Jaws turns 50: reading Peter Benchley's novel, you barely mind if its self-loathing characters are eaten by a 'genius' shark

• But the reverse is often the case with popular fiction, which benefits from the immersive, visceral quality of the cinema.
• Peter Benchley’s 1974 novel Jaws, which turns 50 this year, was a smash.
• Yet when we think of Jaws, images from Steven Spielberg’s 1975 film adaptation are what come to mind – along with John Williams’ iconic theme music.
• Read more:
  From Jaws to Star Wars to Harry Potter: John Williams, 90 today, is our greatest living composer

‘The shark material is brilliant’

• A career journalist, Benchley is effective in describing actions, events and scenery: shark hunting, the ocean, Quint’s boat.
• The shark material is brilliant – the few times it cuts to the shark’s point of view (recalling Spielberg’s redeployment of the creature’s point of view from Creature from the Black Lagoon), the writing becomes electric, effortless.
• Benchley is at his best when describing the movements of the shark in the water.
• But the material about people is less confident – the writing is uneven and trite in places, with moments between characters sometimes strained in order to generate the necessary action.

Characters ‘loathsome in places’

• One of the great joys of the film is the developing friendship between Hooper and Brody, culminating in their delightful final exchange.
• After the shark is dead and they are kicking their way back to shore, Brody laughs: “I used to hate the water.” Hooper replies, “I can’t imagine why”.

• The characters in the novel are thus thoroughly unappealing – even loathsome in places.
• In the novel, Brody is “jealous and injured, inadequate and outraged”, a chauvinistic beer-guzzling bully, an obsessive – and often self-loathing – jerk.
• Ellen is also much less sympathetic in the novel (though admittedly in the film she’s a cardboard cutout of virtuous motherhood and wifedom).
• Martin, the middle son, age twelve, lounged in an easy chair, his shoeless feet propped up on the coffee table.
• Martin, the middle son, age twelve, lounged in an easy chair, his shoeless feet propped up on the coffee table.

Is ‘easy to swallow’ better?

• At the same time, Benchley – despite occasional flaws in the writing – does capture something of the dismal inconsistencies and banalities of being human.
• The complex self-loathing of the characters contrasts with the brutal and unthinking power – the genius for action and killing – of the shark.
• The film redacts the frailties and faults of the characters, turning an adult (albeit imperfect) novel into family-friendly fodder.
• It comes as no surprise that the film also excises much of the novel’s pointed class critique.
• […] Their bodies were lean, their muscles toned by boxing lessons at age nine, riding lessons at twelve, and tennis lessons ever since.

Benchley’s novel lingers longer

• Benchley, horrified by the bad rap his novel gave sharks, would go on to become an ecological activist focused on shark protection.
• Benchley’s Jaws may not immediately grab one as easily as Spielberg’s, and it’s certainly not as technically accomplished.

Ari Mattes does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.