The scary figure in the woods can represent something very different depending on who’s looking at it, and when. Just as our readings of such stories can change over time, our relationship to horror films can shift. They use allegory and symbolism to stand in for a whole host of social phobias, structural repression, and shared anxieties. Caligari - widely considered to be the first horror film - the best horror films have functioned as a dark mirror, reflecting our own fears back to us through the lens of storytelling.
Jaws is famous for both singlehandedly creating the “summer blockbuster” mode of moviemaking and forever changing people’s perception of sharks, but its truest legacy is the metaphor of the shark itself: the omnipresent darkness lurking at the heart of Americana, reminding us that we are never truly safe.īeginning with 1920’s The Cabinet of Dr. But if one shark can chomp its way to chaos and carnage there, then perhaps, Jaws suggests, the American dream itself isn’t all that robust.
Amity Island, the quaint Atlantic tourist spot where Jaws takes place, represents the promise and prosperity of the American dream. The whole ordeal happens in just 40 seconds, but once those 40 seconds in Jaws (1975) are up, the audience’s illusion of the beach as just another vacation destination has been shattered - and, along with it, the idea that civilization itself can ever truly protect us. Finally, with one last, dreadful scream, she vanishes below the surface. For a few terrifying moments, she’s flung about in the water, dragged under again and again by something unseen, something awful. She screams, but her boyfriend is passed out on the beach, unable to hear her from just feet away she tries to swim to safety but has no idea which direction to swim in.
Her face crumples into worry, then horror when it happens again, pulling her briefly under water. She feels something, a tug on her leg that tells her something is very wrong. Then we hear it: a sinister two-note bass theme as the camera approaches her from below. From this angle, she’s the picture of a tranquil bathing beauty enjoying a peaceful dip in the sparkling ocean just before sunset. We see her from underneath the water, silhouetted between the sun and the sea. Part of the Horror Issue of The Highlight, our home for ambitious stories that explain our world.Ī girl goes for a twilight swim just off a secluded beach.
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