On Cape Cod, (close to where the the movie was filmed-{Martha's Vineyard]), we just had our first great white shark attack death since the 30's. Their population here has been on the rise for the last 5 years or so. There weren't many at all, back when Jaws was filmed.
(I find it a little ironic that National Geographic did a story on the rise of Great Whites around the coast of Cape Cod last year, but told its readers not to worry because the last death by a great white was in the 30's.)
A shark attack is just such a horrible shock, maybe because they aren't frequent or maybe because vacationers tend to think of the ocean as so soothing, or maybe we've just gotten out of the habit of fearing anything except other people. It 's terrifying in a way that much more prosaic and common accidents aren't .
I wouldn't root for the sharks in real life, but those fictional Amity residents certainly deserved it.
For me, the idea of a shark attack is scary in a monsters-under-the-bed kind of way. That something with lots of sharp teeth might be hiding where you can't see it coming and ambush you. Growing up in Houston and having my beach vacations in Galveston didn't help. The water is so silty that you can't see your feet once you're knee deep.
Still, I agree on the book. It was much more disappointing, reading it as an adult, then it was when I read it at 10, when I giggled over the sex scenes and skipped all the other boring adult parts for the scary shark parts.
Yeah, my school was a small middle and high school, and I was literally the youngest and the sex didn't even register with me. But all that blood spitting and bones exposed and the cops all puking: that was so cool!
(I find it a little ironic that National Geographic did a story on the rise of Great Whites around the coast of Cape Cod last year, but told its readers not to worry because the last death by a great white was in the 30's.)
I wouldn't root for the sharks in real life, but those fictional Amity residents certainly deserved it.
Still, I agree on the book. It was much more disappointing, reading it as an adult, then it was when I read it at 10, when I giggled over the sex scenes and skipped all the other boring adult parts for the scary shark parts.