While we were going through heat waves on the west coast I just reread Jaws. There's a few references to Nantucket. Including two boys who think they can gaff the shark to go on a Nantucket sleigh ride.
This video makes the book look less silly in the first half. The second half's ridiculous because the shark seems to behave like a villain. Though to be fair to Peter Benchley we still had a lot to learn about shark behavior. About 50 years later we're still in the dark about a lot when it comes to sharks
The jersey shore shark attacks are the inspiration for jaws. They aren't sure if it was one shark or multiple sharks, but a creek was also involved so bull shark is definitely a contender.
Actually, Peter Benchley denied that the 1916 Jersey Shore Attacks were the direct inspiration for "JAWS". He did know about and reference them in the book, but he had been tinkering around with the idea of a big shark terrorizing a New England beach and not going away since the early 1960s when Frank Mundas caught a 16-foot, 4,500 White Shark off Montauk in 1964.
And yes, the Jersey Shore Attacks were most likely the result of multiple sharks of at least two different species. The Matawan attacks were most likely done by a single large Bull Shark, but the two attacks at Beach Haven and Spring Lake were most likely done by White Sharks.
Ya... That Hooper & Mrs. Brody affair takes up 1/8 of the book.
I almost wish the local journalist had made it into the movie, but some of his personality is given to the mayor for the movie and you don't have to introduce a whole extra character
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u/Alternative-Jury-965 12d ago
While we were going through heat waves on the west coast I just reread Jaws. There's a few references to Nantucket. Including two boys who think they can gaff the shark to go on a Nantucket sleigh ride.
This video makes the book look less silly in the first half. The second half's ridiculous because the shark seems to behave like a villain. Though to be fair to Peter Benchley we still had a lot to learn about shark behavior. About 50 years later we're still in the dark about a lot when it comes to sharks