English Media Essaycompare The Opening Of The Novel Jaws With The Opening Of The Film Comment
Submitted by dododido on 06/30/2008 05:21 PM
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English Media Essaycompare The Opening Of The Novel Jaws With The Opening Of The Film Comment
The novel "Jaws" was written in 1975 by Peter Benchley. It tells the story of a town's struggle to fight a Great White shark that is lurking in the waters just off the shore. In 1977 Steven Spielburg transformed it into a major record-breaking box-office hit which everyone remembers. If it's not what happened in the film they remember, it's definitely the music that accompanied it.
This essay will be examining the first four pages of the novel and the opening scenes of the film, comparing similarities and differences, and commenting on techniques which add to the tension and suspense.
Peter Benchley begins the novel by describing "the great fish" in immense detail. He uses very scientific and biological language to do this. For example, "lacking the floatation bladder common to other fish and the fluttering flaps to push oxygen-bearing water through its gills, it survived only by moving. Once stopped, it would sink to the bottom and die of anoxia." Another good example is, "Running within the length of its body were a series of thin canals, filled with mucus and dotted with nerve endings, and these nerves detected vibrations and signalled the brain." These descriptions make the animal sound instinctive, the animal doesn't think for itself, it does things automatically and functionally.
Throughout the novel the author calls the creature a "great fish", never a shark; this is to create an air of mystery. By not letting the reader know that this is the shark tension and suspense are built up because the reader is left questioning the "great fishe's" real identity.
The second paragraph begins, "The land seemed almost as dark as the water, for there was no moon". Instantly this conjures a dark and sinister picture in the reader's mind. We know that the creature is in the water and that if anyone entered the water they are likely to be in great danger. If the creature were to attack they would not be able to see because it's too...
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