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Fifty years ago, Jaws kept scores of people away from the ocean–the primal fear of what lurks beneath, a terrifying soundtrack dominated by two low notes, and the constant need for a bigger boat. But for one family, the pull of the big blue was inescapable. In the wake of the film’s success, the late Peter Benchley, the bestselling author of the novel Jaws, and his wife Wendy Benchley happily took up the mantle of shark and ocean conservationists.
“We certainly were brought into the ocean world through the movie Jaws,” Wendy Benchley tells Popular Science. “And what a treat for us! What a marvelous thing to have happened in our lives. As Peter always said, to write a book and then to have the whole world of the ocean open up to us is a miraculous thing. Not many writers have that privilege.”
Their decades of ocean conservation work is part of a new documentary Jaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story, celebrating the film that was the first real summer blockbuster, and preyed upon both our fascination and fears of these apex predators.
For even the most logical-minded viewers, the fear captured on the frames of the 1975 film is pretty real. The ocean water turns red, as a (usually unseen) mechanical shark chews up people in the surf or somehow on top of a boat. Yet it was just that–a fictional depiction of the power and behavior of a white shark. After watching the rise of macho trophy hunting of sharks following the film, even director Steven Spielberg felt remorse for giving sharks such a terrible reputation–particulary of the film’s main non-human character, the white shark (Carcharodon carcharias). The white shark population has decreased by as much as 80 percent in the half century since the film was released.
“We were pretty horrified to see that some people took it as a license to kill sharks, and that was very distressing,” says Bechley. “We decided to work with environmental groups to start to educate people about how important sharks are, and to talk about real sharks. Not the 25-foot fictional shark that was in the movie, but real sharks that are sort of 12 to 15-feet-long and not these huge monsters.”
[ Related: Why the creators of ‘Jaws’ regretted making sharks the monsters. ]
While the urge to kill these incredible fish has waned, sharks remain in trouble. Their primary threats are habitat loss, over-fishing, and climate change. Benchley is particularly proud of the work conservation group WildAid has done to educate about the dangers of shark finning for soup. According to the group, demand for the dish has decreased in China by about 50 to 70 percent and about 37 percent in Thailand. Yet, the demand is still present so there is more conservation work needed. Benchley also cites the success of the world’s marine protected areas, since just a little bit of conservation work in the ocean can go a long way.
“They are really helping to bring back a healthy ocean,” Benchley says. “Marine protected areas are like national parks in the ocean. If you give the ocean time to rest, marine species are allowed to grow and propagate. Then they get bigger and they swim out and you can catch a bigger fish, but meanwhile, you’re creating thousands more fish.”
The other side of the Jaws effect depicted in the documentary is one of increased knowledge, excitement, and even love for the world’s sharks. After the film’s release, Benchley says that applications to the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science increased by 30 percent. An entire generation was inspired by the film to research sharks, corals, octopus, and everything in between.
“There were just hundreds of people who were fascinated and wanted to be Hooper [marine scientist Matt Hooper played by Richard Dreyfuss] or the excitement and the drama of the ocean was opened up to them,” says Benchley. “And the science has been accumulating. We now know where the sharks swim, we’re understanding where they pup, and that’s that’s very important. With more information, we have more people who are fascinated and want to help preserve them.”
Abby Fligor
Seeing such a human story in what otherwise would have been a monster movie, is part of what has made the film endure for half a century. Or as horror director Jordan Peele puts it in Jaws @ 50, “horror doesn’t have to make you feel icky.”
At its core, it’s a film about people and how we respond to challenges, mass hysteria, and the fear of the unknown. One of Benchley’s favorite parts of Jaws is not her husband’s cameo as a TV news reporter sent to cover the shark attacks. Instead, it’s a tranquil scene depicting police chief Martin Brody [Roy Scheider] sitting at the dining room table with his son Sean [Jay Mello].
“Of course, there are the big, dramatic moments, but it’s my feeling that it’s the local people and the vignettes of how people really live and all their differences and how they cope with this menace that they can’t control,” says Benchley. “That’s what I think gives the lasting human and human power to the movie.”
Jaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story premieres on Thursday, July 10 at 9 pm EST on NatGeoTV. It can be streamed the next day on DisneyPlus and Hulu.
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