Symbolism and Comparisons in Films
Posted: April 4th, 2017, 5:04 pm
First started on the prior GS board, this was the first of what may be several suppositions about comparisons, symbolism, and contrasts between different scenes, characters, or elements in films, whether intentional by the filmmakers or coincidental.
Let me begin by explaining where and how my thought process began regarding this topic. One day at work I was at my desk eating a muffin, and I was taking small bites so as not to stuff my mouth and be stuck with a mouth full of food when a call came in. This reminded of the hit man Jules in Pulp Fiction, who at the end of the film (which actually took place at the beginning of the story) was eating a muffin in the diner. He took small, careful bites, and chewed slowly, calmly. I just found it interesting to see a killer who lived a life of extreme measures such as stepping into danger, murdering people, and being involved in gunfights, to practice such calm and measured eating habits in his small, slow bites and chews.
This reminded me of Quint in the 1975 classic movie Jaws, when he was aboard his boat the Orca waiting for the shark to arrive. He was sitting in his fishing chair with the fishing pole in front of him, slowly, calmly taking tiny nibbles of a cracker, and chewing very slowly. He appeared very calm, patient, and peaceful. Obviously he had done that before and was well seasoned and experienced.
Later in the film at the Quint’s battle against the shark came to an end, we saw the shark swinging its head back and forth and chomping wildly with huge bites, while Quint struggled to avoid sliding down the deck into its mouth. When he ultimately did, the bite that the shark took resulted in an agonizing death and a bloody end for the vengeful shark hunter.
Now, what I made notice of may be silly, but the comparison between Quint’s small, slow, methodical bites, and the shark’s huge, fast, wild bites was a blaring contrast to me. I realize of course that the cracker scene was meant to display Quint’s experience and calm patience, while doing something he excelled at, though I can’t help but think that it was filmed and included for the visual contrast; as well as the irony of the shark hunter who so calmly and slowly ate the cracker while hunting the shark, then being eaten so quickly and violently by the same shark.
What do you think?
P.S. Quint's descent into obsessive madness, if it could be called that, was very reminiscent of Captain Ahab's obsession to kill the whale in Moby Dick. In fact, Spielberg had wanted to include a pre-hunt scene of Quint watching the film of Moby Dick to further the comparison between the two, but he wasn't able to obtain the rights to use the film. Robert Shaw's dialogue, ironically, was to include him commenting on how fake the whale prop looked in the film.
I shall end this blog with two interesting bits of Jaws trivia for you to take a bite out of:
-The producers of the film have admitted that had they read the novel that the film is based on, had they read it more than once, they would not have made the film knowing how difficult the filming would be.
-Along the same lines, author Peter Benchley went on to say that if he had known about the actual behavior of sharks, he would have never written the novel.
Let me begin by explaining where and how my thought process began regarding this topic. One day at work I was at my desk eating a muffin, and I was taking small bites so as not to stuff my mouth and be stuck with a mouth full of food when a call came in. This reminded of the hit man Jules in Pulp Fiction, who at the end of the film (which actually took place at the beginning of the story) was eating a muffin in the diner. He took small, careful bites, and chewed slowly, calmly. I just found it interesting to see a killer who lived a life of extreme measures such as stepping into danger, murdering people, and being involved in gunfights, to practice such calm and measured eating habits in his small, slow bites and chews.
This reminded me of Quint in the 1975 classic movie Jaws, when he was aboard his boat the Orca waiting for the shark to arrive. He was sitting in his fishing chair with the fishing pole in front of him, slowly, calmly taking tiny nibbles of a cracker, and chewing very slowly. He appeared very calm, patient, and peaceful. Obviously he had done that before and was well seasoned and experienced.
Later in the film at the Quint’s battle against the shark came to an end, we saw the shark swinging its head back and forth and chomping wildly with huge bites, while Quint struggled to avoid sliding down the deck into its mouth. When he ultimately did, the bite that the shark took resulted in an agonizing death and a bloody end for the vengeful shark hunter.
Now, what I made notice of may be silly, but the comparison between Quint’s small, slow, methodical bites, and the shark’s huge, fast, wild bites was a blaring contrast to me. I realize of course that the cracker scene was meant to display Quint’s experience and calm patience, while doing something he excelled at, though I can’t help but think that it was filmed and included for the visual contrast; as well as the irony of the shark hunter who so calmly and slowly ate the cracker while hunting the shark, then being eaten so quickly and violently by the same shark.
What do you think?
P.S. Quint's descent into obsessive madness, if it could be called that, was very reminiscent of Captain Ahab's obsession to kill the whale in Moby Dick. In fact, Spielberg had wanted to include a pre-hunt scene of Quint watching the film of Moby Dick to further the comparison between the two, but he wasn't able to obtain the rights to use the film. Robert Shaw's dialogue, ironically, was to include him commenting on how fake the whale prop looked in the film.
I shall end this blog with two interesting bits of Jaws trivia for you to take a bite out of:
-The producers of the film have admitted that had they read the novel that the film is based on, had they read it more than once, they would not have made the film knowing how difficult the filming would be.
-Along the same lines, author Peter Benchley went on to say that if he had known about the actual behavior of sharks, he would have never written the novel.