The Perception Of Sex And Fear In Steven Speilberg's Jaws

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Through fully fleshed-out arguments, writers Fretz and Rushing address class consciousness and economic strife in the movie, Jaws. Director, Steven Speilberg, morphes the blood thirsty shark into a symbol of economic terror, for the people of the costal town it massacres (Fretz 70). Threatening to shut down Amity’s beaches, a large source of income and tourist draw, the shark poses menace to the safety of people’s lives, as well as their lively hoods. Without tourists, the town of Amity loses most of its’ income. Sigmund Freud argues, “mystery and fear emerge from something with which we are familiar but has always been oppressed” (Fu 15). The people of Amity know the danger swimming in the ocean poses, but they neglect the truth for a bit of Summer fun. Shifting the perception of the audience through …show more content…

Barry Keith Grant states, “As a broad answer, we might say that horror addresses fears that are both universally taboo and that also respond to historically and culturally specific anxieties. Horror movies exploit timeless themes of sex and death, the self and the soul, and our own beastly inner nature – fears that exist within our collective unconscious – as well as more topical fears such as, for example, atomic radiation in the 1950s, environmental contamination in the 1970s and 1980s, or, more recently, post-911 tourist horror with films such as Touristas (2006), The Ruins (2008), and the two Hostel films (2005, 2007).” (Grant ?) Grant argues that monsters in true horror films appeal to people’s deepest fears, and stem from honest consideration of a sometimes failing societal structure. Jaws capitalizes on rational fears of the ocean, and uncovers the worries people posses about their everyday life; no one is safe, and nothing is forever. The people of Amity lose loved ones, as well as their false sense of safety in an unstable beach

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