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Never Go Swimming Again
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Steven Spielberg’s Jaws (1975) terrified audiences through its convincing depiction of shark attacks off the coast of the New England island Amity. A great white shark terrorizes bathers, but local politicians refuse to acknowledge the danger, fearing a drop in tourism. The protagonist, Chief Brody, faces the truth and unselfishly attempts to save his community from the danger. This chapter argues that the power of Jaws to engage and disturb audiences comes from its success in immersing viewers in a primal scenario of predation by a malevolent monster, the shark, which meets the input specifications of evolved anti-predatory mechanisms in the human mind. The monster film compounds the fear of predation with the anxiety of uncertainty and sympathetic fear for protagonists in peril. We never know when the shark will strike, but we are alerted ahead of characters through aesthetic means, such as the film’s soundtrack.
Title: Never Go Swimming Again
Description:
Steven Spielberg’s Jaws (1975) terrified audiences through its convincing depiction of shark attacks off the coast of the New England island Amity.
A great white shark terrorizes bathers, but local politicians refuse to acknowledge the danger, fearing a drop in tourism.
The protagonist, Chief Brody, faces the truth and unselfishly attempts to save his community from the danger.
This chapter argues that the power of Jaws to engage and disturb audiences comes from its success in immersing viewers in a primal scenario of predation by a malevolent monster, the shark, which meets the input specifications of evolved anti-predatory mechanisms in the human mind.
The monster film compounds the fear of predation with the anxiety of uncertainty and sympathetic fear for protagonists in peril.
We never know when the shark will strike, but we are alerted ahead of characters through aesthetic means, such as the film’s soundtrack.
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