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This past Monday was the last free movie show at Bryant Park. I probably wouldn’t have gone if not for some friends who decided to go. The movie was Jaws, the movie that made everyone in the 1970’s afraid of going into the swimming pool. And I realized it’s still as potent as it was when I saw it as a kid. The only difference was, I understood the reason for the fear: ordinary men go out on tiny boat to kill huge aquatic man-eating death machine.
The crusty old veteran hunts them, the educated rich kid studies them, and the poor old sheriff who’s afraid of boats is responsible for all of them. In the end what takes ol’ Jawsie down is not working-class muscle and experience, or scientific know-how with its technological toys. It’s just a man with a rifle and a good old-fashioned exploding tin can.
One thing I though was a little wierd at first was that everyone in the audience cheered whenever someone got torn to shreds by the shark. At first I thought the crowd was messed up, and was reveling in some warped blood-lust. But then I realized they were cheering for the shark, who even though had no lines in the whole movie, is undisputedly one of the main character. He’s so famous he even has his own theme music known the world over. And it was the shark that helped propel Spielberg to the top of the movie-making food chain. So cheer away. Go, sharkie, go.