Something Else Is Wrong - Brody

"Come on down here and chum some of this shit."

Relocating to an island from the city may have been appealing to Chief Brody. Perhaps life might be easier and pave the way for a nice, early retirement. Yet his new assignment will be anything but easy.

His initiation into islander life has him visiting a gruesome site, at first considered an unfortunate late night, drunken dip in the ocean. Clearly not a drowning, but still, no one would really have anticipated a shark, not least a great white. Surely it was just a boating accident? The Chief isn’t taking any chances, much to the protests of the more business concerned Mayor, who isn’t going let anything ruin his Fourth of July weekend. Not quite believing what he is hearing, the defiant chief seeks out the expertise of a marine biologist, Hooper, who insists they have a whopper of a sharp toothed problem swimming around. Shutting the beaches until this problem is caught and destroyed is the only option, but still the Mayor won’t budge. Being the new kid on the block, considered nothing more than a trouble maker who has spent too much time fighting violent crime and continuously reminded he is an outsider probably too ambitious for this quiet town; Brody has no choice but to take the role of glorified lifeguard instead. Sure enough, the worst happens and he will watch on in horror from the beach as the sea monster gobbles up a poor kid on his lilo.

Many will appreciate Jaws for its perfected construction of storytelling, action and entertainment. You might argue that the music, camerawork and the shark are the driving forces here, yet in this instance, character building cannot be underestimated for creating filmic perfection. Conflict and resolution contributes to raising the tension by consistently poking the audience throughout, whether that be between the Chief and the mayor, or Hooper and grizzly shark hunter Quint.

Themes of challenges to masculinity also emerge, from Brody perhaps questioning his worth as a tough cop from the big city, to small time on the island; to Hooper and Quint often coming to blows because of Quint's disdain for the seemingly weak and nerdy Hooper. This is evident in a scene establishing Quint's working environment: a fisherman's shack filled with shark jaws boiling off in steaming pots, or used as the interior design. He confronts Hooper by grabbing his hands, criticising them for being too clean and soft, not the hands of a rough, tough real man who fights ferocious beasts, but in contrast, someone who is more comfortable observing them in books. Later on, the two eventually play a drunken game of one-upmanship by comparing battle wounds.

Brody will fall somewhere in between these characters. He clearly wasn't afraid of facing trouble on land, but is not too keen doing so on the water. He'll almost join in the formerly mentioned sharing of bodily scars between Hooper and Quint, perhaps harbouring a scar from a gunshot wound obtained on the job, but reconsiders. Furthermore, when over confident Quint soon stares death in the face, the reality of the shark is seemingly too much even for him. Meanwhile, Hooper lies on the ocean bed hiding among the coral. Brody therefore has to take over hunting the shark by opting for a weapon he is probably more familiar with - a gun! Masculinity fully restored!

Jaws might even be considered a journey for Brody. He appears rattled from the offset at having to settle into a new home and surroundings, the pressure of supporting his family probably adding to the stress. This is evident on numerous occasions, from yelling at his sons for playing on a broken swing set, or floating in a dingy on those shark infested waters. This stress soon transfers to his wife and he now has more than just the mayor and the towns people to have to try and please. He can't please everyone though, receiving a slap in the face from the mother of the shark's 2nd victim.

Defeating the shark won't just calm his and everyone else's nerves, but will transform him from the town nuisance into the town hero.

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