Jaws Suspense Analysis

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When the film Jaws (Steven Spielberg 1975) came out, it was one of the most frightening movies at that time. The attack showing the little boy being ripped apart by a shark that occurs during the scene on the beach shows how devastating the shark can be as well as how helpless officer Brody and the audience feels during the attack. In the famous “beach scene,” Spielberg makes the audience identify with a helpless figure caught in a violent frenzied moment through the use of framing, color, and camera direction. In this scene, the shark is not actually seen; its attack is filmed in a point of view shot which does not allow the audience to look away and forces them to stay with the perspective of the shark. This builds tension and also makes …show more content…

This creates a distorting view keeping Brody’s face in the same position but stretching and distorting the view behind him. This shot disorients the audience for a second indicating Brody’s own disoriented emotions when seeing the attack. This shot takes the air out of the situation and throws Brody right into action. Chief Brody’s fear of another shark attack has become reality. The scene then breaks out into complete chaos. A wide-angle lens is used and it shows how helpless Brody is to the situation as he and the rest of the crowd are forced to watch the boy be ripped apart. The scene ends with Alex’s raft washing up on the shore to lower the tension for the next scene.
Spielberg incorporates these various styles in order to show how much tension the shark brings and how focused Brody is on the beast. The audience is forced to watch from the shark’s point of view as it rips apart a little boy. The shark POV shot and the inability to even see the shark suggests that instead of a man versus nature approach, the shark is a seemingly lifeless monster that represents fear. Spielberg’s use of quick cuts, color scheme, and diegetic sound helps build tension and make the film Jaws come to

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