The Quay Brothers
Philip Ridley
Richard Stanley
Shinya Tsukamoto
The Company of Wolves
The Descent
Dust Devil
The Hills Have Eyes
Jaws
Night of the Living Dead (1990)
The Quatermass Xperiment
Wolf Creek
Deleted Scenes
Contact
We do not see a graphic depiction of the shark’s attack in the opening sequence of Steven Spielberg’s Jaws. Instead the viewer sees images that are far more terrifying. First Chrissie Watkins confused then panicked face, as she is momentarily pulled underwater. She is then dragged thorough the sea, screaming 'God help me. God help me.' The shark releases her and she takes hold of a waterline marker, its bell ringing out her death toll. The viewer can just hear Chrissie say 'God it hurts. It hurts.' The shark attacks again and again it thrashes her body back and forth. Her final scream 'God please help me' is in vain as the shark pulls her beneath the waves.
Chrissie Watkins death is simply the beginning, functioning like most, if not all, horror film prologues: simultaneously announcing the arrival of the narrative’s threat and visually demonstrating the ferocity of its attack. The visceral impact of this opening sequence occurs precisely because of these two facts in that the viewer never physically sees the Great White shark but is allowed to see the violence it can perform. The combination of the point of view shots that effortlessly glide through the murky water and the accompanying driving rhythm of the soundtrack instigates the primal fear of unseen within the viewer: our greatest fears are often those which we cannot see or understand.
The horrifying impact of the opening sequence relies heavily on the use of the point-of-view shot, allowing the viewer to see what the unseen killer sees. ‘The camera as killer is a popular component of the horror film [where] the viewer sees as the killer and becomes implicit in the perpetration of the atrocity’ (Odell and Le Blanc, 2001). Interestingly, Spielberg never allows this to occur as he consistently cuts to a just above water level shot at the moment the shark strikes its victim. By doing this Spielberg changes the viewers position from violator to voyeur. ‘As the voyeur, the viewer can watch the acts of terror detached from the proceedings. The enjoyment lies in the spectacle or the relaying of the story. Linked with voyeurism is a scopophilic urge relating to the events and a helplessness that derives from being outside narrative intervention’ (Odell and Le Blanc, 2001). This is the effect Spielberg wants to generate - fear and helplessness - by positioning the viewer in the water next to the unaware victim and so increases the isolation of the victim and further heightening the tension within the viewer.
By reading the opening sequence in this manner, it is possible to state that both the narrative and visual style of Jaws can be seen as a traditional horror film and as a precursor to the Stalk and Slash sub genre of horror movies:
The basic structural premise of Jaws (as with all horror films) is the restoration of order within an established community. As discussed, the prologue announces the arrival of the threat and graphically demonstrates the extent of the violence it can reap. The arrival of the external threat and the potential dangers it poses begins to instigate change, usually manifesting itself as a break down within the social order of the narratives community. As the plot develops, society begins to fragment further as secondary characters are killed in increasingly graphic ways. Resolution can only be achieved by a final confrontation between the protagonist and the threat. Once the threat has been eliminated, order is immediately restored to the community but the protagonist has changed in some way.
Jaws follows this structure without deviation but where is does differ from previous horror films is the form the threat takes and how it is represented within the narrative:
[Jaws] contains a number of ingredients that would be crucial to the upcoming stalker-film cycle. These would include the opening tableau of frivolous, promiscuous, booze-swilling young people to provide the shark’s first victim, the staging of pranks and false alarms to complicate suspense, the setting of the action during a holiday or special occasion and the strategic use of 'gross-out' gore. Most influential was the presentation of the monster itself: relentless, remorseless, inhuman, seemingly ubiquitous and omniscient, bridging the border between naturalistic and supernatural, and evoked via gliding underwater point-of-view shots that allow us to share the shark’s perspective as it browses through the dangling limbs of unwary bathers, searching for its next [victim]. (Rubin, 1999)
In her essay 'The Stalker Film, 1978-81', Vera Dika 'examines the role of point-of-view and the ‘masculine’ controlling vision' (Dika, 1988) within the Stalk and Slash genre. By applying some of Dika’s considerations to Jaws, we can begin to understand the implications of the shark attacking Chrissie Watkins.
