How Jaws made us believe great white sharks are villains in real life

CBC Radio

· Posted: Jun 23, 2025 6:33 PM EDT | Last Updated: June 23

It was 50 years agone this period erstwhile Jaws premiered and instantly became a blockbuster hit. The film broke container bureau records and tapped into an underlying fearfulness of sharks and the chartless lurking successful the ocean.

Moviegoers successful 1975 near the theatre reasoning they learned a lesson: sharks are retired to get humans. 

The movie is fictional but it's conceivable a large achromatic shark bare capable would beryllium unsafe astir swimmers. Stories astir these sharks person existed adjacent earlier Jaws came out, yet fearfulness has a mode of winning implicit rational reasoning and facts.   

Michaela Thompson was 7 erstwhile she watched Jaws on TV successful the '80s without her parents knowing. She says it changed her life.

"I could not spell successful the bathtub due to the fact that sharks were going to travel done miles of plumbing, into the bathtub and devour me," Thompson, present a historian and anthropologist of subject astatine MIT and Harvard University, said successful the IDEAS documentary Jaws and an Ocean Full of Monsters.

As Jaws fans volition constituent out, the moments of panic successful the movie rarely feature the shark arsenic it bullets retired of the water. It tin beryllium much frightening erstwhile thing chaotic and vicious is suggested.

"For the archetypal 2 large attacks connected humans that you see, you don't spot the shark. You conscionable spot the idiosyncratic either getting pulled nether acheronian h2o successful the lawsuit of Chrissie Watkins oregon benignant of disappearing successful a spray of humor with regards to Alex Kintner," Thompson explained, referencing Susan Backlinie and Jeffrey Voorhees' ill-fated characters, respectively.

The information that you don't spot the shark for 2 thirds of the movie is partially owed to immoderate method difficulties the unit had with their mechanical shark, nicknamed Bruce. To accommodate the changeless malfunctions, manager Steven Spielberg filmed galore scenes with Bruce not appearing astatine all, alternatively suggesting the shark's presence. 

When combined with composer John Williams' iconic score that alerted viewers erstwhile the shark was connected the prowl, it became a brilliant way to make suspense and panic.

"Even though it is undeniably a shark, you tin enactment immoderate you privation connected this villain, due to the fact that the villain is successful immoderate ways a void wherever you tin spot your fears," said Thompson.

The rogue shark theory

Jaws the movie was based on Peter Benchley's 1974 caller of the aforesaid name. In it, helium based the antagonist connected what's called the rogue shark theory.

The thought is that there's a singular shark claiming its territory to hunt for its adjacent meal, alternatively of a radical of sharks surviving and hunting together.

"The full constituent of Jaws is that it's conscionable 1 shark. It's not immoderate fig of sharks. And truthful erstwhile you region the rogue shark from the area, you've gotten escaped of the atrocious shark, basically. Then the h2o is erstwhile again harmless for people," Thompson said.

John Chisholm, an adjunct idiosyncratic astatine the New England Aquarium who studies sharks, says our impulse to peg the large achromatic shark arsenic a villain was created agelong earlier Jaws. 

"It's similar a primal innate fear, and [Jaws] conscionable played upon that, and that's wherefore the movie worked truthful well," helium said, pointing to news reporting attacks successful the U.S., Australia and South Africa, and sharks depicted successful 19th-century paintings.

For Chisholm, when oceanographer Matt Hooper (played by Richard Dreyfuss) pulls a shark bony retired of the boat's hull, helium instantly thought of stories helium heard from his family in Prince Edward Island of sharks attacking dories going backmost arsenic acold arsenic the precocious 19th century.

One of the astir celebrated incidents progressive a shark nicknamed the Forchu Rammer successful 1953. It sunk a vessel successful the waters adjacent Forchu, N.S., and 1 of the unit drowned, Chisholm said.

"The Forchu communicative appears in the successful the February 1968 contented of National Geographic that Chief Brody flips done successful the film," helium said.

An water of dark mystery

To Peter Girguis, a prof of marine biology astatine Harvard, sharks are conscionable 1 crushed we fearfulness the ocean's acheronian depths.

He teaches a people that explores the quality narration with the water and mythical oversea monsters, from the kraken to the hydra. 

"To me, oversea monsters are successful galore ways a vehicle, if you will, for talking astir our fears of the ocean," Girguis said.

"For a batch of people, the acheronian of the ocean, being capable to look down and not spot the bottom, I deliberation speaks to a existent instinctual fearfulness we person of the unknown."

To Chisholm, that acheronian makes the water arsenic chaotic a mounting arsenic the Amazon rainforest oregon the Serengeti.

"You tin spot a carnivore coming done the woods, and effort to flight if it's coming aft you," helium said. "But erstwhile you're successful the h2o — and people, I deliberation each excessively often instrumentality for granted that the h2o is similar their idiosyncratic excavation — it's truly a wilderness area."

Time for a makeover?

In the 21st century, Michaela Thompson says we are continually re-imagining the shark for ourselves. 

"They've benignant of been recast arsenic heroes, astir arsenic captious and ecological actors," she said.

According to the International Shark Attack File published by the Florida Museum, determination were 47 known, unprovoked shark attacks successful 2024 astir the world. Four of those attacks were fatal, which is accordant with the yearly average. 

In 2019, humans killed much than 100 cardinal sharks — intentionally and unintentionally —from fishing.

"Sport fishermen saw achromatic sharks arsenic worthy opponents. And successful the aftermath of Jaws, abruptly these sharks became highly fetishized," Thompson said.

But Chisholm said the movie did person a affirmative impact, too.

"It inspired a batch of young radical to turn up and beryllium shark biologists similar me."

Download the IDEAS podcast to perceive to this documentary.