Duun dun, duun dun, dun dun dun..

Today we're going to talk about the most iconic fish in pop culture history: Jaws.

I got the novel from a colleague who needed to make shelf space, and for good measure, I re-watched the movie last Saturday.

From here on in there be spoilers!

Jaws is one of those rare instances where the movie is actually better than the book. Not that Peter Benchley's book is bad, quite the contrary. It is in fact pretty good.

Usually though, when a director makes changed from the original novel, it's due to economic or practical reasons, but Spielberg’s changes makes the story so much smoother.

You see, in the book there's a sub plot concerning mayor Vaughan being under mafia control, and another where Mrs. Brody has an affair with Matt Hooper. Neither plot really advances the story very much in the book itself and it would have dragged the already two hour movie down rather badly.

The only other really big changes concerns three of the characters. In the book, Hooper gets eaten while in the shark cage, Quint drowns instead of being eaten, and the shark itself finally succumbs to it's wounds instead of being detonated by oxygen tank.

My only real criticism of the book was the marital problems of the Brody's. In the movie they are happily married and have only recently moved to Amity.

In the book, Brody is an islander and his wife used to be one of the “Summer People” who only arrive in town during the summer. Several times she broods about her decision to abandon her rich, spoiled ways and marry the local cop. This ultimately lands her in bed with Hooper (the shark specialist) since he is not only the kind of rich guy she used to date, but actually the younger brother of her old boyfriend. The final outcome of this subplot, is that she finally decides she's happy being married to the cop. However, this takes several chapters, and is fairly dull when you're lusting for shark action.

If you're a fan of the movie, and come across the book, do pick up a copy. It is well worth it, since it adds things the movie couldn't. For me, the ultimate kicker was that my copy (and in fact the movie) was printed the same year I was born.

Until next week, kick it old school!