Jaws

BFI Film Classics

by Antonia Quirke

Steven Spielberg's second feature, released in 1975, was an adaptation of a best-selling trash novel about a killer shark's effect on a New England tourist town. Under extreme pressure on a catastrophic location shoot, Universal's 27 year-old prodigy crafted a thriller so effective that for many years Jaws was the highest-grossing film of all time. It was also instrumental in establishing the concepts of the event movie and the summer blockbuster. Jaws exerts an extraordinary power over audiences. Apparently simplistic and manipulative, it is a film that has divided critics into two broad camps: those who dismiss it as infantile and sensational - and those who see the shark as freighted with complex political and psychosexual meaning. Antonia Quirke, in an impressionistic response, argues that both interpretations obscure the film's success simply as a work of art. In Jaws Spielberg's ability to blend genres combined with his precocious technical skill to create a genuine masterpiece, which is underrated by many, including its director. Indeed, Quirke claims, this may be Spielberg's finest work.

Genres: Film, Nonfiction, Horror, Media Tie In

96 pages, Paperback

First published August 26, 2002

About the author

Antonia Quirke is an author and journalist. Her novel "Madame Depardieu and the Beautiful Strangers" was published in 2007. She writes a column on radio for the New Statesman and also writes for the Sunday Times.

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was terribly disappointed with BFI’s JAWS by Antonia Quirke. Quirke’s approach was very heavy handed; consistently attributing subtext to the film without giving evidence (for one, insisting that Ellen Brody was contemplating divorce, essentially from scene one of the movie…a plot that was in the Benchley book, but not in the film). Huge swaths of this book was written in a strange, novelization style, voicing strange, tangental thoughts from the characters. And a poorly written novelization at that. There’s some interesting tidbits here, but overall, a huge disappointment.

[Drew Raley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quirk makes movie-love sexy and full of life. Even when her theories go wildly off course, her prosidy makes this a vital addition to the libraries of Jaws fans.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Antonia Quirke's monograph on Steven Spielberg's masterpiece functions as a sort of an impressionistic walk through of the film -- almost an Ode to Jaws. Overall, this is worth a read simply to revisit some of the classic scenes with a new perspective (e.g., the author highlights references to westerns Jaws that I completely missed in the viewing), as well as some additional background on the production of the movie.

There's also a fantastic take-down of "continuity nags," those artistic voids whose standard is flawless perfection and adherence to real life -- as if narrative film were a documentary rather than a story -- and who willingly write off an entire film because of some bad special effect or flaw in the production: "The continuity fetishist (always a fanatic or a buff) belongs to a profoundly philistine tradition which can only understand art as the handmaiden of life."

That said, this little booklet is not without its flaws. For example, it's quite irritating that Antonia Quirke seems to have misquoted (deliberately or accidentally?) Quint's famous speech on the Orca in such a way that it support's her own thesis (pp. 70-73). But if Quint's quote were portrayed correctly, it would undercut Quirke's entire point in that portion of the book. I'm subtracting an additional star for that alone -- otherwise, this would be a four-star rating.

[Christopher · Rating 2 out of 5]

Antonia Quirke, an erstwhile film critic, has written a frustrating critique of "Jaws" that veers between the (occasionally) insightful and (frequently) insipid. The best BFI "Film Classic" and "Modern Classic" books - those slim volumes each devoted to an in-depth essay about one particular film - are the ones that focus primarily on the production history, with a little bit of analysis slipped in for good measure. In the case of Quirke's book, that balance is reversed, and what she has to say about the film is just not that interesting. All too often, she merely recounts the plot in watered-down form or, in the case of Quint's famous "USS Indianapolis" speech, quotes that speech right back to us. That is not to say that she doesn't occasionally hit the mark with her interpretation of the movie (the best part of the entire book is her two-and-a-half page introduction, in which she says most of what she has to say of interest). Most of the time, however, her thoughts feel like the kind of fluff with which I used to fill college term papers when I had few ideas and needed to reach a particular page minimum. Overall, then, it was a disappointing read.

