8 - Steven Spielberg's Jaws

Drawn to Darkness

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Would you have gone back for a bigger boat? Then join us on Drawn to Darkness for our summer special. This week we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the movie that made people afraid to step into the ocean—and sometimes even a pool or a bath. That’s right, we’re diving into Jaws, Steven Spielberg’s 1975 man-versus-monster masterpiece.

Spoiler & Trigger Warning:

This episode contains discussion of implied dog death (though we have a theory that Pippit lived), on-screen gore, severed limbs, and the death of a child. We also spoil key plot details from Jaws. C'mon, it's fifty years old. Watch it already.

Episode Synopsis

Half a century on, Jaws still holds its grip on audiences, and on our primal fear of what lurks in the water. In this episode, we revisit Bruce, the mechanical shark that broke down, the shoot that gave a 26-year-old Spielberg near-PTSD, and the story of an island community choosing profit over safety. We unpack why Jaws is both a comfort movie and a terror, and how it helped launch the blockbuster era while cementing John Williams’s two-note score as an instant anxiety trigger.

From Chrissy’s harrowing night swim to the USS Indianapolis speech, from small-town politics to the shark’s final “smile you son of a —” showdown with Chief Brody, we explore the craft, the cultural impact, and the deeper horrors beneath the surface—corruption, denial, and the villainisation of sharks. Expect personal beach stories (one of used to play Chrissy Watkins' death on the beach), discussions about whether Jaws counts as horror, and affectionate deep-dives into our love for Brody, Hooper, Quint, Ellen, and every scene-stealing side character (yes, even Mrs. Taft and that guy who pushed children underwater to escape a fake shark).

Palate Cleanser

Apple TV’s The Studio — a funny, meta, star-packed celebration of cinema featuring Seth Rogen, Catherine O’Hara, Kathryn Hahn, and Bryan Cranston.

Recommendations:

Podcasts:

• Unspooled — their Jaws episode and the How Did This Get Made? episode on Jaws: The Revenge and Deep Blue Sea
• The Dollop episode 210 “New Jersey Shark Attacks” with the hosts of My Favorite Murder Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark
• Beyond Jaws — a podcast where real-life marine biologists discuss sharks, science, and cinema
• Let’s Jaws for a Minute — a deep dive podcast dissecting Jaws one minute at a time

Movies, TV shows, books and more:

• All the shark movies! Deep Blue Sea, The Meg, The Shallows, Open Water, The Reef, Sharknado, Crawl.
• From Russia with Love (for a very different Robert Shaw)
• Hot Fuzz — outsider cop vs. small-town corruption
• Midnight Mass - watch it then listen to episode 7 of Drawn to Darkness
• Moby-Dick by Herman Melville
• I Survived the Shark Attacks of 1916 by Lauren Tarshis
• The Lady of the Dunes documentary (case recently solved)
• The daily jaws website

Homework Assignment

Next episode: Heaven’s Gate: The Cult of Cults (HBO Max) — watch ahead so you can join us for the discussion. After that: Carrie, the novel by Stephen King. Longer-term: read Catch and Kill by Ronan Farrow (because the cover-up is the crime, or at least part of it).

Special thanks to Nancy Azano for our cover art (Instagram: @nancyazano) and Harry Kidd for composing our opening score on spotify and Instagram: