‘Jaws’ and America, Fifty Years On

This summer represents the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of one of the most influential Hollywood films: Jaw. Besides the fact that everyone who watched it forever gets a little cold when they hear the frightening soundtrack of John Williams, Jaw Help the invention of modern summer films. Instead of opening in a few major cities, the film appeared on hundreds of screens across the United States in 1975.

Follow the version one of the most expensive marketing campaigns for any movie at that time. “He lives for killing.” I will attack the reckless food machine. You will attack anything and devour anything. It seems as if God created Satan and gave him jaws, “says the film narrator. time Magazine appeared Jaw On its cover immediately before its exit. The studio bought 30 seconds on the peak time TV for commercial ads as well.

This summer represents the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of one of the most influential Hollywood films: Jaw. Besides the fact that everyone who watched it forever gets a little cold when they hear the frightening soundtrack of John Williams, Jaw Help the invention of modern summer films. Instead of opening in a few major cities, the film appeared on hundreds of screens across the United States in 1975.

Follow the version one of the most expensive marketing campaigns for any movie at that time. “He lives for killing.” I will attack the reckless food machine. You will attack anything and devour anything. It seems as if God created Satan and gave him jaws, “says the film narrator. time Magazine appeared Jaw On its cover immediately before its exit. The studio bought 30 seconds on the peak time TV for commercial ads as well.

Jaw It was a sensation. In the first two months, the box office records that were previously identified by films such as films were broken mascot and Godfather. Pauline Keel wrote in most disasters, “The movie” might be the most cheerful movie “might be more fun”, disasters are not represented in the date specified in most disasters, and courage does not settle for a schedule. ” New Yorker. He was “one hell from a good story, he told him brilliantly,” Roger Ebert announced in Chicago Sun Times.

People were afraid after seeing the movie. In Santa Monica, California, the youth were said to have been afraid of diving into the ocean. “When we saw people browsing, we said that they should not see JawA shark population throughout the United States said.

Director Stephen Spielberg took the best -selling book Peter Pencheli and turned into a terrifying narration around a small town called my illiterate island, which is seen by a large white shark feeding on the innocent swimmers. The actors were great. Although the large shark looks upscale and fake after 50 years, there is still a terrible thing about the moment the shark appears on the screen-even in the era of CGI and advanced special effects. More importantly, Spielberg found a way to intimidate viewers without even showing most sharks in the first hour of the film.

There were many critics who refused Jaw As an unwanted entrance to the great work of independent film factories from that period, such as Martin Scorsese and Frances Ford Coppola. Writing to New York TimesStephen Farber attributed the success of the movie to an unbearable public relations campaign, which mainly constitutes the viewers who like the movie. “The audience who was beaten by the aggressive Blitz in Universal is ready to respond to a intimidation show that works harshly to urge livestock.

Despite the quality of social suspension in Jaw Often it was rejected, a strong look at the seventies of America was offered. Not only did it pick up Spielberg the Zeitgeist in the afternoon, but it also did not touch many major issues that still form the country in 2025.

throughout JawOne The thing is clear: there is a risk that lurks the bottom of the water. The viewer cannot always see what is under the swimmers, but with the Williams degree as a guide, there is no mistake in the characters on the screen afraid. When the ocean water turns red, these concerns are emphasized that it is more than just the madness of the bone.

It is logical that the echo of a movie about Danger in 1975, after the end of the war in Vietnam that the American government built on a mountain of lies and misinformation in which thousands of Americans died. In 1971, the publication of the Pentagon’s papers, a secret study leaked in the origins of the war, showed that what we presidents often told us does not coincide with what they say behind the scenes. President Richard Nixon promised to end the war after his election in 1968, but instead, he conducted secret military operations in Cambodia. The Watergate scandal, whose climax, Benixon in the middle of his second term in August 1974, revealed the ways in which the presidents lied, broke the rules, the aggressive authority, and acted according to their self -interest. The shock and shock generated huge levels of general lack of confidence in government institutions that continue on the horizon today.

