INTRODUCTION
If you have ever watched a movie on “mute,” then you know that movies, television, or web series are rather underwhelming without sound. Could you imagine “Star Wars” without its anthem coinciding with the rolling credits? Would anyone have been interested in Norman Bates without the score that identified the presence of his mother? Would Indiana Jones be more thrilling if he ran through hidden caverns over scored by a sad violin? Would the sweeping underwater scenes of the wreckage of the Titanic have been as haunting without the backdrop of a soft, sorrowful ballad accompanying the long lost images? The answer to these questions is unanimous; music plays a huge role in overall success, attraction, and emotion of any film. Special Effects and explosions aside, music plays a much more definitive role in any story. The music helps to set the tone of the scene, gives us forewarning of what is about to happen, even of the characters are unaware, and in many cases is a performer in the story as surely as the actors. The idea that music is a legitimate character is personified in the classic thriller “Jaws.” The music, particularly the title character’s theme, is what made the “Jaws” the terrifying killer that he became.
BACKGROUND
“Jaws” has a very simple storyline, based on the novel, by the same name, penned by Peter Benchley, tells of a small New England tourist and beach town, which is being plagued by a man-eating Shark. Of course, this is no ordinary shark, this man-eater is the largest Great White that anyone as ever seen. A local sheriff is confronted with some mysteriously mutilated bodies that experts are claiming could be a dangerous, larger than average, Great White shark. However, the town politicians are reluctant to close their beaches during prime tourists season, and, of course, prime source of income for the little seaside town. However, once the death toll began to rise, including the loss of a child swimming in ocean, the people became frenzied and are now ready to “get the shark.” However, these locals are unsuccessful. The local sheriff, an out-of-town marine biologist, and a drunken, aging shark hunter with a beat-up fishing boat set off to prove the threat and kill the monstrosity if possible. The enormous shark stalks the small vessel and rises up out of the water making its size and threat very clear; spawning the famous quote, “I think we’re gonna need a bigger boat.” (Spielberg). Ultimately “Jaws” sinks the boat, kills the Captain, and is finally defeated when the sheriff blows him to pieces.
DISCUSSION
However, what makes “Jaws” unique is that, unlike most movie antagonists or monsters, the shark may be present for a number of scenes, but it is only actually seen for a few minutes of screen-time, however the shark’s presence is represented by a, now famous, simple piece of music, composed by John Williams, consisting of “six basses, eight celli, four trombones and a tuba.”(Bulingame 1). The sounds are comparable to a heartbeat. The heart begins to beat faster, either the fear of the victim or the anticipation of the shark, either way it increases the sense of fear. This classic sound preceded the shark and speeds up to inspire a sense of urgency, and creates a personality and the relentless nature of the shark. Sharks are large, strong, apex predators, which cannot be reasoned with. Most biologists admit that sharks are essentially biological eating machines, so the larger the shark the greater the threat. The music emulates the shark’s relentless pursuit of its prey. It is fair to speculate that without the music the shark would not have been as frightening and certainly not as present.
Interestingly enough, the reason that the music became such an essential component in performing the shark had less to do with creative planning, and more to do with technical difficulties. The process of creating special effects in the 1975 was far from the Computer Generated Imagery (CGI) we have today. In order to have a gigantic shark on camera then one would have to build, paint, and animate one; which is no doubt considerably harder when that animation has to take place underwater. No one had ever really tried to build an animatronic shark before that could perform in an underwater environment. Unfortunately, for the crew, the shark was a source of frustration and was antithetical to a timely and efficient production (DeMain, 1). Originally the shark had been written into many scenes, but its perpetual failures, gave the music the opportunity to stand out and becomes the voice and intention of this large and silent predator. Secondly, Steven Spielberg was not thrilled with the shark’s theme originally and required some convincing (Bulingame 1). Despite the fact that the shark’s theme became the most iconic pieces of film history, Williams, did not just compose the shark’s theme in the film, but the entire score. The variation in the score served to differentiate between scenes that involved the shark and those that relayed the day-to-day life and interactions of such a “sleepy” New England town.
The music, also, provides a secondary purpose as well. The ocean is deep, vast, unending and powerful thing. The immensity of which can be difficult to translate even on a large film screen. After all people have to see that the ocean can contain and allow such an enormous predator to hide and thrive. The rising climax of the music, ever increasing, speeding up, speaks to the distance and darkness of the ocean. The shark is coming. It could be coming from any direction, at any second, and there is no way to be sure, unless that dorsal fin rises breaks the water, of where and when that will be (Bulingame 1). Every direction one looks, there is only more water and nowhere to hide. A sense of fear, anticipation, and surprise is created by the joint actions of the shark, the ocean, and music, which allows “Jaws” to be a fully “fleshed-out” character.
It is not far from certainty to say that if the music had not stepped in as the “presence” of the shark, then the shark might not have been intimidating, let alone terrifying. Animals in general do not always make for convincing “villains” in a story, because animals are not motivated by agendas and “dark” places. These are realities of human society not the animal kingdom. Cujo, like Old Yeller, had rabies and is not responsible for his vicious behavior. However, dogs emote; they have expressions, and readable reactions. Sharks, regardless of their size are, however powerful and beautiful, are no more or less than big fish. Sharks have black, empty eyes and no personality. Anyone who has ever had a goldfish knows that fish do not emote and do not do much at all but swim. Sharks are really no different, except that they eat larger food and they do have razor sharp teeth. However, the actual percentage of people being attacked, let alone eaten, by a shark is actually extremely low worldwide. But the music creates an emotion, an ominous, unseen giant, stalking and hunting you in its natural habitat and all that stands between you and it is a tiny boat (Bulingame 1).
CONCLUSION
There is not a single movie of the past, present, or future that does not benefit from the presence of an underlying sound of music that aids in setting the tone of the scene and the emotion that is being conveyed to the audience, Again, “Jaws” personifies that importance and purpose of music in a film. The music provides the emotion and personality of the shark, which was seldom seen and difficult to create. In the case of this classic Spielberg film, the music did not just support, enhance and help develop the characters in the film, but, in fact, was an actual character in and of itself. The simple piece of deep music spoke for “Jaws” and made this man-eater, the frightening and terrifying beast that has caused many of nightmares and has kept hundreds of people from ever wanting to ever swim in an ocean. The William’s music brought this great beast to life.
WORK CITED
Burlingame, Jon. "John Williams Recalls ‘Jaws’." John Williams Fan Network. 1. 14 Jul 2012. Web. 13 Nov 2014. <http://www.jwfan.com/?p=4886>.
Demain, Bill. “How Steven Spielberg's Malfunctioning Sharks Transformed the Movie Business.” Mental Floss Magazine. 1. 23 July. 2013. Web. 23 November 2014. < http://mentalfloss.com/article/31105/how-steven-spielbergs-malfunctioning-sharks-transformed-movie-business>.
Spielberg, Steven, dir. Jaws. Zanuck/Brown Productions, Universal Pictures, 1975. Film. 13 Nov 2014. <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073195/>.
