Jaws: Political Commentary, or Great Thriller?

Steven Spielberg's classic blockbuster movie Jaws was released during the peak East-Coast Summer swimming and vacationing season of 1975, and is set in the idyllic seacoast town of Amity Island, Massachusetts. Thus began summer blockbusters. Whereas in the past movies were released during the course of a year or more, Hollywood found huge success in releasing movies simultaneously to multiple theaters across the country. Hollywood also started to heavily market movie releases at this time, which further compounded their profits. The rest was history. I do find it interesting that it was a thriller film that was one of the first films to be distributed with this model.

The film (yes, film) starts out with a group of youth on the beach having a great time. Two of the partiers, Chrissie and Tom, exchange looks, and Chrissie runs towards the shore to go swimming. Tom races behind, but can hardly keep up because he is drunk. He stumbles about, tripping along the way, and passes out on the shore of the beach moments later. Chrissie makes it into the water and shouts back at Tom to come and swim with her, but she gets pulled underwater by an unknown sea creature.

The next day Tom files a missing persons report. Brody, the town’s new Chief of Police, is called to check on the situation by his deputy Hendricks, who found the remains of Chrissie’s body washed up on the beach being fed on by crabs. Brody wants to close the beaches down for safety, so he gathers supplies to make “Beach Closed” signs. Walking outside with the box of supplies in hand, Hendricks informs him of a boy scout group doing their swimming lessons that very day, in a small bay near where Chrissie was killed. Brody dumps the sign-making supplies on Hendricks to go out to the bay to protect the kids. Meanwhile the mayor sees Hendricks with the box of supplies during the town parade and finds out what Brody is planning to do.

Vaughn, the town mayor, catches up to Brody on the ferry that he was on to...