preview

Comparing The Book And Movie Version Of Jaws

Better Essays

The film version of Jaws kept to the core story line of the novel, Jaws, however the film was more action packed. There were many similarities but just as many differences. The pertinent characters in the book were similar but had dissimilar personalities. The key character, Police Chief Martin Brody, was comparable as he is a family man, loves his job, and gets frustrated when facing the dilemma of locating and destroying the great white shark. Another resemblance is the shark is described in the book and depicted in the film as a great white, approximately thirty feet long and very ferocious. Two major differences are the film does not reveal references to the Mafia and does not show an extramarital affair that Ellen, Brody’s wife …show more content…

Amity is a small island beach resort on the east coast that relies on the tourists to help keep the community afloat in the winter months. The book was written in 1974, and the movie debut a year later in 1975, both was current at that time. The setting occurred in summer at the height of tourism, with the shark invading and attacking visitors to Amity at the worst possible time for the economy. As the first scene in both the movie and the novel, a girl is swimming late at night and is attacked by the shark. In the novel, it clearly states it’s a fish and details how the fish senses food in the water and attacks. The film is move theatrical with the iconic music and just visualizing the girl being pulled down into the ocean never to be seen alive again. The movie relies on suspense, for example it is a least one hour before you actually see the shark. The book explains how the shark moves underwater and towards its …show more content…

The image the filmmaker shows you the struggle of victims while iconic music is played. The motif is the music which can be heard anytime the shark attacks. This allows the music to stand for the vision of the shark approaching. The scene in the book that sums up the theme, is how Brody responds to the shark violence . The scene in the movie that sums up the theme is while the men are on the boat, bonding over their experience, Brody states “You’re gonna need a bigger boat” (Jaws, ) as the shark keeps ramming the boat.
VI. Other The author has the advantage of telling the story and adding more complex information to help the reader understand the narrative and characters completely. The author’s disadvantage is trying to create a visual succinctly. An example, is Quint’s boat is not fully explained to learn how small, large, old, or new the boat actually is, you are left to wonder can the shark easily destroy the boat. The movie advantage is the visual effects. What the author needs to describe in detail can be shown. Once the shark appears on film, there is no doubt how menacing and terrifying the shark remains. The movie’s disadvantage is to deliver the story live and make it interesting enough to hold the viewer’s attention for about two hours. The director must distinguish what to eliminate from the book to keep the film

Get Access