Jaws.
I remember all the gory parts to well. I saw it when it first came out. I wasn't interested in it, but my younger cousin wanted to see it. I watched from under the brim of my cap. I could see the light from the screen silhouetting the peoples heads, All blue. And then everyone would jump. Then I would look. I still turn on the pool lights at night before I get in. I think it was 1978 when it came out. Shortly after that I moved to Florida. Now I looked for alligators and Jaws in the pool. And the ocean. I just hoped the number of people made me safer. I asked a surfer I knew. Do you ever see sharks? Oh yes, he said. Crazy. To me being eaten alive would be the worst way to go.
As amazing as Jaws is, it gets a lot wrong about shark behavior. While the 1916 Jersey Shore attacks mentioned in the movie set some historical precedent for man-eaters, that’s basically a once-in-a-century kind of event. Sharks don’t actually prefer humans, and it’s thought that most shark bites are cases of the shark being unable to identify objects in their surroundings and investigating with their mouths, which I suppose is pretty easy to get away with when you’re two tons of teeth and muscle. As with land-based carnivores like lions, injured sharks may also knowingly choose to go after a human because their normal prey is too able to escape or fight back, and this may explain other cases with repeated bites. Yet others may be the result of territoriality.
Shark bites are pretty easy to avoid while in the water. Most beaches with a known presence of large sharks recommend avoiding the water at dawn, at dusk, and at night, when sharks tend to be actively hunting. Staying on land while bleeding or sporting wounds that may rip open is also a smart move. Leaving jewelry in the car can also help avoid confusing sharks and thus being subjected to taste tests.
Depletion of food sources and people hand-feeding them (yes!) will likely make bites more common in the coming century, so any deterioration of this situation we’re basically bringing on ourselves.
About the worst position to be in with respect to sharks is being a survivor of a maritime airplane crash or shipwreck in deep, remote waters. Away from the continental shelves, the sea is like a desert with very little food, and oceanic whitetip sharks are known to go after such unfortunate humans with some regularity.
Knowing all this (which admittedly would have been difficult or impossible in the 70s) makes Jaws a pretty fun and inconsequential watch. What’s
not a fun watch is Jaws 4, unless you’re watching just to laugh at how bad it is. The shark roars, if you can believe that.
