Jaws By Stephen Spielberg Character Analysis

The film, “Jaws”, was released in 1976, by Stephen Spielberg and is widely considered the first Hollywood Blockbuster. “Jaws” is one of my if not my favorite movie, I have seen this film, as many as a half dozen times and each time I view it, I find that I enjoy it more and more. “Jaws” has a unique way of captivating any audience who views the film, its director Stephen Spielberg, is a master at grabbing the audience’s attention by making us feel as if we are the ones in the water at the Amity beaches, however he does not make the fact that he is doing this obvious, which is something that I feel sets him apart from his other contemporaries who were making film at the same time. The focus of this paper will be, Jungian Psychoanalytic Theory, …show more content…
(Berger 91-94) There are many archetypes that exist in the film, “Jaws” such as that of the hero, who is chief Brody, (his role will be discussed further when the concept of the myth of the hero is discussed). The other two archetypes that exist in this film are, the monster which is obviously the shark and finally the instructor which is represented through Quint. In a text about the film entitled, “BFI Modern Classics: Jaws” which was written by Antonia Quirke, Quirke describes Quint by saying, “Quint has the uninterruptable authority of a man who works. He’s a worker in the schoolroom by the blackboard on which he has drawn a shark with its jaws around a stick man. He is the reality instructor” (Quirke …show more content…
The reason this is an example of the collective unconscious, is that in that moment Hooper was acting out of instinct since its human nature to jump when one is scared, that behavior is not a conscious reaction instead its more part of our human collective unconscious to put it more simply, acting out of instinct. The third concept that Jung discusses is what is referred to as, the myth of the hero. Which is described in the “Media analysis and Techniques” text book as, “Most heroes, especially those found in the mass media, generally don’t succumb to the sin of pride; they usually fight to survive.” (Berger 91-94) The myth of the hero exists in “Jaws”, due to the fact that Chief Brody, represents perfectly the archetype of the hero. Due to the fact that, he faces all the same challenges that a hero in any other work does, and he as Berger says in the text, “fights to survive” (Berger 93) and in the case of “Jaws” Brody comes out victorious. The fourth of these concepts that Jung discusses is known as, the Shadow Element in the Psyche, which can be described as, “the dark side of the human psyche, which we generally keep hidden from our conscious mind, although it is something we must eventually recognize and deal with.” (Berger