Jaws Review

 

(Video Version)

Spoiler Warning

Originally released in 1974 and re-released in July 2012, Jaws is the "granddaddy" of all shark related movies and books to this day.  It should be noted that Jaws was inspired by real shark attacks which happened in 1916 across the coast of New Jersey and up Matawan Creek which is now known as "the Summer of the Shark".

Everyone has seen the film from 1975 directed by Steven Spielberg which went to not just create the "summer blockbuster" but also terrify audiences by tapping into one of our most primal fears where we are out of our element and completely at the mercy of something that we don't even see approaching.

But with the huge success of the film, the novel that inspired it is often forgotten and not in the public consciousness as a result despite being a best seller for some 44 weeks and the subsequent paperback version selling millions of copies in the following year.

The story begins with a very detailed description of the shark itself and its sensory array as it approaches the small community of Amity Island as two teenagers wander onto the beach so as one passes out, the other Christie Watkins goes for a skinny dip and is subsequently attacked and killed by the shark.

The next morning sees the introduction of our main character Chief Martin Brody who is called to investigate Christie 's "disappearance" and file a report to which he writes down the cause of death as a shark attack to which Brody wants the beaches closed as a precaution against more possible attacks however this is overruled by the Major Larry Vaughan and the Town Selectmen. During this time, the population of Amity Island is preparing for its summer visitors and The 4th of July celebration which creates the island's profit and business that sustains them through the winter months.

After another attack on a young boy Alex Kitner and an old man, panic ensues across Amity and sparks a "manhunt" for the shark responsible seeing both residents of Amity and people from the mainland taking part and some wanting to get a glimpse of the "killer shark".

While the majority of the movie follows the novel, there are quite a few differences between them.

The first change is the overall focus of the story. Whereas in the movie the shark is the focus of the narrative, In the novel the characters are in the spotlight and get much more in the way of characterization and development.

One example of this comes from Brody himself.

While in the movie, Brody comes across as your typical Average Joe/family man with a supportive marriage, however in the book Brody's personality is more or less the complete opposite to the depiction seen in the movie. Brody from my perspective comes off as a guy who is frustrated, somewhat bitter and overall tired with his day to day life and the problems that arise in the community of Amity.

This characterization of Brody becomes most obvious during his interactions with his wife Ellen who interestingly also has some much needed exposition for her character where we the readers learn that she came from a well-off family and other parts of her life before meeting Brody and when Ellen becomes the focus for one of the book's underlining subplots where she has an affair with Matt Hooper who as it turns out is the younger brother of the guy who she used to date. It is here where the story's setup takes on the dynamics of what I can only describe as a bad soap opera. Later on in the text there’s a cringe-inducing passage describing Ellen’s marital transgression that involves her rape ‘fantasies’.

That said however, the book has a few other melodramatic narrative set-pieces such as the ‘heated’ clichéd exchanges between Brody and the Town Selectmen and there are  other set-pieces in the book which are so stilted and wooden that they leave the reader wondering why an editor wasn’t a little more aggressive in limiting the overall page count.

For example, there’s a dinner get together that becomes interminable in length whose only function it seems is to list the amount of alcohol Brody can consume in about an hour and gives a recounting of the recipe for ‘Butterfly’ lamb.

However I do have a couple of things to nick pick as well as a few praises to address:

Character Focus:

 As I said earlier in this review, the characters are at the forefront of the story over the "killer" shark which is good because they get more fleshed out. This includes characters who in the film only got brief appearances most notability the journalist Harry Meadows who here serves as the "damage control" by hushing up about the shark's attacks at first and later uncovers the secret behind Mayor Larry Vaughn and his " silent partners" which turns out to be the Mafia who are putting pressure on Vaughn to keep the beaches open despite the attacks and against Vaughn's better judgement as they have invested in Amity's real estate and want to keep the values sky high.

Other characters who got changes include Matt Hooper who is a snotty, well to do, Ivy League egomaniac and generally unlikeable, Quint got an added level of  conflict between himself and Brody following the discovery of what Quint uses as bait to attract the shark which turns out to be unborn dolphin foetuses. Hendricks, Brody's deputy is also much more active in the book's story even at one point trying to save an old man from the shark following the fatal attack on Alex Kitner.

Sub-Plot Stupidity:

While I found the Mayor Vaughn and the Mafia addition an interesting aspect in the novel, the others not so much. The problem is shared between them is that the majority is not engaging like with the Ellen having the affair with Hooper for the most part which strangely I'll admit felt was kind of justified following Brody's treatment of her throughout most of the book. I get that the focus on Ellen is to give the story more of an edge which makes it somewhat reminiscent of something Ira Levin (Stepford Wives) may have written, or a rather less literate J.G Ballard - the bored housewife, ageing, having affairs, feeling unloved etc.

Themes:

Interestingly there’s a strong element of fear throughout the novel; Brody’s fear of his own fading virility, Ellen’s fear that she may have missed out on chances in her life to be happy, but curiously there’s very  little fearful tension whenever it comes to the shark appearing and this again is due in part to a lack of empathy on my part with Benchley's stiff characters in all respects.

It should also be noted that there’s a disturbing undercurrent of misogyny here along with racist and homophobic undertones that perhaps are in keeping with the spirit of the times in the early Seventies but it is worryingly significant throughout.

The Ending:

 The ending in the book to me felt very abrupt and anticlimactic as the shark stops within inches of attacking Brody abroad the sinking Orca after succumbing to its wounds inflicted earlier by Quint with harpoons  who coincidentally gets his leg wrapped by a rope on one of the harpoons and is dragged under by the shark and drowns.

Overall Jaws the novel was admittedly  a surprising light read where I'll admit it is difficult to re-read it without the movie popping into your head which is damaging because it further highlights the book's shortcomings and inherent problems and this provides an unfair contrast and is unfortunate that the core text of the story is done to such a delineated degree that you as the reader grow not to care for Benchley's characters to the extent where I wanted the shark to somehow eat each of them in turn. This aside, however, Jaws is a novel that plays to the obvious and compares extremely poorly with the film. The idea is great but Benchley's execution something to be desired.