The corruption of public employees who fed this lack of confidence in the depiction of Mayor Larry von (which Murray Hamilton plays), who refuses to close the beaches despite knowing that a swimmer might eat a penny. Maroup that pushing tourists away at the end of the fourth week of July will be a devastation of the local economy, Von rejects warnings and assures the public that everything is fine. “It is a beautiful day,” Von says, “It is a beautiful day,” where viewers know that this is not the case. The spread of lack of confidence is the reason that during his presidential campaign in 1976, Jimmy Carter promised the voters who could trust him; In 2024, Donald Trump argued that they did not trust anything in Washington – except for him.

Jaw It also deals with the economic insecurity that attracted the United States by the mid -seventies of the last century and generating concerns that have remained essential in national policy. During that time, the American economy ended an unprecedented period of growth in the aftermath of World War II and entered the period of the three -shocks of inflation, stagnation and oil crisis. Japan and West Germany were recovered from World War II and were great challenges for basic industries. Although Vaughn is depicted as an unearmed leader who places short -term attention above safety, he is an elected official who is struggling to protect voters who only try to get difficult times. “I just try to say that Amity is a summer city,” he explains. “We need summer dollars. Now, if people cannot swim here, they will be happy to swim on the beaches of Cape Cod, The Hamptons and Long Island. “From the opening credits to the big end, there is a clear sense of economic despair as the city hangs on the edge.

The film not only attracts economic despair, but also strains the tensions created in the United States. One of the main stories revolves around the hostilities and resentment between Quint (Robert Show), a shark hunter and veteran warriors in World War II, disrupts it and lives from the duties of both killing, benefits from his knowledge, uses his knowledge, and benefits from the sheikhdom, which meets familiar machines, and works to use it in the movie “Richard”. A approximate approach to the sea. The rift lines between Quint and Hooper reflect the class divisions that have formed party policy since the 1970s. Recently, Trump has exploited the anger of the rural Americans and the working class towards the wealthy and wealthy coastal “elites”, who are allegedly sharing the same values. In the end, the police chief Martin Brody (Roy Shehder) mediates the tensions in the movie, where he and his companions realize that they need to work together to defeat the threat or all of them, who crowns in a classic scene where the three men share scars and stories of war in the late evening hours. While this type of interconnection seems to be difficult to imagine in real life 2025, class friction is alive and in good health.

Then there is the hero of the movie. As in 1975, in 2025 many Americans are looking for someone who can bring them to a better place. The most dramatic character in the film revolves around the President of Brody, who begins as an unhappy external from New York – who wears water and gives up political pressure – is that he is a leader who does not know the fear that he finally can close the beaches, learn to embrace the community around him, and finally collects the courage to overcome his concerns and kill Shark. Away from perfection, he is a realistic hero, a defective person and needs to grow, but in the end he collects internal stability to do the right thing to save society.

Jaw Tighten Many nerves when they hit theaters and continue to do this today. In essence, the film is a story about a society that faces tremendous risks and threats of his way of life, as economic tensions between colleagues and neighbors play, and where most institutions cannot be trusted to do the right thing. All this, a legacy in the 1970s, is still an integral part of American life today.

In 2025, many Americans are looking for their bodies. While they see democratic institutions, political tensions are dangerous to toxic levels, they want leaders who can make water safe again. Most of them do not expect a perfect person, and it is not assumed that someone will know exactly what to do. But they yearn for the hero who believes in the right values ​​and will give priority to the long -term safety of the public over short -term interests that often feel more urgent, regardless of the greatest cost.

For any American-democratic or Republican-which worries about the erosion of democratic institutions and standards, the abuse of presidential power, and the poisonous division born from a highly pregnant war, Jaw It provides a reminder of the tremendous conflict required to return the nation to the path. President Brody said, “We will need a larger boat.”