Jaws (film): Difference between revisions

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{{quote|''There is a creature alive today that has survived millions of years of evolution, without change, without passion, and without logic. It lives to kill; a mindless, eating machine. It will attack and devour anything. It is as if God created the devil and gave him… [[Title Drop|Jaws]].''|'''From the trailer for the first movie'''}}

There were several sequels, [[Voodoo Shark|the last of which has sharks repeatedly targeting members of Brody's family]].

 

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* [[3D Movie]]: The [[Third Is 3D|third]] movie. They also considered making ''The Revenge'' in 3D as well, but worries about the cost of shipping the 3D film cameras to the Bahamas and keeping them working properly in the tropical climate nixed that idea.

** Which, incidentally, is [[Truth in Television]]. (Although in [[Real Life]] more of the sailors on the ''Indianapolis'' died from exposure and dehydration than from sharks.)

** [[Robert Shaw]], an accomplished writer himself, made major contributions to the script for that scene. He believed there should be some explanation for his character's antipathy towards sharks.

** The scene where Mrs. Kitner confronts Sheriff Brody when the townspeople catch [[Red Herring|a shark they think is responsible]]. She slaps Brody, accusing him of indirectly letting her son die by letting the beaches stay open after the first attack. It's what leads Brody into his drinking binge during the middle part of the film, and explains why he tags along with Quint and Hooper to catch/kill the killer shark during the final act.

* [[Adaptation Distillation]]: Very much so. The novel was criticized for its unsympathetic characters, while the film is known for its depth of them. It also streamlined the plot, but remained fairly faithful (for example, in the movie, the Orca goes out and stays out until the end, while in the book, they make several trips out, returning at the end of each day - each !film encounter with the shark roughly corresponds to a single !book encounter, with the Orca returning to port after losing track of the shark). Like ''[[The Godfather]]'' before it, it was a rare example of a film being superior to the book.

** Another good use of this trope is the elimination of the novel's sub-plot revolving around Brody's wife Ellen having an affair with Hooper, which really seemed to serve no purpose other than that [[Author Appeal|Peter Benchley seems to like putting a subplot like this in his books]].

* [[Admiring the Abomination]]: Matt Hooper.

* [[Aluminum Christmas Trees]]: And literal on that first part! Quint crushing his beer can doesn't look too impressive now that they're made of aluminum, and even a kid can do it. But at the time, they were made of tin, and it really was quite a show of strength to crush one.

* [[Animal Nemesis]]

* [[Anticlimax]]: The ending of the original book has the shark just quietly die from the wounds caused by the battle, which highly contrasts to the [[Moment of Awesome (Sugar Wiki)|badassery]] shown in the film's climax.

* [[The Archer]]: ''Someone'' in the first movie is one, as the captured tigershark after the initial hunt has an arrow sticking from it.

* [[An Arm and a Leg]]: The shark in ''Revenge'' rips off Sean's arm before going for the killing strike.

* [[Bloodier and Gorier]]: The [[Gekiga]] [http://patrickmacias.blogs.com/er/2009/11/gekiga-jaws-herald-comic-1975-part-one.html tie-in] was much more graphic than the film it was based on.

* [[Brief Accent Imitation]]: Brody's first scene has his wife encourage him to talk more like the locals. He busts out "They're out in the yahd, not too fah from the cah," and she replies that he sounds like a New Yorker.

** A much more subtle one - the barrels that Brody and Hooper swam back into shore on in the first movie? One of them is a planter outside of the Brody home in the second one.

* [[Canon Discontinuity]]: ''Revenge'' does this to the third movie.

* [[Chekhov's Gun]]:

** In the original:

** ''Jaws 2'' has one as well with the police boat's dredging hooks snagging the power cable.

** ''Jaws 3'' with the grenade that the British scientists intend to use to blow up the shark. They don't get to use it, {{spoiler|what with the Brit being ''eaten'' by the shark and all, but Mike and Kay do.}}

* [[Creator Cameo]]: Peter Benchley playing a reporter.

* [[Daylight Horror]]: The shark attacks mostly during the day on a bright, sunny beach. It does not stop it from being absolutely frightening. This includes the dramatic climax.

* [[Determinator]]: Quint, the obsessed hunter. The Shark too. It ain't gonna let three puny humans get the better of him.

* [[Did I Mention It's Christmas?]]: In ''The Revenge''.

* [[Dolled-Up Installment]]: Bruno Mattei's ''Cruel Jaws'' has also gone by the name ''Jaws 5: Cruel Jaws''.

** Though they still did it anyway--Ellen claims that "the fear of it killed him!", implying that Martin spent the last years of his life terrified that all the sharks of the world were coming for him.

* [[Dude, Not Funny]]: In-universe example is Mrs. Taft's reaction during the first film's town meeting when Denherder jokes if the reward money for shark's capture comes in cash or check.

* [[Flare Gun]]: Shooting with it in ''2'' when everything is soaked by gasoline proves to be an unpleasant mix.

* [[Flash Back]]: While battling the shark in the fourth movie, Ellen Brody has flashbacks of events of the first movie that she wasn't even present to.

