‘Jaws’ at 50: How the Movie ‍Rewrote the Book’s Class Politics

Updated June 26,2025

Peter benchley,working from a modest room in New⁢ Jersey,conceived “Jaws” as a potential “Ulysses” for the ’70s.The novel, initially considered under titles like “The Edge of Gloom” or “Infinite Evil,” presents a straightforward narrative: a shark terrorizes the fictional coastal town of Amity. The ensuing chaos pits working-class locals against an educated ⁣outsider over how best to⁣ handle the crisis. Ultimately, the shark meets⁤ a violent end,⁢ and the novel clearly sides with the townspeople against the arrogant expert.

The film adaptation of “Jaws,” released in June 1975, became the first summer blockbuster. While retaining the core storyline, the movie reverses the book’s political leanings.Despite Benchley’s initial screenplay drafts‍ and subsequent revisions, he expressed concerns about plot and characterization. The film portrays Amity’s fishermen and‍ business owners with a lack ⁤of‍ patience, bordering on contempt, a⁤ stark contrast to the novel’s more ⁤sympathetic depiction of a community striving ⁣to maintain dignity.

The contrasting portrayals of brody, Quint,⁢ and Hooper underscore these political differences. In the novel, Brody is a local, budget-conscious family man, often clashing with the ‍rapacious and sleazy Hooper ⁤due to socioeconomic and ⁢educational disparities.⁢ Hooper ‍dismisses Quint as anti-environmentalist.However, the film softens these frictions. Hooper is more genial,and Brody,a⁤ new York transplant,defers to educated ⁢individuals. Quint, while charming, has his folk wisdom overshadowed by Hooper’s scientific knowlege.

A pivotal town-hall scene in the film depicts Brody’s push for a beach shutdown, inciting near-riot conditions among townspeople fearing ⁢economic ruin. The film portrays ⁤the locals as unreasonable and prone to idiocy, exemplified by scenes of reckless shark hunts. These scenes, absent in the book, paint the working class ⁢as figures of⁤ ridicule rather than victims of financial desperation. The film also omits storylines that humanize Amity’s working class, including a Black community and ‍a teenager turning to crime to ⁣afford college.

These alterations anticipated a growing divide in American politics between technocratic managerialism and workerism.⁢ as Barbara Ehrenreich noted, professional-class jobs surged in the mid-20th century. The film, in retrospect, may have been overly ⁢optimistic about the⁣ new credentialed class, given subsequent⁢ failures linked to highly educated individuals in⁣ positions of power. The movie’s ending shows Quint,representing Amity’s past,giving way⁢ to urban transplants,reinforcing the⁢ idea ⁢that progress depends⁣ on experts.

In contrast, the book concludes with Quint’s death as a sacrifice for the town, while Hooper’s arrogance leads to his demise.Brody survives, not through heroism, but ‍as a ⁣witness to Quint’s bravery and Hooper’s folly. The film, however, depicts Brody as⁣ the hero who saves the town, with the two out-of-towners triumphantly swimming to ⁤shore. Benchley’s novel offered a dying shark, ‍gutted and thrown⁢ back into the sea, its mouth open‍ in a silent scream.

What’s next

As “Jaws” continues to resonate,its contrasting‍ portrayals of class and expertise offer a lens through which to examine ongoing societal tensions and the roles of different groups in addressing contemporary challenges.