Steven Spielberg would like to profusely apologize to sharks for Jaws
After directing Jaws, Steven Spielberg says he fears sharks around the world are "somehow mad at me for the feeding frenzy of crazy sports fishermen."
Aux News Jaws
On Sunday, just a day before his seventy-sixth birthday, there was one thing nagging at Steven Spielberg, which he spoke to during an appearance on BBC’s Desert Island Discs podcast: the decimation of the shark population in the wake of his movie Jaws.
“I truly and to this day regret the decimation of the shark population because of the book and the film,” Spielberg shares (via Entertainment Weekly). “I really, truly regret that.”
Based on Peter Benchley’s 1974 novel, Jaws chronicles one great white shark’s relentless attacks on a fictional coastal New England town, Amity Island. Richard Dreyfuss, Robert Shaw, and Roy Scheider lead the cast as an ichthyologist, ship captain, and police chief, respectively, all of whom come together to vanquish the marine beast.
Since the 1975 release of the film, research has since shown that Jaws’ bloodthirsty portrayal of the mammal (and major commercial success) had a hand in the population decline of sharks around the U.S. The decline mostly resulted from overfishing.
“You didn’t have to have a fancy boat or gear,” George Burgess, director of the Florida Program for Shark Research, tells EW of the landscape for shark-hunters post-Jaws. “An average Joe could catch big fish, and there was no remorse, since there was this mindset that they were man-killers.”
When asked if he himself would be afraid of being surrounded by sharks on Amity Island, Spielberg revealed that he mostly fears any animosity from the remaining shark population.
“That’s one of the things I still fear,” Spielberg laments. “Not to get eaten by a shark, but that sharks are somehow mad at me for the feeding frenzy of crazy sports fishermen that happened after 1975.”
Benchley also expressed remorse for his portrayal of the animal, and became a stalwart advocate for sharks and their ocean habitats before his death in 2006. “Knowing what I know now, I could never write that book today,” he once told the London Daily Express. “Sharks don’t target human beings, and they certainly don’t hold grudges.” If Spielberg ever finds himself back on Amity Island with no life vest, he’ll certainly have to hope so.
36 Comments
“bloodthirsty portrayal of the mammal”?Is this one of those “the greatest monster of all is MAN” type scenarios, or are you saying that sharks are mammals?
Hattie is not concerned with those silly details, or a quick Google search.
I can’t imagine having to google whether a shark is a fish or a mammal once you’re above age 6.
That has nothing to do with gender study and critical race theory…
Can a Shark identify as a mammal?
Burn the witch!
https://youtu.be/R93ce4FZGbc
Just came to say THIS, after face-palming so hard it left a welt.
We’re gonna need a bigger boat, aren’t we?
I think Spielberg could fix this by making a film where a kid (with father issues) befriends a shark, a la Free Willy. It might help us see sharks not as bloodthirsty monsters but gentle, friendly creatures of the ocean.
…and together they use the Ark of the Covenant to end the Holocaust and help the shark get back to its home planet?
…yes, exactly, that actually sounds pretty goddamned awesome.
“The Shark of the Covenant”!! I love it!!
I was gonna say that even if they’re not as bad as in Jaws, real sharks are probably still a tad too dangerous for this to work. But then again Orcas are pretty dangerous predators too, so who knows
Well, since Jaws showed the shark as an evil, ravenous child-and-man-eater, gotta swing hard in the other fictional direction to make up for it and hope that public perception lands somewhere in the middle. More cuddly sharks befriending children, I say!
There’s a pair of Orcas killing Great Whites for fun and eating their livers in South Africa right now, I’d say Orcas lost whatever goodwill they gained from Free Willy long ago haha. Sharks deserve better movie representation lol.https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/oct/05/drone-footage-orcas-killing-white-shark-south-africa
WHale sharks, the largest fish in the oceans, are gentle as lambs.
Like lambs…
Most humans have no realistic sense of how dangerous predators are. Witness how many idiots think that lions, tigers and cheetah are suitable backyard pets.
Maybe he just should just replace the spear guns with walkie talkies.
Peter Benchley himself took a huge swing at the movie’s effect on shark populations in his later book The Beast, basically the same story with a giant squid. It really came off as sour grapes over how much better the movie was.
“Since the 1975 release of the film, research has since shown that Jaws’ bloodthirsty portrayal of the mammal (and major commercial success) had a hand in the population decline of sharks around the U.S. The decline mostly resulted from overfishing.”
Maybe this line was a reference to MAN, truly the most dangerous game.
This changed my life as a lad, so I’m not afraid any more:
I’m not afraid of ghosts, I’m not afraid of sharks, I’m not afraid of cancer, I’m just afraid of snakes!
They really creep me out! Where are their arms and legs?
It’s not okay!
My favorite episode from season 3.
“Can I have some melon?”
“Noooo.”“Hmph!”
Jaws 5 should be Spielberg being abducted and taken to an underwater court to be indicted for his crimes against fishkind.
Kind of amazing that 35 or so years on, nobody’s made another Jaws. About 2300 cheapo off brand shark movies, but no Jaws.
Open Water and the Shallows were both pretty good.
I assume there are some rights issues stopping them from making Jaws remakes and sequels.
I wonder if the brand is considered unsalvageable. By the end of the 80s it was four movies of perfectly diminishing returns and and near universal agreement about that, it was the go-to reference for a series that wore out its welcome, and none of those sequels have since enjoyed anything in the way of reappraisal. (“2 is okay-ish” has always been as good as it gets.)
Maybe, but there are a lot of garbage brands that have been revived, and Jaws merch is bigger than ever.
I remember there was a video game back when it had only been about 20 years since the last movie, and its rep was pretty rotten. That shark’s gotta be asking Jason Voorhees, “Man, how do you do it?”
Honestly, I’m pleased he’s saying this. If you’ve ever seen a video of how they “harvest “ shark fins for some expensive fucking soup, it’ll stay with you. It’s absolutely horrific. And the mass slaughter of sharks for sport, or fishing, or fear, or whatever is very real. That being said, I saw JAWS when I was 7 years old (great parenting) and I literally can not remember a time when I wasn’t irrationally terrified of being pulled underwater, torn apart, and eaten alive by an evil shark. Hell, we didn’t even quite feel safe in a fucking pool after dark as kids. That is a Gen-X childhood thing and I’m sure it qualifies as some sort of “trauma” and I feel very comfortable blaming Spielberg for my entire generation’s issues.He should be apologizing.
Sharks are truly my favorite mammal. There’s nothing quite like the sight of a majestic mama great white, nursing a litter of young on her rich shark milk. It’s sad how many we’ve killed for their dense fur coats.
Apologize in person and see how it goes.