"JAWS" REVISITED

Thirty years on, the film blog Libertas pays homage to the Spielberg classic:

Would Jaws get made today? Yeah, I think so. But would it be as good even with the same talent available? No, I don’t think so. I don’t think so because the straight-forwardness of the script would be lost in today’s agenda-driven Hollywood.

I think a woman would be put on the boat. Probably in the Dreyfus role. Not because she would be better – who could possibly be better than Dreyfus? – but for politically correct reasons. And she’d of course be a liberal environmentalist feminist who would remind us ad nauseum sharks don’t normally do this. And finally we’d learn the shark attack is "our" fault. That man, specifically America - specifically corporate America - had committed some environmental crime that affected the shark’s natural habitat, and with no choice the shark came to Amity to feed.

Very cynical, but probably true, alas. And here's an additional thought from one of the site's commenters:

If Jaws was made today, the focus would be on the GCI shark and all the cool computer effects... while the human characterizations, interactions and dialogue would be pushed to the background as mere filler...

Comments

[Arthur]

Interesting point about CGI. There were innumerable problems with "Bruce", the mechanical shark, which forced the filmakers to insinuate his presence. That, I think, made the movie much more frightening than it would be today. Remember the opening sequence, and the first gasp when the young woman is attacked? No visible shark. The movie is much more powerful when you imagine the shark than when you actually see it.