I was born on the day Jaws hit US theaters

But both of us being apex predators highly adapted to our environment is where the commonalities end

On Friday June 20th, 1975, I came wailing into the world near Virginia Beach at the same time some of you were watching the film that would smash summer box office records, spawn the “killer animals” film genre, and make millions of people never go into the ocean again.

Spielberg is like “getting eaten by a shark is fun, 10 out of 10!”

Maybe it’s why I’ve never been much of a swimmer. I naturally feared the water all my life, never even learning how to swim until I was 12 because it was a mandatory gym class in 7th grade. My dad tried to hold me gently in a pool when I was around 6 or 7, his attempt to ease me into being more comfortable in the water, but I just freaked out and he finally gave up. I suppose now would be a good time to give him credit for not doing the typical Boomer Swimming Lesson by tossing me right into the water and yelling “Now SWIM!”

I like to think I simply leaned into a rational fear of the water, seeing that we lack the necessary equipment for it to be a friendly habitat. I often describe the act of swimming as just “trying not to drown”. People who love to swim like to cheekily call themselves “a fish”, something that truly puzzled me as a child whose identity as a land animal felt safe. I like breathing.

Jaws would occasionally play on TV in the ‘80s so I caught glimpses of it when my older brother or parents watched it, making me familiar with the iconic film score by composer John Williams. Not to mention it was parodied everywhere for decades. But I didn’t actually watch the whole thing until my late teens, when I worked in a video store and brought home the VHS tape one day (employee perks are the BEST).

Of course I loved it. What’s not to love? It’s a terrifying cautionary tale about greed, completely engrossing, and reassured me that staying out of the ocean is the best way to avoid drowning and becoming shark food. The opening scene when the skinny-dipping woman gets eaten was haunting (I later learned the actress’s screams were real because there were men pulling on her legs underwater so hard they broke her hip).

Before Jaws, movies were released in the biggest cities first, then got widespread release. But Universal Pictures gave Jaws widespread release right off the bat, kicking off the summer of ’75 with the first film ever to gross $100 million within 60 days. Summers weren’t usually a profitable time for movies since most people wanted to spend their days soaking up the sun more than being inside, so film studios saved their lower budget movies for opening in the summer. This is why Jaws is considered the first summer blockbuster. Since I was born that day, you could call me “summer blockbuster adjacent”.

The quality of my newborn photo makes it appear as if I was born in 1925 instead of ‘75 but I assure you, this is me making my summer blockbuster debut

The 1970s produced some of the most groundbreaking storytelling in film history. Jaws was added to the National Film Registry in 2001 for its cultural significance and the American Film Institute listed it as one of the 100 Greatest American Films of All Time.

My husband and I recently watched it with our 13-year-old son, eager to see if the film holds up in the eyes of a young Zoomer. This time around, I found myself appreciating certain style and direction choices I hadn’t really paid attention to before. For one thing, I noticed how completely natural the human interactions were, with characters talking over each other during tense scenes and the 3 heroes being combative while also bonding over their war wounds. And the second shark victim is much harder to watch now that I’m a mom (my husband and I have been avoiding movies that portray children dying ever since our son was born). I also have a deeper respect for what went into moviemaking in the years before CGI. When it was over, our son declared “That was a really good shark movie”.

Peter Benchley wrote the screenplay for Jaws based on his own book, which makes me wonder if the film is more true to the book than most book-to-film adaptations. It’s more common for the screenplay to be adapted from the book by a screenwriter, not the original author, which could muddy the waters of the original story’s feel, message, or depth. Remember how Steven King famously hated the movie version of his book The Shining? King did eventually come around, though.

That reminds me of something interesting. Did you know some people believe Jaws might hold the key to solving a murder mystery? Author Joe Hill, Steven King’s son, pointed out that there’s an extra in Jaws who resembles the “Lady of the Dunes”, a murder victim found on a beach in 1974—where Jaws had been filmed— and whose identity hadn’t been known for 4 decades. In 2022, her identity was finally discovered but her murderer is still unknown. Some people believed the killer was a shark since her hands were missing, but investigators say it was probably her ex-con husband (cue everyone saying “It’s ALWAYS the husband”) because as far as we know, sharks don’t fold up their victim’s clothes and pose the body.

The iconic poster for Jaws is one of my favorites. The artist, Roger Kastel, actually created it for the paperback book first. The model for the poster, Alison Stern, went on to become a conservationist. She agreed with Spielberg when he later spoke out about his regrets that the film spurred an irrational fear of sharks that led to shark-hunting. I mean, you live and learn—it’s not like any of us are psychic. But yes, it turns out sharks in real life rarely bite us and when they do, they’re known to take out a small chunk and spit it out when they realize we’re not their preferred food. Unfortunately, sometimes that “chunk” is the whole dang limb (RIP Bethany Hamilton’s arm).

That ain’t getting me into the ocean, though. I like breathing. And having arms.

The film title in French sounds like a ballet, which I guess might still sound dreadful for some people