Eldergays Tell me about Jaws cultural impact

It was much bigger than those films. It was the first mega blockbuster. Everyone saw it.

Cultural impact? Nah. It was just a movie. Though I suppose some people were scared to swim in the ocean.

[quote] Cultural impact? Nah. It was just a movie. Though I suppose some people were scared to swim in the ocean.

That actually was a HUGE cultural impact. So many people were afraid to swim that summer--even in lakes!

Also, in those days they did not know how to market blockbusters with multiple showings in multiple theaters carefully timed, so there were LONG lines around the block to see it--there just weren't enough showings or theaters to keep up with the demand. it was a huge deal.

And everyone talked about the key gross-out scenes that summer: the killing of the first girl; the discovery of her bitten-off head eaten by crabs on the beach; the famous gross-out shot of the severed leg floating to the bottom of the cove after the shark attacks a man...

Go do your own homework

When will you will stop losing. I will always win

If you are going to define being a mega blockbuster that everyone saw as “cultural impact” then yes, it had a “cultural impact.” But it was an escapist horror film. I think it is a rare movie actually has a cultural impact. The Godfather, Brokeback Mountain or even Black Panther did. Jaws was just popular entertainment. Very well done, but nothing revolutionary.

Well, its success inflicted more of whiny Richard Dreyfuss on us for the rest of the 70s, and the 80s. That was impactful.

Its success created the concept of a summer tent pole movie. From a Tinseltown business perspective, it changed everything. That’s a real cultural impact..

Both the author of the book, Peter Benchley, and director Steven Spielberg regret the negative impact that the movie had on populations of large sharks, particularly on the East Coast of the US. Thousands of trophy hunters reduced the number of large sharks in that area by as much as 50%.

On the positive side, more scientific interest was taken in sharks and their valuable place in ecosystems, and efforts for conservation was also a consequence. Benchley became one of those conservationists.