The Undeniable Greatness of Jaws
Jaws is rightly celebrated as a landmark, generation-defining hit. But it’s not sufficiently recognized as a great 1970s film, exemplifying that rocky decade’s political ire, acerbic social critique, and the lingering practices of realist cinema movements.
Jaws is a real 1970s film, made when the angry, assertive social justice politics of the era still infused the culture and the movies. (Universal)
There are a number of striking revelations in the documentary Jaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story that’s currently on Hulu in honor of the fiftieth anniversary of the release of Jaws, Steven Spielberg’s masterpiece of oceangoing terror. But the most delightful is that Fidel Castro read the source material, Peter Benchley’s same-named bestselling novel, and made this appreciative comment: “It’s a marvelous metaphor for the corruption of capitalism.”
For many years, leftists on social media have viewed the movie in this light, especially by expressing their affection for Murray Hamilton’s performance as the smarmy and ruthless mayor of Amity, the Massachusetts tourist town where a monstrous great white shark feeding on local swimmers threatens to ruin the summer tourist trade. The character of Mayor Larry Vaughn is applicable to so many situations in the United States. Every time another governmental authority figure sacrifices the well-being of citizens for the sake of the “bigger financial picture,” which is every day of our lives, we can trot out Murray Hamilton as the mayor for quick satirical commentary on the perverse earthly hell we’re burning in.
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