preparing for the panel on the movie Jaws that I was a part of last weekend at a science fiction convention in Austin.  Jaws turned 50 this year, and we’re still talking about it, because it was a just plain good movie, in spite of itself. 

So much went wrong with the filming, from the shark props that kept sinking, to bickering between the actors, that could have tanked the movie but instead revolutionized the way monster movies get shot, while adding to the realism of the tension between the main characters, especially once they wind up on the claustrophobically small boat.  This brings home the fact that great stories are about great characters — especially when those characters have perspectives and desires that are at odds.

This direct character conflict was missing from the sequels, which all panelists agreed lacked the intensity of the original.  There was also a consensus that the sequels lacked the clarity of themes explored by the interactions between these very different characters, even if there was a more balanced view of sharks and shark conservation, to the point of making the problematic shark a mother shark trying to get back her baby.

So yeah, this was probably one of the deepest panels, with the most well-prepared panelists, I’ve ever been on.  Which goes to show how much you can get out of a book or a film, if you really let yourself connect with it.  I first saw Jaws as a kid, but the re-watch hit a lot different, especially the speech explaining why Quint had a grudge against sharks, which had just as much to do with history as with the sharks themselves.

What books and movies made a big impression you when you experienced them as a kid?  Which ones have held up over time and can make for a satisfying re-watch as an adult?  What makes a book or film so iconic that it inspires memes, homage episodes in popular television shows, and quotable lines?