** [[Hand Wave]]--she could just coincidentally be imagining the attacks as they happened or were relayed to her.

* [[Follow the Leader]]: The [[Summer Blockbuster]] and "giant dangerous animal" movies were all inspired by this film.

* [[Glasses Pull]]: Martin has a few of these in the first film.

* [[Gonna Need More Trope]]: Perhaps the most famous example of someone suddenly realizing they need more of something as a situation gets out of hand:

* [[Great White Hunter]]: Quint - with bonus points for hunting an actual [[Everything's Even Worse with Sharks|Great White]].

* [[Half the Man He Used To Be]]: During his recollection of events of USS Indianapolis' sinking, Quint notes how one morning he found his friend missing everything from the waist down.

* [[Ignored Expert]]: Brody insisted on closing the beaches, but the town council refused to take his advice.

* [[Immune to Bullets]]: The thing is so big and its hide is so tough that bullet wounds are a mere annoyance.

* [[Impending Doom POV]]

* [[Improbable Aiming Skills]]: Initially averted when Brody tries to shoot the shark with his service revolver in a genuinely realistic depiction of just how hard it is to hit a moving target with a handgun, but later played straight when he hits the gas canister in the shark's mouth from a not-inconsiderable distance. Arguably an easier shot due to him using a rifle this time, but [[Word of God|the director]] admits he [[Rule of Cool|wasn't exactly aiming for realism]] with this one.

* [[Infant Immortality]]: Brutally averted, twice. To top it off, the incidents in question happen within seconds of each other.

* [[Irony]]: Quint became a shark fisherman because of his experience with the ''Indianapolis''. He also states, somewhat indirectly, that he'd rather drown than die by shark ("I'll never wear a life jacket again"). His house/business is filled with shark jaw trophies, a multitude of victims mirroring the multitude of sailors lost to sharks. He views the great white as the embodiment of his fears and thoughts towards sharks. And in the end, he falls victim to his living nightmare.

* [[It's Personal]]: The [[Trope Namer]] is attributed to the tagline of ''Jaws: The Revenge''

* [[Jaws First Person Perspective]]: The [[Trope Namer]]

* [[Leitmotif]]: The Shark Theme... ''[[Hell Is That Noise|Dun dun, dun dun]]''...

** Quint sings ''Ladies of Spain'', and the tune repeats in the background as his stubborn insanity drives them further into peril.

* [[Losing Your Head]]: When the shark bites a fish in half in ''3'', its severed head is shown moving (in 3D!).

** And of course, Ben Gardner's head in the first film.

* [[Musical Pastiche]]: "Ladies of Spain"

* [[Nails on a Blackboard]]: Quint, making his legendary entrance.

* [[Nightmare Sequence]]: Ellen in ''Revenge'' has a nightmare where she is attacked by a shark while swimming.

** Well, to be fair, all Brody showed them was a really bad close-up photo of the shark, to where you could BARELY see anything. Brody doesn't help his case by acting like a crazily obsessed man during the whole scene, showing absolutely ''no'' remorse for his actions on the beach, which could have resulted in someone being injured or even ''killed''--[[Straw Man Has a Point|the committee was well within its right to fire him over that.]]

* [[Not Quite Dead]]: Dolphin Sandy in the third film's ending.

* [[One-Scene Wonder]]: Susan Backlinie, in the very first scene. Still [[Incredibly Lame Pun|jaw]] droppingly terrifying decades later.

* [[Only Sane Man]]: Hooper tells Brody that he will be "the only rational man left on [Amity] island" after Hooper leaves the next day to join a shark research vessel. {{spoiler|Even after Hooper stays, Brody is arguably ''still'' the only rational man on the island.}}

** Under the wrecked boat in ''Jaws''.

** And again in ''Jaws 2'', also among some boat wreckage.

** ''Jaws 3'', in the middle of an aquarium display.

* [[POV Cam]]

* [[Precision F-Strike]]: The first movie, right before we get a good look at the shark for the first time: "'Slow ahead.' I can go slow ahead. Come on down here and chum some of this shit."

'''Hooper:''' I think that I am familiar with the fact that you are going to ignore this particular problem until it swims up and ''bites you on the ass''! }}

* [[Pre-Mortem One-Liner]]: ''"Smile, you son of a bitch!"''

** Also doubles as a literal [[Precision F-Strike]], as Brody fires the killing shot the moment he says 'bitch'.

* [[Say My Name]]: Fourth film has '''Jaaaaake!'''

* [[Scar Survey]]: Between Quint and Hooper.

* [[Shark Tunnel]]: The underwater tunnels of Seaworld in ''3''.

* [[Shout-Out]]: When the {{spoiler|shark's mangled corpse}} sinks to the seafloor, it is accompanied by the same roar featured during the destruction of the semi in Spielberg's previous movie ''[[Duel]]''.

** At one point Hooper does a brief [[W. C. Fields]] imitation.

* [[Skinny Dipping]]: Chrissy in the first film picked the very worst time for it.

* [[Soundtrack Dissonance]]: Children are singing Christmas songs in the background as Sean is eaten in ''Revenge''.

* [[Steel Ear Drums]]: Explosion underwater doesn't seem to be inconvenient at all in the third film.

 

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[[Category:Academy Award]]

[[Category:Film]]

[[Category:Riff Trax]]