What’s your JAWS New Year’s resolution for 2023?
We’ve all got things we want to give up or do more of, so what better time to take stock than at the start of a new year? Even better if those things are JAWS or shark related.
Be it big or small – who are we to say that you’re gonna need a bigger resolution - are any of these on your New Year’s resolution list, or have you got any better suggestions?
Planning a visit to Martha’s Vineyard
As much a character of the Steven Spielberg 1975 film as Brody, Quint, Hooper and the shark, Martha’s Vineyard doubled as Amity Island, and it still has remained relatively unchanged since filming took place in 1974.
We know that the location is on most JAWS fan’s (chum) bucket lists, so will 2023 be the year you look at going? Here’s when Dane Palmer was lucky enough to visit Amity Island.
Visit Bruce the shark at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures
To wrongly quote Field of Dreams, if you build it, they will come. Well. That must be what lots of JAWS and film fans have wanted to do since the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures first opened its doors back in 2021.
One of the centre pieces on display has to be the recreation of the Bruce the shark model from JAWS by SFX legend and The Walking Dead director Greg Nicotero.
Read JAWS
There’s a lot written about how JAWS the film is better than the Peter Benchley book, both are very different beasts, but with that original book as a template and springboard there would have not have been the film, the phenomenon or the legacy that we have today.
If you have never read it, or never read it for a long time then it is worth picking up a copy just to see what is the same and what isn’t in the book that started it all. Discover some of the differences between the book and the film here.
Watch JAWS 2
2023 marks the 45th anniversary of JAWS 2, which was released in 1978 and saw Amity Island once again in the grip of great white shark panic. Whatever you think of the first sequel to JAWS it has plenty to commend it, from returning cast members such as Roy Scheider, Lorraine Gary, Murray Hamilton and Jeffrey Kramer to a blistering score by John Williams, which builds on the brilliance of the original and deserves more love than it gets.
There’s also some stand out shark and attack sequences that linger long after the film has finished.
Watch JAWS 3D
Okay, so this may be stretching it a little for some, but JAWS 3D – which celebrates 40 years since it slowly glided up to Dennis Quaid and Bess Armstrong in 2023 – has a lot of fans (no, really) and enjoy the Brody family jaunt to SeaWorld. Like it or loathe it JAWS 3D is still a part of the JAWS franchise, and its anniversary deserves to be recognised.
Cage diving or swimming with sharks
If you are a fan of JAWS then you are a fan of, or in awe of sharks, so perhaps you are looking at doing a Matt Hooper (of sorts) and seeing sharks from the safety of a cage, or perhaps you are diving with basking sharks or even experiencing diving with sharks as part of an aquarium experience?
Doing more to support shark conservation
It is estimated that over 100 million sharks are killed by man every year, whether that is from bycatch, overfishing or as a result of finning. Your support could be through supporting a shark charity or research or through other means such as helping raise awareness or limiting your use of plastics. We can all do our bit in our own way.
Writing for The Daily Jaws
With articles about the JAWS films, shark cinema, shark news, reviews and much more there is plenty of opportunity to get your writing voice heard by JAWS fan from across the globe.
If you think you have a JAWS or shark article in you this year, why not let it spill out all over our website pages and get it seen across our Twitter, Facebook and Instagram pages.
Find out how you can get your JAWS and shark musings on The Daily Jaws here.
Share your JAWS or shark-related story with The Daily Jaws
Or perhaps you’ve got a story about you related to sharks or JAWS that you’d like to share with us? Here’s one notable highlight from last year where a US lecturer let it slip he had an irrational fear of hammerhead sharks and soon found a classroom full of students dressed as hammerheads!
Meeting a JAWS actor at a convention
Sadly, the likes of Robert Shaw and Roy Scheider are no longer with us, but still going strong on the convention circuit are the likes of Richard Dreyfuss, Jeffrey Kramer, Susan Backlinie and Jeffrey Voorhees. Or perhaps you may meet one of the stars of the JAWS sequels, such as Lea Thompson from JAWS 3D or Lance Guest from JAWS the Revenge.
Dean (L) and Ross of The Daily Jaws meeting Deputy Hendricks himself, actor Jeffrey Kramer
Watch JAWS more times than you did last year
It doesn’t matter how many times you saw JAWS last year, or whether it was on your TV – be it with adverts, on DVD, Bluray or 4K, or on the big screen in IMAX or Real D 3D, but you always feel like you could have squeezed in a few more sittings – even if it is just on in the background for you to quote along to.
Words by Dean Newman
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