal.

One more interesting point that I will bring up, throughout the whole movie you are made aware of Chief Brody's (played by Roy Scheider) fear of the water. You are never given a concrete reason why he has this fear though. I noticed in the scene where Sam Quint (Robert Shaw) and Matt Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss) are talking about their many scars, Chief Brody lifts his shirt looking at a scar on his abdomen area. I believe that he was attacked by shark when he was younger and that was the cause of his fear of water.

I would definitely recommend this movie.