I don't blame Benchley at all. See, when he wrote his book, he was under the thought that his audience had already been introduced to the concept of "fiction". Great guy, I like his sense of humor
Not only that, but his actual book doesn't portray the shark as being evil in any way. It is a particularly large and powerful specimen, but mostly just does natural shark things until it is provoked ti fight by the humans on the Orca. The book's real story is how the human characters react to a force of nature and to each other within the context of a small, struggling seaside community.
"Some people." Try you and Spielberg pal. That being said Benchley/Spielberg's Shark while too effective at causing fear, was never meant to be an ordinary shark. He picked Great Whites because although real sharks can be considered next to harmless if handled right, they are the most temperamental and the most unpredictable. The idea that this shark was a lone rogue, rather than part of a pack, made it even more scary and more unpredictable. And the idea that this shark had a somewhat supernatural feel to it, that it was more or less a giant monster than it ever was an ordinary apex, was what made the book and the movie as effective now as it was back then. Hell from what I've seen in the first shark both Spielberg and Benchley had gone through great lengths to convey that it isn't the run of the mill shark, even using an ordinary Tiger Shark as a red herring.
@@MrBooBeeDoo You would not believe how many people are seemingly congenitally immune to recognizing sarcasm. I think it has something to do with Autism Spectrum Disorder. *NO* sarcasm intended!
@Floyd1504 It was just a strong hunch for me. Hitchcock appeared in quite a few, if not all of his films. I think that's why I suspected Benchley taking part in his work.
Not trying to sound like a douche canoe, but it’s hard to believe that he wasn’t trying to instill fear and ignorance in that novel. I get that Hollywood overdoes and changes the ideas and interests in novel inspired movies, but based on the cover of that novel I have to disagree with him on that....
Stephen Cook the shark in the novel was a supernatural symbol for nature that appeared to right man’s wrongs but that ultimately was just an animal made evil through the eyes of the fearful, really, and although the biology of Great Whites was researched in depth the shark Benchley wrote about was pure fiction and I personally don’t find the novel shark itself scary. What they did in the film was turn the shark into a big dumb relentless and powerful eating machine that has no thought or regard for its own health or wellbeing. Just a horrific killing nightmare that chews oxygen tanks like cigars and makes dinosaur noises. I don’t think the shark in either story was really all that scary, especially when you think about them, but both scenarios are chilling. Maybe if Spielberg hadn’t made the film a family oriented adventure-thriller and had stuck to the book it wouldn’t have reached so many people. Also Benchley originally wanted to write the book as a comedy, I believe, and it was his publisher who had most of the original humour scrubbed out. Might have been Jaws Academy!
I don't blame Benchley at all. See, when he wrote his book, he was under the thought that his audience had already been introduced to the concept of "fiction".
Great guy, I like his sense of humor
Not only that, but his actual book doesn't portray the shark as being evil in any way. It is a particularly large and powerful specimen, but mostly just does natural shark things until it is provoked ti fight by the humans on the Orca. The book's real story is how the human characters react to a force of nature and to each other within the context of a small, struggling seaside community.
Dammit, Peter Benchley died just 2 years after this interview.
Do you hear how out of breath he is? He died of IPF.
Great guy, missed.
Fascinating how much he knows about sharks.. very pleasant listen
great guy.
"Some people." Try you and Spielberg pal. That being said Benchley/Spielberg's Shark while too effective at causing fear, was never meant to be an ordinary shark. He picked Great Whites because although real sharks can be considered next to harmless if handled right, they are the most temperamental and the most unpredictable. The idea that this shark was a lone rogue, rather than part of a pack, made it even more scary and more unpredictable. And the idea that this shark had a somewhat supernatural feel to it, that it was more or less a giant monster than it ever was an ordinary apex, was what made the book and the movie as effective now as it was back then. Hell from what I've seen in the first shark both Spielberg and Benchley had gone through great lengths to convey that it isn't the run of the mill shark, even using an ordinary Tiger Shark as a red herring.
Shanethefilmmaker Yeah he knows. His "some people" comment was sarcasm.
@@MrBooBeeDoo You would not believe how many people are seemingly congenitally immune to recognizing sarcasm. I think it has something to do with Autism Spectrum Disorder.
*NO* sarcasm intended!
Irony is lost on you isn't it. Thanks for explaining Jaws to the world.
awesome guy
dapper charming man
Did anyone else suspect that was Peter Benchley when you saw him in this scene?
@Floyd1504 It was just a strong hunch for me. Hitchcock appeared in quite a few, if not all of his films. I think that's why I suspected Benchley taking part in his work.
I did
Greater Boston taped old wgbh studios 125 western avenue
5:24 Bethany Hamilton.
Not trying to sound like a douche canoe, but it’s hard to believe that he wasn’t trying to instill fear and ignorance in that novel. I get that Hollywood overdoes and changes the ideas and interests in novel inspired movies, but based on the cover of that novel I have to disagree with him on that....
Stephen Cook the shark in the novel was a supernatural symbol for nature that appeared to right man’s wrongs but that ultimately was just an animal made evil through the eyes of the fearful, really, and although the biology of Great Whites was researched in depth the shark Benchley wrote about was pure fiction and I personally don’t find the novel shark itself scary. What they did in the film was turn the shark into a big dumb relentless and powerful eating machine that has no thought or regard for its own health or wellbeing. Just a horrific killing nightmare that chews oxygen tanks like cigars and makes dinosaur noises. I don’t think the shark in either story was really all that scary, especially when you think about them, but both scenarios are chilling. Maybe if Spielberg hadn’t made the film a family oriented adventure-thriller and had stuck to the book it wouldn’t have reached so many people.
Also Benchley originally wanted to write the book as a comedy, I believe, and it was his publisher who had most of the original humour scrubbed out. Might have been Jaws Academy!
"douche canoe"
I have a small question did you watch AKindAleWar?
He didn't make the book cover.
Pretty much yes and the beginning of the movie is pretty frightning.
He thought you knew what fiction was.