The Great White Sharks, sometimes erroneously referred to as Jaws, are the titular main antagonists of the Jaws franchise. They also appear as the main villain protagonists and playable characters in the video games Jaws Unleashed and Jaws: Ultimate Predator. As the main antagonists of the franchise, they are all shown to be ravenous great white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias) of abnormal size and ferocity that terrorize Amity Island (and SeaWorld in Jaws 3-D). None of the sharks have official names, but many nicknames have arisen from them, mostly derived from the production names for them. Their vocal sound effects were provided by Frank Welker.
Members[]
- Bruce - The main antagonist of the first Jaws film, and the posthumous overarching antagonist of the rest of the franchise.
- Brucette - The nickname coined by fans of the Jaws franchise for the great white shark in Jaws 2.
- Brucetta - The nickname for the female great white shark depicted in the film Jaws 3-D as the main antagonist.
- Vengeance - The nickname coined by fans for the main antagonist shark depicted in the film Jaws: The Revenge.
- Baby Shark - The only known unnamed child of Brucetta and the secondary antagonist of Jaws 3-D.
Appearances[]
Jaws (1975)[]
The first film, directed by Steven Spielberg, introduces the first shark, nicknamed "Bruce" by the crew, after Spielberg's lawyer. Bruce is estimated to be 25 feet long and weighs 3 tons. He terrorizes the beach community of Amity Island during the summer season, killing several people, including a young boy and a fisherman. The local police chief Martin Brody (Roy Scheider) teams up with marine biologist Matt Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss) and shark hunter Sam Quint (Robert Shaw) to hunt down and kill Bruce. After a long and dangerous chase, Brody manages to blow up Bruce by shooting a pressurized air tank in his mouth.
Jaws 2 (1978)[]
The second film, directed by Jeannot Szwarc, features a new shark that is 30 feet long and weighs 4 tons. The shark arrives at Amity Island four years after the events of the first film and starts to prey on water skiers, boaters, and divers. Brody, who is still the police chief, suspects that another shark is behind the attacks, but his warnings are ignored by the town officials. The shark eventually targets a group of teenagers, including Brody's son Michael, who are stranded on their sailboats near a small island. Brody arrives to rescue them and kills the shark by electrocuting him with an underwater power cable.
Jaws 3-D (1983)[]
The third film, directed by Joe Alves, introduces a female shark that is 35 feet long and weighs 5 tons, making her the largest shark in the series. She is accompanied by her offspring, a 10-foot-long baby shark. The sharks enter SeaWorld Orlando through a faulty gate and start to cause havoc in the park. Brody's sons Mike (Dennis Quaid) and Sean (John Putch) work at SeaWorld, along with Mike's girlfriend Kay (Bess Armstrong), who is a marine biologist. Kay captures the baby shark alive, but it dies in captivity. The mother shark then goes on a rampage, killing several people, including SeaWorld's owner Calvin Bouchard (Louis Gossett Jr.). Mike and Kay manage to kill the shark by detonating a grenade inside her mouth.
Jaws: The Revenge (1987)[]
The fourth and final film, directed by Joseph Sargent, features another female shark that is 21 feet long and weighs 5,500 pounds. She is supposedly the offspring of Bruce and his mate Brucette, as suggested in the novelization of the film. The shark follows Ellen Brody (Lorraine Gary), the widow of Martin Brody, from Amity Island to The Bahamas, where she is visiting her son Michael (Lance Guest) and his family. The shark seems to have a personal vendetta against the Brodys, as she kills Sean (Mitchell Anderson), who has become a deputy sheriff in Amity Island and tries to kill Michael and his daughter Thea (Judith Barsi). Ellen teams up with a local pilot named Hoagie (Michael Caine) and a marine biologist named Jake (Mario Van Peebles) to stop the shark. Ellen kills the shark by impaling her with the broken mast of a sailboat.
Influence[]
The Great White Sharks in the Jaws franchise have had a profound impact on public perception and understanding of these apex predators. The films depict the sharks as relentless, fearsome killers, which contributed to the widespread fear and misconception surrounding these creatures. Many people began to see Great White Sharks as ruthless man-eaters, despite the rarity of such incidents in reality. In the films, the shark is portrayed as a massive, powerful, and relentless predator, which further fuels the idea of these animals as unstoppable killing machines. In reality, Great White Sharks are indeed formidable predators but are not the mindless killers portrayed in the franchise.
Evolution[]
Throughout the Jaws franchise, the depiction of Great White Sharks evolved, not only in their portrayal but also in the use of special effects. In the first film, the shark, affectionately known as "Bruce" among the production team, was primarily portrayed using a mechanical model. The film's success was in large part due to Spielberg's masterful use of suspense, making the shark's limited screen time all the more terrifying. Subsequent films in the series employed a combination of mechanical sharks, animatronics, and more advanced special effects, including the use of computer-generated imagery (CGI) in Jaws: The Revenge. This evolution in technology allowed for more dynamic and convincing portrayals of the Great White Shark in later films.
