The season is changing. For the rest of the northern hemisphere, it may be spring; but in the deserts of the great American Southwest, our days are already consistently 90+ degrees. I’ve had the doors off of the Jeep, and my wife has been tending daily to her garden. That feels a lot like summer to me.
When it really is summer, it will be the 50th anniversary of the first summer blockbuster. The term references the idea that a film appeals to all the different demographic groups, resulting in lines stretching around the block. Although it is now applied to just about any big budget, highly anticipated movie, it traces its roots to one film in particular.
To say that 1975’s “Jaws” was successful would be like proclaiming that Hell can be rather unpleasant. It set all kinds of records; $7 million on opening weekend, and over $21 million by the end of the following week. It was the highest grossing picture of all time until some silly sci-fi flick came along a couple years later. Part of that success has been attributed to the way “Jaws” was marketed. It was heavily advertised on TV and released in a lot of theaters at the same time. Like the grand opening of a store, but it was a movie. And it worked.
That movie caught a lot of attention. It caught the attention of a lot of people including one particular person. But that person wasn’t old enough to drive himself to the theater. He was 8 years old. And he was FASCINATED by sharks. Why on God’s green Earth couldn’t he see this movie?!??
The answer is simple. The movie was rated PG, and his parents took the suggestion, and guided him toward more appropriate audiovisual entertainment. But man did I (I mean, “HE”) want to see that movie!
Okay, the proverbial cat is out of the bag. In case you hadn’t figured it out, this was obviously about ME. In hindsight, it was probably a reasonable decision for my parents to make. They were worried that I would be scarred for life – traumatized by the idea of a shark eating swimmers. And, to make matters worse, I was a competitive swimmer.
But where there’s a will, there is a way. I was too honest to sneak in, or to lie and go with somebody else. We didn’t have a VCR at the time. I just couldn’t see the movie. So, I got a better idea.
I went to the library and checked out THE BOOK. I read it cover to cover. And it was AMAZING! This actually would turn out to be important for 2 reasons. First (and most obviously,) I got to read the story. And, no, I wasn’t traumatized for the rest of life. It reinforced my fascination with sharks. I still think they’re cool.
But secondly (and way more importantly,) I came to the realization that full length novels were not out of my league. I was no longer restricted to the likes of the Scholastic Book Club catalogs from school. The Encyclopedia Brown stories, and “Charlotte’s Web” were no longer the ceiling. The gloves were off. I could read ACTUAL BOOKS.
I remember the next year, reading “The Deep” (also by Peter Benchley.) And because I was a year older, I got to see the movie this time. But that was the first time I had the idea that the book was better than the movie. I would end up going back and reading many books of movies I had liked: “The Guns of Navarone,” “The Day of the Jackal,” “The Eagle Has Landed,” and “A Bridge Too Far” all became available to me.
I’ve since come to appreciate that the book and the movie are often very different; but one is not necessarily better that the other. They are created for different audiences (which sometimes overlap.) But the book can go into much more detail. And whichever you experience first will affect your view of the other, for better or worse.
To bring things full circle, I’m probably going to see the movie “Jaws” again this summer, for old time’s sake.
But the book was better.
-Toph