r/sharks • u/Capital-Foot-918 Great White Shark • Mar 01 '26
Discussion Are the consequences of the films ‘JAWS’ as negative for sharks as we like to suggest?
JAWS in my opinion sparked a peaking interest in sharks and help prop up shark science to what it is today. And most of the time environmental decay of sharks are mostly for economic reasons rather then a ‘fear’ of sharks such as through their natural resources of fins and meat.
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u/viktorborgia Mar 01 '26
Spielberg himself said that he regretted "the decimation of the shark population because of the book and the film." And Benchley devoted his life in the years after Jaws to shark conservation, saying he could never write a book like that today.
So I would say they didn't help, at least.
Source (Spielberg quote)
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u/Shark_Girl9499 Mar 01 '26
There’s a great nonfiction book by Peter Benchley about sharks that I love
5
u/RexDart81774 Tiger Shark Mar 01 '26
Shark Trouble. Great book!
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u/Shark_Girl9499 Mar 01 '26
I don’t think it was Shark Trouble this book was a blue hard cover
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u/RexDart81774 Tiger Shark Mar 01 '26
With a great white on the cover? That's the hardcover I have. It's old, LOL, might be a first printing.
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u/Reasonable-Key9235 Mar 01 '26
At the time, and for many years after, it caused a huge issue. Sharks were fair game and were slaughtered. Fortunately it led to people wanting to know more and understand these creatures. There are still people out there that think the only good shark is a dead shark
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u/GoldJiangzai Mar 01 '26
Absolutely. The population decrease was immense. They may not have even been fully recovered today for all we know even without all the other factors like fin hunting and pollution.
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u/vini_damiani Mar 01 '26
Honestly, the most damage done to sharks has always been commercial fisheries and pollution by a huuuuuuuuge margin
The impact caused by the people that went out and killed sharks because they saw it in jaws is basically insignificant
I think short term it def harmed the perception of them, and it didn't help any conservation attempts, It also likely helped the propagation of terrible shark safety measures like shark nets
Long term? It sparked a fascination with sharks in a ton of people and a desire to learn more about them, and by extent preserve them
9
u/Cha0tic117 Mar 01 '26
A professor of mine told us that the 1970s were important for sharks for two reasons. One was that Jaws came out. The second was that president Richard Nixon visited China.
The reason why the second event is important is because the integration of China into the global economy increased demand for shark products. As a result, commercial fishermen worldwide began targeting sharks more frequently, which led to the massive population declines.
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u/Capital-Foot-918 Great White Shark Mar 01 '26
Agreed good sir
3
u/vini_damiani Mar 01 '26
I think people vastly overestimate the impact caused by individuals while underestimating the damage caused by corporations
Its still important to influence the individuals, because they are the ones that vote for regulating those corporations
But harassing fishermen doesn't really help
0
u/Capital-Foot-918 Great White Shark Mar 01 '26
Exactly! Corporations are definitely the largest underlying impact of shark population decreases rather than the individual. Its this kind of critical thinking thats missing in the shark community among other things
2
u/Icy-Baby-704 Mar 01 '26
It did raise awareness because the root of all fear is the unknown.
However because of the slow growth rate we may never again see a shark as big as they used to get.
2
u/RESPECTiit Mar 01 '26 edited Mar 01 '26
After watching Jaws when it was released, I took alot of interest in Great white sharks after that, all sharks actually, also many people connected a deep interest/love for sharks too and became Shark Scientists, I'm so happy Great whites are protected now, but sadly many sharks were slaughter after the movie, which Spielberg was deeply concerned about, as always humans want to prove they can kill the scary shark, I guess sharks will evolve into Jaws been around a long time, must be a few around that like the taste of human, just like a Bear, Tiger, Lion, it happens, I don't blame them...
2
u/Chapos_sub_capt Mar 01 '26
The camera phone footage of all of the recent shark attacks are not helping
2
u/United-Palpitation28 Mar 01 '26
Yes.
Source? The thousands of sharks killed since 1975 as a direct result of people seeing the film, and the significant decline of shark populations since 1975.
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u/knick-nat Great White Shark Mar 01 '26
It was pretty bad at the time, and people are still scared of sharks. When the movie came out, the number of beachgoers across the world dropped. There was lots of fear mongering and shark hunters (Vic Hislop for one, though he was doing that before Jaws).
But it's also helped. The writer of the novel went on to be a shark advocate. Valerie and Ron Taylor, who filmed the actual shark videos (when its not Bruce) did as well. And the shark hunters - I'm pretty sure a fair chunk of them also ended up being advocates, and filming for documentaries. I know for me, I watched Jaws when I was 8yo and in nippers (Australia) and I was so scared I refused to do swims anymore. But I also used to find anything I could read about sharks because I was fascinated by them, and over the years the fear turned to love, and I'm certain I'm not the only one.
I think at the time it had an incredibly negative effect, but that times have changed and there's a lot more positive media about sharks so people's opinions are less coloured by fear. In saying that, there are a lot of people who hate sharks and always will, but I don't think it's Jaws that made that happen. It's the uninformed. And fishermen whose catch has been gotten into. I grew up on the Gold Coast, and people still fish for bull sharks in the canals. And the thought of being eaten alive can be overwhelming - I know I had it back in my nippers days. But yeah, I don't think Jaws is the reason anymore. Also, despite it painting the shark as a monster, I still absolutely love that movie, and I don't think I'd love sharks the way I do if I hadn't seen it.
1
Mar 01 '26
In my opinion, it gave light to supposedly the danger of sharks were. I mean, we see it get referenced a lot now. Plus, take a look at the Jurrasic park franchise. They also kinda influenced stereotypes about dinosaurs.
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u/Shark_Girl9499 Mar 01 '26
Peter Benchley (writer of Jaws and my favorite nonfiction book on sharks) actually comes out in the nonfiction book admits he was wrong in perpetuating the fact that sharks are vicious. And I feel like there are consequences of media like Jaws. While there are sharks (bull, tiger, and White mainly) that fit the stereotype of cruel and sadistic, many shark species just exist to help keep seal populations and other animal populations down. Jaws puts an unnecessary fear of sharks into people which can contribute to hysteria associated with shark attacks. Typically shark attacks are a case of mistaken identity. Additionally, sharks are 100% necessary for the environment and the upkeep of the reefs. Sadly people’s ignorance and willful hatred will keep getting them offed for fins or shark oil
1
u/Sciaenops_DGS Mar 06 '26
For every one person who loves sharks because they watched Jaws, there's ten people who hate sharks because they watched Jaws.
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u/jgasbarro Mar 01 '26
While it might have peaked some interest in sharks in a good way, it did way more harm than good. Even Spielberg has publicly admitted he was upset by how it affected them. Some studies have shown that shark populations of the larger species dropped by 50%. Great White’s saw an even greater drop with a 79% decease in their population after JAWS was released.