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'Jaws' has a birthday, and that shark is no spring chicken

"Jaws" hit theaters 47 years ago today -- on June 20, 1975.

It's hard to imagine a pop culture before "Jaws" was in it. Particularly if you're a coastal sort, the iconic film has influenced more than a little of the imagery around you.

(Go ahead and get you that shark-tooth shoelace necklace at Alvin's Island. People will know you're livin' the "Salt Life" if you wear it to work on Monday.)

Supposedly "Jaws" is what gave humans the heebie-jeebies about sharks. I say that's self-important entertainment-industry hogwash. Admittedly, I'm too young to remember life before "Jaws," but I'm pretty sure sharks have always given people the heebie-jeebies.

My most recent run-in with a shark on his turf happened a couple years ago. I was wading in murky water, waist-deep, with a cast net, looking for a mullet supper. He was swimming along the bottom looking for a sexy pair of ankles to chomp down on. He passed on mine. It wasn't until after he turned and swam off that I felt a mild case of heebie-jeebies wash over me.

"Jaws" was a dorky movie, and, no, it didn't accurately educate us on shark behavior. But here are a few thoughts about the movie and sharks in general:

  • The movie poster had a nekkid lady swimming with a megalodon-sized great white shark torpedoing straight up at her from underneath, about to tickle her belly with the tip of his nose. And now every shark movie since "Jaws" has a scene with a nekkid lady swimming. It rarely goes well for the nekkid lady. Even worse, if you keep watching you find that there is rarely a second scene with a new, intact nekkid lady swimming.
  • A lot can be made about the behavior of the human characters in "Jaws." But that was one stupid fish. A shark with his kind of ability could've had an easy time eating seals in Alaska, yet he insisted on dodging bullets around Amity Island.
  • Speaking of Amity Island, in real life that was Martha's Vineyard. Can you imagine Massachusetts' windfall in estate-taxes revenue had a great white started chomping down on CEOs and U.S. Senators?
  • If you are ever a victim of a shark attack, and you survive, you will win every "let's show each other our scars" contest for the rest of your life.

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