What Impact Jaws Had On Americans And Benchley's Reaction To The Impact

Author Peter Benchley was born in New York City in 1940. Over the next 65 years, he became one of the most widely-known and respected conservationists in the world. He used the acclaim from Jaws to alert the world to the growing danger of sharks, other sea creatures and the oceans themselves. Before the publication of the book in the 1970s little was known about sharks. Benchley wrote Jaws based on his imagination and the memories of summers from Nantucket, Massachusetts. His tale of a man-eating great white was published in 1974 and became a movie in the summer of 1975. Jaws became the first blockbuster movie of the U.S. In this research paper we will see what impact Jaws had on Americans and Benchley’s reaction to the impact.

To begin with,

One can conclude on the fact of if they had lived during that time Jaws would have had a great impact on their lives as well. Even though Benchley produced his work as being fictional it was not perceived in that way. Everyone already has a perception on how dangerous sharks are simply because they look mean. So when Benchley came out with his top-selling novel about a man eating great white that was taking over the ocean, it was easy for people to sway away from the ocean. One could say the people in America were persuaded that the book and movie Jaws was a warning to the people to stay away from the oceans, “To the dismay of many scientists, however, Jaws cemented a perception in the minds of many people that sharks were stalking, killing machines. The reputation remains entrenched in the public psyche 30 years after the movie's release” (Heithaus). People believed since Benchley was an ocean conservationist, he wrote the book based on what he had seen in the water. Little did they know it was just his imagination. Individuals have a hard time not being in control of a situation, “If we feel like we have some control or a fighting chance, a situation isn't as scary. With sharks there are no trees to climb, and you can't outswim a shark.” That alone is one of the main reasons sharks are so feared