The terrifying moment in Jaws you probably missed
Jaws is a scary movie. With plenty of suspense and one of the best jump-scares in movie history, you’ll almost always find Jaws in every scariest movies list.
Swimming in the wake of William Friedkin’s The Exorcist (1973), Jaws (1975) capitalised on the 1970’s cinema’s rejuvenated thirst for the terrifying. Some say this was reflective of the American state of mind having just experienced Vietnam and Watergate, while others simply put it down to great storytellers using new techniques to scare their audiences in ways never seen or experienced before. Either way, scary movies were in.
Even now, new audiences discovering Jaws with the expectation of lots of shark, blood and guts. But the seasoned Jaws fan knows that the shark is in the mind much more than it is ever on screen. However, one of the scariest moments in Jaws goes almost unnoticed and there is no shark to be seen.
Director Steven Spielberg filled Jaws with so many subtle moments and we can’t wait to discover more.
The Set Up
What starts as a normal morning in the Brody household is interrupted when eldest son Michael comes in from playing outside with a cut hand. Cheekily, he says he got bit by a vampire. That’s not going to fly with any parent but when your father is the Chief of Police, Michael rightly is scolded by Martin for obviously playing on a swing he’s been told not to use as it is unsafe needs to be fixed. Not a great example to be setting an impressionable younger brother.
While Martin takes the call about a missing swimmer, Ellen washes Michael’s hand. Blood and water.
The Scene
Next we cut to an exterior shot of the Brody household and the ocean in the background. Spielberg’s careful placement of the camera means the fencing obscures the action, making this a very easily missed moment.
The door opens and out comes Michael. He runs down the steps and toward the back of the house.
As this happens, our focus is taken away from Michael as Chief Brody and Ellen are talking.
Ellen and Sean (playing on the swings that hurt Michael) wave Chief Brody goodbye.
We can confirm Ellen never did get her cup back.
The Moment
Did you spot it?
As Michael is running from the house, we can he has changed into his swimming gear and is carrying snorkelling gear. He’s going swimming.
And what do we also know? Michael has a fresh cut. He is bleeding and about to go into the water.
Why Is This So Terrifying?
As the audience we know there is something in the waters of Amity that has already killed at least one person only a few hours earlier. With a bleeding swimmer in the vicinity, this makes him a prime target for any predator.
This moment can also be seen as a foreshadowing of the death of Alex Kintner to come and watching this moment as a parent is particularly frightening. It reveals just how unaware we can all be of the grave threats to our children while also not wanting to hold them back their independence.
The implications of this moment are also quite terrifying. If Michael had encountered or been killed by the shark, Brody’s character arc and thus the story would have changed completely.
What makes this work is Spielberg’s sleight of hand. We are visually obscured and audibly distracted, which is the very thing every parent tries to avoid. What may seem like a throw away moment has purpose. Even when we are not in the water, we are still feeling the shark’s presence, even when bordering on the subliminal furthering the case for Jaws being Steven Spielbergs undisputed masterpiece.
Words by Ross Williams
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