HaydenBlaney

It was the movie that made people think twice before swimming in the ocean. This June, “Jaws” celebrated its 50th anniversary. 

Based on the novel by Peter Benchley and directed by Steven Spielberg, the 1975 movie follows police chief Martin Brody as he goes up against a killer great white shark terrorizing the waters of the fictional Amity Island. 

“I think it’s one of those movies that’s universally loved, and even people who don’t like it, don’t dislike it for the movie, they dislike it because they’re scared of it,” Mr. Chris Dziadus said. 

The face of an expert. Mr. Chris Dziadus displays the original movie poster for “Jaws.” The poster is one of many that hangs in his third floor classroom for his Pop Culture course. Photo by AnnaKubat. 

Dziadus teaches History of Pop Culture, a class where “Jaws” is part of the discussion on pop culture trends over the years.

The movie was the very first summer blockbuster and started the tradition of releasing big movies during the summertime, a tradition followed by movies like “Grease” in 1978, “The Dark Knight” in 2008 and “Barbie” in 2023. 

”For the longest time, you waited for the summer hit to come out and people would line up to see it. It became a part of pop culture and ‘Jaws’ kind of started all that,” Dziadus said. 

“Jaws” also created popular cinematic trends used in movies that followed. “It was probably the formula that a lot of movies used later on,” he said. For example, the trope of not showing the villain until later in the movie to heighten suspense stemmed from the film, as seen with John Doe in the movie “se7en.” 

“It also became a lesson for movie scores and how important music was in movies,” Dziadus said. 

The score by John Williams paints the background of the film itself. The iconic “Main Title” heightens the suspense, leading to some of the biggest moments in the movie. 

However, not all of the impacts of “Jaws” were positive. 

“I think it created this ‘sharks are bad and sharks are going to eat humans’ thing when in reality, it’s not that big of a thing. It’s always geared more towards the menacing side,” Dziadus said. 

The movie not only made people afraid to swim in the ocean, but caused an uptick in shark fishing. 

Fishermen started taking their boats out and purposefully catching sharks, stringing them up on beaches like trophies. 

They were driven by the idea that they were making the waters safer by removing the “maneaters,” what the movie portrayed sharks to be. 

According to the International Fund for Animal Welfare, shark populations have declined 71% from the 1970s.  

While protecting people is a noble intent, sharks are essential to the ocean ecosystem. They are at the top of the food chain and when one part of an ecosystem is removed, the whole system suffers. 

Between shark fishing and shark finning, when sharks are caught for their fins to be used in the delicacy fin soup, many shark species face the threat of extinction. 

Across the globe, laws have been put in place banning these actions in hopes to up the numbers in shark populations for the betterment of the environment. 

Fifty years later, “Jaws” is still appearing for special events in movie theaters and being celebrated for its cinematic excellence. For better or for worse, its lasting effects still remain evident in both pop culture and the environment today.