Jaws story
Jaws is a 1975 American thriller film directed by Steven Spielberg and based on Peter Benchley's 1974 novel of the same name. In the film, a giant man- eating great white shark attacks beachgoers at a New England summer resort town, prompting police chief Martin Brody to hunt it with the help of a marine biologist and a professional shark hunter. Murray Hamilton plays the mayor, and Lorraine Gary portrays Brody's wife.
13 total · 2 choice · 5 major · 6 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| facing a ferocious beast | choice | The story turns on the people on Amity Island facing a gigantic, man-eating shark. |
| obsession | choice | It is a typical obsession-leads-to-disaster story: first the mayor's obsession with tourism lead to deaths, then Quint's obsession with getting the shark on his own ultimately lead to his dying horribly in the mandibles of the creature. |
| fishing | major | Quint and his crew tried to catch the man-eating shark using a robust array of techniques, including the laying out of chum, a baited fishing line, harpoons with a cord attached to a flotation barrel, and even strychnine loaded hypodermic spear. |
| law enforcement | major | Police chief Martin Brody worked to keep the beachgoers safe from a gigantic, man-eating shark.. |
| pleasure in nature | major | Hooper and Quint were both exceedingly passionate about sharks, albeit in different ways. |
| public safety vs. public prosperity | major | The mayor and business interests on Amity Island insisted on keeping the beaches open for the Fourth of July holiday weekend despite the imminent danger of further shark attacks. |
| the desire for vengeance | major | Quint, a character patterned after Captain Ahab, wanted revenge on sharks and the shark, one gathers, for the carnage they inflicted on the stranded crew of the USS Indianapolis of which he was a member. |
| childhood pranks | minor | Two boys caused a great commotion on the beach when one of them swam with a dummy shark fin strapped to the one of their backs. |
| coping with the death of a child | minor | The second victim's mother was seen in mourning. |
| father and son | minor | Martin interacted with his young son, Michael. |