In a 'Stalker film' the killer’s presence is indicated primarily by the musical score and a series of distinctive shots. The most famous of these shots is the moving camera point-of-view shot, which stealthily approaches an unsuspecting victim. Through repeated usage within each film and across the films of the cycle, these shots have become conventionalised and have established a set of expectations that involve the viewing audience in a guessing game: 'Where is the killer?' 'When will he strike?' Since the spectator shares the [shark’s] point-of-view so often during the course of the film, it might be assumed that [the viewer] is made to identify with the killer. This is only partially true. The structure of identification [within the] film allows the viewer to identify [only] with the [shark’s gaze], but not with [its violent attacks](Dika, 1988)
Within the Stalk and Slash genre "the characters presented by the point-of-view shot are the objects of sexual investigation and/or the intended victims of the killer." (Dika, 1988)
These young victims are "portrayed by attractive, energetic actors who radiate good health and normality, they engage in activities that facilitate the spectator’s voyeuristic enjoyment. The soon-to-be victims may bathe, frolic, make love … but they never perform narratively significant actions. Their activities are transitional, and, in terms of the narrative development, static. It is primarily the killer...who [has] the means to drive the narrative forward." (Dika, 1988)
Chrissie Watkins is the first generic victim of the unseen masculine killer. Spielberg presents her as a stereotype, a desirable female - blonde and blue eyed, a beautiful face and body. She has very little dialogue and what she does say is predominately sexually provocative. Chrissie serves no other function within the narrative other than as victim:
Her death is presented "As a sexual attack, a substitute for the unconsummated encounter with the young man [Cassidy]...[the shark] watches from below as the woman swims acrobatically above, and then rises up under toward her crotch as she scissor kicks vertically in the water. [Cut] to the surface of the water and the close up of the woman’s agonized face as the unseen shark tears her body underwater in a frightening imitation of an orgasm." (Rubey, 1976)
To consolidate this implication, Spielberg intercuts static images of Cassidy lying on the beach, half naked and panting. When the shark momentarily releases Chrissie, she screams 'God it hurts. It hurts.' Spielberg cuts back to Cassidy, who is murmuring 'I’m coming. I’m coming.' Spielberg cuts back to this shot again after Chrissie has finally been pulled under the waves with Cassidy again murmuring 'I’m coming. I’m coming.' The sexual connotations of this sequence cannot be denied, whether they were intentional or otherwise.
Christine Watkins death implies that the shark is (as described by Matt Hopper) 'a rouge white male' who is directly threatening the safety of the community and that women will only be victims of white males within this narrative. Initially this appears not to be the case as the reaction of the two other women within the film places them outside of the role of this stereotype, and so allows each female to perform significant actions that are directly related to the protagonist, Brody. By doing this they are instrumental in controlling the conclusion of the film:
Mrs Kintner is clearly the motivating factor for Brody to begin his rites of passage. Blaming himself for the death of her son, Brody boards the Orca and personally redeems himself through killing the Great White Shark. His wife, Ellen, exists as the rationale for doing what he has to do for she is the only one that continually believes and trusts in him.
Ironically Ellen Brody and Mrs Kitner can only perform these significant narrative actions through assuming the role of victim - Mrs Kitner has to sacrifice her son and Ellen has to be both ostracised from the community and humiliated by Quint before Brody can step aboard the Orca.
Beneath the surface of Jaws lies a narrative that is not just about a Great White shark but one about the myth of the Great White male: three different men pitting themselves against the unknown. To enable them to do this, women can have only a limited narrative function. Through their loss or their reduction to the status of victim, they enable the male(s) to fulfill their role as protector not just of the individual or the community, but for us all.
Endnotes