Jaws

i watched this in 4dx 3d so the jumpscares were fucking terrifying. this is such a fun film and i can definitely see why it became so popular, especially for its time. the way spielberg created so much tension through long, zooming, shots is why he's one of the greatest directors of all time. he essentially took a the concept of a shark, albeit a very massive one, and turned it into a terrifying force of nature. i see this story as a metaphor for the consequences of capitalism and greed. let me explain, the shark in this film isn't truly the villain, he's just an animal. he has no malice aforethought, or evil intentions, or even the mental capacity for evil. he is just a creature abiding by his very nature to consume food for energy, and in this case, it just so happens to be humans. it is not the shark's fault, nor can you blame him, for following his primal instinct to kill because he simply does not know any better. mankind, on the other hand, is fully sentient of their actions and does possess the capacity to recognize wrong from right. although the shark technically killed them, every single death in this film can be traced back to the mayor that made a conscious choice to keep the beaches open. the mayor knew about the consequences and the absurdly dangerous risks of letting people swim, but he prioritized money and profit and the economy of his town over the well-being of his own citizens. hence, the mayor is the real villain in this film. if we keep on looking at this politician analogy, we could see this as a criticism of the corruption in government. the greed of the mayor can be extended to represent all politicians as a whole, who often choose money over the welfare of the people they were swore to protect. however, we cannot put all of the blame on money-hungry politicians (as much as i want to), when it is the system itself that has allowed for situations like this to even occur. in our capitalist society, it is not only encouraged, but an unspoken requirement to put the interests of the economy above the people in order to achieve financial success. in the way our socioeconomic system is set up, being rich and wealthy relies on the exploitation of others less fortunate. for every "self-made" entrepreneurial billionaire ceo, there are millions upon millions of middle to lower class workers just struggling to get by. there will always be people like the mayor in our society, as we cannot eradicate evil or greed on a conceptual level. but what we can do is stop the system that is capitalism, which puts people like him in positions of power where they are able to further exploit citizens for his own profit. this is my main takeaway from this film, that capitalism encourages individuals to do whatever it takes for economic success. focusing more on the environmental message of this film, the fact that humanity was allowed to "own" beaches as a whole is a separate issue. no, i am not saying we shouldn't be on beaches or in oceans, i'm not that woke, yet. but bare with me and think logically about this, humanity has no biological, sociological, or philosophical need to occupy beaches. it is not our natural habitat, it does not contain some rare resource in which we depend on, we go to beaches not out of necessity, but purely for entertainment and recreational reasons. sharks, however, depend on the ocean every second of their lives. it is their only habitat and they cannot exist without it. in this sense, capitalism has allowed humanity to invade and claim ownership to the natural territory of sharks, and then have the audacity to play the victim when a shark does what is in its very nature to do. this movie did have its shortcomings too, not so much flaws as they are imperfections. for example i could not, for the life of me, remember the names of the main characters, a recurring theme in spielberg movies for some reason. i also wish the mayor died but he didn't so i'm kinda fucking pissed about that. honestly, the only downright bad thing about this movie is that it made people scared of sharks, who are pretty much harmless unless you provoke them. i like this movie.