[Jeff Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

BFI you've done it again!

Read it on a train journey to Birmingham, this is a treat. Effectively you get to watch Jaws with Antonia sitting beside you, nattering in your ear; I have seen Jaws probably more times than any other film, as a young film fan I think I must have watched it every week on VHS and know the script inside out, and was very happy to watch it again, this time in my minds eye.

I didn't always agree with her, as should be the case when discussing any film, but could happily argue back in my defence of Spielberg's other films, and raised an eyebrow or two over some interesting ideas and interpretations (the elements being one in particular I had not considered).

The author states early on that if you want to know about how the film was made then the Jaws Log is the place to go, and I fully concur that every film fan should read that, but as an addition to this marvellous series of books, this is most welcome.

[Jazz Virk · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you loves Jaws, this book brings a fantastic insight to the film. Truly enjoyed this book.

[David Sterritt]

Antonia Quirke’s monograph on “Jaws” is a very lively entry in the BFI Film Classics series. No deeper than the movie but a lot of fun to read. Recommended.

[Adam Stewart · Rating 3 out of 5]

Trying not to sound like my dissertation supervisor when I say where was the evidence?😭 some interesting theory stuff but mostly feel a little tenuous (ironically, found myself saying ‘I’m not sure it’s that deep’ a lot of the time)

[Doug · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chock full of interesting interpretations and literary references, this has been my favorite BFI book so far. Not a hagiography though, minor criticisms of the film here and there. Reads almost like a novelization of the film in slow motion.

[Samuel Buckley · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5*

[danny · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF

[Aoife Bagnall · Rating 4 out of 5]

a cute companion! you can really feel Antonia's love here. :)

[José Rafael · Rating 1 out of 5]

Terrible, terrible book.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

While some of Quirke’s theories go wide of the mark (e.g. the Brody marriage on the rocks, the shark as sexual predator), the overall work is a love letter to the film and the people who made it.

[Evan · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is abysmal. I've read many, many entries in the various BFI film and TV book series, but this is by far the worst.

For absolutely no reason at all, Quirke writes in an awkward, sophomoric attempt at an impressionistic style. Most of the book is merely an incoherent summary of the film with pointless disregard for basic grammar. What few attempts at an actual reading of the film are present are all unsupported, with no logic or evidence to back them up. There are frequent errors in quotations. This is the kind of writing that I'd expect a self-important but unskilled college freshman to turn in to a Writing 101 course, only to have the writing torn apart by the professor. I have no idea how this disaster made it past the editors. There are a couple somewhat interesting insights, but they are buried in so much crap that they aren't worth seeking out.

[Alex Gregory · Rating 2 out of 5]

When I bought this book, I was expecting a thorough essay on the film's themes, resonance in modern times and general exploration of the book-to-film translation, not an abstract summary filled with errors and weird asides. When the author isn't going off on tangents about people who complain about continuity, she's rambling on about concepts that have next-to-nothing to do with the film. One of the (probably THE) worst in the series, but I suppose it's balanced by the fact that I only paid a dollar for it.

[Amanda · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read a lot of stuff about Jaws. It's my favorite movie and I never get tired of reading new info about it, or hearing new theories. I even like reading about info I already know. So, when I saw a book that was essentially an academic essay on the film, of course I grabbed it. Unfortunately this book was very disappointing. I understand that it's one person's opinions and interpretation of the film but I think they are so off base with their theories. There are some insightful comments but most of it is contrived, and frankly obtuse in their nature.

[Ryan Splenda · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very thorough history of the shooting of Spielberg's triumphant blockbuster. Also, a nice criticism of the social and political factors involved in small town communities. It draws parallels to the "Western genre/format" of cinema, believe it or not.

[Phil Huff · Rating 3 out of 5]

A look at the film that veers between insightful and pretentious.