This is a great take on Brody's characterisation. I really enjoyed it. However, I don't feel the movie compels me to be unpopular with the Islanders. This is just my opinion, though, and your article really got me thinking!
Spielberg is a great emotional storyteller, and Brody's arch is of a hero who falls and has to make up for that failure. But since Spielberg grounds his characters well too, it makes sense that Brody only really takes a stand after his son nearly died. That's closer to real life.
In the real world, had Brody closed the beaches and ruined the town's vacation windfall, nobody else but the girl at the start would have died. The town would only have seen failure and disappointment, and blame him for it. But this turns out to not be a mere shark attack, at least not by a mere shark. Jaws/Bruce is not simply a fish. It's a force of nature.
Jaws works so well because it blends real-world realities with a fantastical proposition. A reluctant every-man just wants to protect what tenuous place he has in the world, only for a giant unstoppable beast to show up and challenge the very fabric of reality. A border-line mythological monster. They never actually explain the shark, its stunning size, or its singular ferocity. In that way, it's similar to the truck in Duel, an unexplained and almost supernatural nemesis.
In this context, I think Jaws proposes what would happen when real life met mythology. What happens if a regular person had to make decisions and face off against an impossible darkness.
I don't think Brody's failures are a reminder that we should choose principle over unpopularity. It's that there are consequences to doing so, and only sometimes do we face a challenge so big that we have no other choice but our principles. It's not about doing the right thing. It's about making the ultimate sacrifice when all other options have been exhausted.
(I do appreciate though that this was published on 4 July, and perhaps Americans are facing such a darkness as I describe below. Maybe that's why Jaws is so genius. Its meaning changes depending on the viewer's circumstances.)
Oh man I love this analysis. It *is* mythological, you're right! I think you're also right that that's why this movie is so incredible – much like a great myth, it stands up to (and offers) multiple readings depending on the time in which you're encountering it. I actually deleted a sentence in my original draft about how this essay is going to be more like a Talmudic reading than it is a Torah reading, in that I wanted to see what this text had to say to us in 2025 rather than 1975. I watched it this time with the closed captions on and was immediately struck by the "Islander" talk – the identity piece – and it hit me how hard Brody is trying to avoid becoming unpopular with the locals. Something about that (+, as you pointed out, the holiday weekend) really compelled me that we can see something of ourselves in Brody's initial reticence to act ("First they came for the Jews, but I wasn't a Jew" vibes). No doubt, the timing of this rewatch created the conclusion I reached. I absolutely loved reading your take and really appreciate your insights and addition to the discourse, friend!
This is a great take on Brody's characterisation. I really enjoyed it. However, I don't feel the movie compels me to be unpopular with the Islanders. This is just my opinion, though, and your article really got me thinking!
Spielberg is a great emotional storyteller, and Brody's arch is of a hero who falls and has to make up for that failure. But since Spielberg grounds his characters well too, it makes sense that Brody only really takes a stand after his son nearly died. That's closer to real life.
In the real world, had Brody closed the beaches and ruined the town's vacation windfall, nobody else but the girl at the start would have died. The town would only have seen failure and disappointment, and blame him for it. But this turns out to not be a mere shark attack, at least not by a mere shark. Jaws/Bruce is not simply a fish. It's a force of nature.
Jaws works so well because it blends real-world realities with a fantastical proposition. A reluctant every-man just wants to protect what tenuous place he has in the world, only for a giant unstoppable beast to show up and challenge the very fabric of reality. A border-line mythological monster. They never actually explain the shark, its stunning size, or its singular ferocity. In that way, it's similar to the truck in Duel, an unexplained and almost supernatural nemesis.
In this context, I think Jaws proposes what would happen when real life met mythology. What happens if a regular person had to make decisions and face off against an impossible darkness.
I don't think Brody's failures are a reminder that we should choose principle over unpopularity. It's that there are consequences to doing so, and only sometimes do we face a challenge so big that we have no other choice but our principles. It's not about doing the right thing. It's about making the ultimate sacrifice when all other options have been exhausted.
(I do appreciate though that this was published on 4 July, and perhaps Americans are facing such a darkness as I describe below. Maybe that's why Jaws is so genius. Its meaning changes depending on the viewer's circumstances.)
Oh man I love this analysis. It *is* mythological, you're right! I think you're also right that that's why this movie is so incredible – much like a great myth, it stands up to (and offers) multiple readings depending on the time in which you're encountering it. I actually deleted a sentence in my original draft about how this essay is going to be more like a Talmudic reading than it is a Torah reading, in that I wanted to see what this text had to say to us in 2025 rather than 1975. I watched it this time with the closed captions on and was immediately struck by the "Islander" talk – the identity piece – and it hit me how hard Brody is trying to avoid becoming unpopular with the locals. Something about that (+, as you pointed out, the holiday weekend) really compelled me that we can see something of ourselves in Brody's initial reticence to act ("First they came for the Jews, but I wasn't a Jew" vibes). No doubt, the timing of this rewatch created the conclusion I reached. I absolutely loved reading your take and really appreciate your insights and addition to the discourse, friend!
I just put my bluray out by the tv to watch later today! ...and you are squarely on point. Thanks for a splendid essay!
LOVE that you have this on Blu-ray!!! :) thanks for the kind words!