Greatest Fish Story Ever
As a gentleman of a certain age, I suppose I am shocked that Steven Spielberg’s film Jaws is fast approaching its 50th Anniversary. It’s not a film I saw as a kid. (I was 10 when the film debuted at the drive-ins of my youth.) But as an adult, I’ve not only watched it numerous times, I actually love it as a great film and a great piece of storytelling. Recently, when my wife returned from a trip with a girlfriend to Martha’s Vineyard, where the film was shot, she brought back some Jaws swag for me that sent me down a rabbit hole of nostalgia and research. That’s the subject of my article today at SleuthSayers, the mystery blog, which is entitled:
And to Think It Was All Started by a Fish!
Part of what I talk about today deals with the structure of the film, which mimics the structure of a great novel:
Most stories need a character in a setting with a problem. The character tries to solves the problem, and fails. Their try/fail cycle continues as the stakes rise. Things go south, leading to a moment when all is nearly lost. The character must do or die. And lo—he/she succeeds and triumphs. That’s police chief Brody in Jaws.
The biggest chunk of action happens when these three very different men hit the open sea to kill the shark. Their skills levels vary, but each has their own reasons for being there. In the end, the guy with the least shark experience defeats the monster. Holy crap—a great story.
As a kid, I read the original novel, Jaws by Peter Benchley. (Affiliate link.) Used paperback copies were everywhere—library sales, flea markets, garage sales. I think I picked up my copy for a little as 10 cents!
The book scared and shocked me, but I ended up forever interested in Benchley’s work. I remember reading one of his more forgettable books years later, and thinking about how he was able to pull together a thriller using just five main characters.
If you are a writer, I think you might enjoy digging into my article, which sure took me a while to put together. My biggest coup was locating a fascinating old article about the making of the book that ran in the New York Times Magazine after the book became a blockbuster.
Naturally, I was wearing my two new Jaws T-shirts during the writing!
Thanks for stopping by! While I cannot claim to have written a humdinger of a book like Jaws, I’m no slouch in the thriller department. Here are two you might enjoy.
Click for details (affiliate links).
Fun fact: the goldfish in the photo up top lives in a pond near our house. We call him Big Mouth or Lard Ass because he is so big. A great white would be afraid of him, I swear.
