US EditionColumn: How ‘Jaws’ changed our chumminess with swimming 50 years ago this summer
- The movie Jaws debuted soon after Memorial Day in the spring of 1975 and changed how people felt about swimming in open water.
- Jaws exacerbated Thalassophobia, the clinical fear of deep water and unseen creatures, though some dispute its long-term impact on swimming habits.
- While the film sparked widespread fear, shark attacks numbered only 70 to 80 at most, and less than 60 fatal great white attacks occurred worldwide since 1975.
- Experts like Kevin Feldheim and Philip Willink note some sharks, especially bull sharks, tolerate fresh water and swim upriver, but shark sightings in the Midwest remain rare.
- Jaws influenced public perception by villainizing sharks, complicating fish biology studies and inspiring ocean conservation efforts led by author Peter Benchley before his 2006 death.
55 Articles
55 Articles
Jaws at 50: We’re Still Going to Need a Bigger Boat
The movies have less and less to offer because the entertainment-industrial complex is growing less and less substantial. The art of cinema has become the art of senselessness, churning out tired-out properties and studio-calculated scripts with far more concern for profit than performance. Mission: Impossible 8. (This movie will self-destruct in five seconds.) Another Superman reboot anyone? Source
Swimmer reveals how he conquered grueling, frigid 12-day mission on ‘Jaws’ anniversary to prove ‘sharks are not monsters’
A British-South African endurance swimmer Lewis Pugh completed a grueling 60-mile swim around Martha's Vineyard — on the 50th anniversary of Hollywood thriller, "Jaws"— to spotlight an urgent need to protect sharks.
The Baltimore Sun
Column: How ‘Jaws’ changed our chumminess with swimming 50 years ago this summer
Few things in my life have been as consistent as “Jaws.” I have no friendships as old as my relationship with “Jaws.” It debuted 50 years ago this spring, soon after Memorial Day, and for those of us who spent summer breaks getting wrinkled in water, it ruined the next eight weeks. It was the first movie I saw in a theater (or in my case, a drive-in). Having grown up and regularly vacationed not that far from where it was shot, whenever I catch …
Tube television mug with shark (jaws) reactive heat «toy blog
Pyramid has released a fun reactive heat mug for those who watched the movie Tubarão (Jaws) for the first time on television. The Jaws Mug Mug Mug Mug Retro TV Heat Change was sculpted in the shape of an old blue tube television, with side buttons on the side and screen with the login image and shark on a black background. When the mug gets a hot liquid, the image turns into the poster of Steven Spielberg’s movie with young Chrissie Watkins swim…
JAWS – AFI Catalog Spotlight
This June, the AFI Catalog celebrates the 50-year release anniversary of Hollywood’s premier summer blockbuster JAWS (1975), which, at the time, was the highest grossing movie in history until STAR WARS hit theaters two years later. Featured on six of AFI’s 100 lists, including those honoring the best film scores, the top movie quotes and the greatest films of all time, JAWS ushered in a lucrative new era for Hollywood in which franchises were s…
Coverage Details
Bias Distribution
- 80% of the sources are Center
To view factuality data please Upgrade to Premium
