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Jaws: Classic Film, Crummy Science
Scientific American ^ | September 18, 2020 | Cristine Russell

Posted on 09/18/2020 3:28:04 PM PDT by Capt. Tom

The blockbuster film Jaws has been a perennial favorite here on Martha’s Vineyard since its release 45 years ago.

The epic 1975 feature film, shot on the Vineyard in iconic places like the picturesque fishing village of Menemsha, pits a fictional seaside tourist town called Amity against a villainous great white shark whose fearsome triangular teeth—300 of them—bite and kill unsuspecting townspeople and summer visitors enjoying the local Atlantic Ocean waters.

Jaws played recently at a COVID-safe drive-in theater here, allowing viewers to scream in the privacy of their own cars.

The movie took a deep dive into the psyche of audiences—and ocean swimmers—creating a larger-than-life fictional movie monster that evoked perpetual fear of the great white shark.

“The book and film exaggerated the white shark’s behavior. The white shark in the film was far larger than normal—about 25 feet—while the largest animals in the wild are typically 15 to 18 feet,” says Greg Skomal, a fisheries biologist and well-known shark expert with the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries.

When Jaws came out, “relatively little was known about the white shark. We know a lot more now about white shark ecology, distribution and natural history,” says Skomal. Studies of the white shark species, Carcharodon carcharias, show its critical role in keeping the marine ecosystem in balance, exerting top-down forces on the food web that help hold other ocean species in check.

Nonetheless, when attacks do occur, they draw incredible publicity. In July, a wetsuit-wearing 63-year-old woman swimming in the chilly Gulf of Maine waters was killed by a great white shark—the first such death in Maine’s history. In September 2018, a 26-year-old man boogie boarding off Massachusetts’ Cape Cod was killed by a shark, the first shark attack fatality in the state since 1936.

(Excerpt) Read more at scientificamerican.com ...


TOPICS: Chit/Chat; Miscellaneous; Science; TV/Movies
KEYWORDS: getalife; jaws; noonecares; whiteshark; zotplease
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To: twyn1

Whoops — meant to say - one movie that went entirely the other way was “The Moonspinners: ... great book - horrid movie!


41 posted on 09/18/2020 4:40:55 PM PDT by twyn1
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To: Capt. Tom
I was in college when Jaws came out and I stood in line for almost an hour to get in. When the opening scenes started and the young skinny-dipping woman was being dragged through the water screaming her head off, I was this close to walking out! If I hadn't waited in line so long, I probably would have. Funny thing is my campus was located on the Atlantic ocean and I don't think I went back into the water the whole rest of the time I was there.
42 posted on 09/18/2020 4:41:58 PM PDT by boatbums (Come unto me all you who are burdened and heavy laden - for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.)
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To: Capt. Tom

Why are you driving traffic to Scientific American?
You are a troll.


43 posted on 09/18/2020 4:44:36 PM PDT by Born to Conserve
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To: Capt. Tom

When Jaws came out, “relatively little was known about the white shark. We know a lot more now about white shark ecology, distribution and natural history,” says Skomal.

Now we know Great White Sharks are mostly peaceful. Except if you splash the water. Or there’s any blood in the water. Or the shark is hungry. Or it’s nighttime. Or very bright and sunny.


44 posted on 09/18/2020 4:45:40 PM PDT by Flick Lives (My work's illegal, but at least it's honest. - Capt. Malcolm Reynolds)
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To: Harmless Teddy Bear

Yeah, like the horny Matt Hooper/Brody’s wife bits.

/thank God


45 posted on 09/18/2020 4:46:26 PM PDT by Salamander (The left screams out in pain as they stab you.)
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To: twyn1
(one other was “The Moonspinners” by Mary Stewart but I doubt anyone here, other than me, has ever read that book :P )

It is on my book shelf.

Never saw the movie, guess I should.

But yes the book is usually far superior to the movie.

46 posted on 09/18/2020 4:47:46 PM PDT by Harmless Teddy Bear (And lead us not into hysteria, but deliver us from the handwashers. Amen!)
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To: doorgunner69

ha.

Apparently we were all mortified by that subplot.

:D


47 posted on 09/18/2020 4:48:21 PM PDT by Salamander (The left screams out in pain as they stab you.)
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To: Capt. Tom

The hysteria over shark attacks in Yellowstone is far far overblown as well.


48 posted on 09/18/2020 4:48:33 PM PDT by who_would_fardels_bear
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To: Capt. Tom

Capt. Tom is trolling ....

http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3884621/posts

http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3884410/posts


49 posted on 09/18/2020 4:51:19 PM PDT by Born to Conserve
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To: Salamander
Reading books from the seventies, they seem to be full of really unpleasant people having meaningless sex.
50 posted on 09/18/2020 4:51:21 PM PDT by Harmless Teddy Bear (And lead us not into hysteria, but deliver us from the handwashers. Amen!)
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To: Cold Heart

Matawan NJ, too.


51 posted on 09/18/2020 4:52:04 PM PDT by Salamander (The left screams out in pain as they stab you.)
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To: Rummyfan

He was good in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead.

:)


52 posted on 09/18/2020 4:52:29 PM PDT by Salamander (The left screams out in pain as they stab you.)
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To: dangus

“You’re going to need a moderately larger boat” just doesn’t trip off the tongue.


53 posted on 09/18/2020 4:53:22 PM PDT by Salamander (The left screams out in pain as they stab you.)
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To: twyn1

Yep - it’s one of the few books I’ve read where the movie was WAY better than the book.

Funny. I had the same reaction when I saw Forest Gump. Later went back and read the book and thought it was “meh”. Thought they actually reworked a much better story in the movie version.


54 posted on 09/18/2020 4:53:42 PM PDT by Flick Lives (My work's illegal, but at least it's honest. - Capt. Malcolm Reynolds)
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To: Hot Tabasco

I’m waiting for them to dissect the science behind “Gargoyles”.


55 posted on 09/18/2020 4:54:33 PM PDT by Salamander (The left screams out in pain as they stab you.)
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To: who_would_fardels_bear

There are shark attacks in Yellowstone national park?

Who knew??


56 posted on 09/18/2020 4:55:32 PM PDT by Salamander (The left screams out in pain as they stab you.)
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To: Rummyfan
"Personally I feel that any movie that features Richard Dreyfuss dying is a good movie"

Then you have just to to see Piranha 3D.

The first person killed off is good ole' Dicky Dreyfuss!

57 posted on 09/18/2020 4:55:44 PM PDT by who_would_fardels_bear
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To: Salamander

Don’t get too close to the geysers. They’re like mini sharknados!


58 posted on 09/18/2020 4:56:52 PM PDT by who_would_fardels_bear
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To: Harmless Teddy Bear

Looking For Mr Goodbar, comes to mind.

Once is Not Enough is another.

No idea why my friend kept giving me that crap to read.

However, the one that *really* traumatized me for life was Go Ask Alice.


59 posted on 09/18/2020 4:57:12 PM PDT by Salamander (The left screams out in pain as they stab you.)
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To: Born to Conserve

Who does the Hitler...I mean History Channel endorse?


60 posted on 09/18/2020 4:58:01 PM PDT by Salamander (The left screams out in pain as they stab you.)
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