Jaws, a 1975 film by Steven Spielberg, initially caused a decline in beach attendance due to fear but eventually led to increased tourism in Martha’s Vineyard, where it was filmed. The movie changed the way Hollywood did business and how people went to movies, as well as some people’s relationship to the ocean. The movie spooked viewers out of showering and made Americans reconsider the lure of the ocean.
Jaws cast a shadow over beach swimming for millions over the past four decades, portraying sharks as mindless predators driven by vengeance. It fueled the rise of trophy shark fishing and contributed to the rise of marine biologists who wanted to be just as cool as Matt Hooper (played by Richard Dreyfuss). The fear instilled by “Jaws” had an unexpected impact on beach tourism, as the film’s portrayal of shark attacks created a lingering sense of unease among beachgoers, leading to a decline in seaside activities in the immediate aftermath of the movie’s release.
The fear instilled by “Jaws” has had an unexpected impact on beach tourism, as the film’s portrayal of shark attacks created a lingering sense of unease among beachgoers, leading to a decline in seaside activities in the immediate aftermath of the movie’s release. Film critic Jeffrey Lyons believes that “Jaws” preys upon a fear that millions of people suppress when they go in the ocean”.
In response to the film’s effect, the Benchleys dedicated much of their post-“Jaws” lives to ocean research and shark conservation. The results highlight the negative implications of safety breaches, whether big or small. Shark diving is a growing tourism industry with major players in the industry. The shark-in-the-water thriller remains competitive on the Hollywood blockbuster list, having raked in over $470 million at box offices worldwide.
📹 The Shark in Jaws Did Nothing Wrong – An Ecological Video Essay
Please enjoy my lengthy marine musings on the cultural and ecological impact the 1975 thriller film “Jaws” has had on the survival …
Did beach attendance drop after Jaws?
“Jaws” is a film that has left a lasting impact on the world of filmmaking. The movie convinced international moviegoers that sharks are dangerous, leading to a decrease in beach attendance and increased shark sightings. Shark hunting became a popular sport, with some species almost being hunted to extinction. Shark scientists and lovers have been working to dispel the myths created by the film. The success of “Jaws” also created the era of big-budget spectacles over auteur cinema, ending the New Hollywood era and putting control back into the hands of studios. As we approach its 50th anniversary, “Jaws” is celebrated at Ambler Theater’s Hollywood Summer Nights series on June 26 and July 4.
How did Jaws change the perception of sharks?
Jaws, despite its inaccuracies, sparked a surge in shark science over the past four decades. The film’s portrayal of sharks, despite being exaggerated, increased public awareness and published shark studies. We now understand that sharks are not mindless killers, but are cautious and curious animals vital to marine ecosystems. Jaws introduced the concept of shark cages and underwater shark encounters, leading to shark ecotourism, which generates hundreds of millions of dollars annually.
These experiences often dispel myths perpetuated by Jaws, fostering a new appreciation for sharks and support for their conservation. Despite challenges, the dedication of those captivated by sharks has begun to bear fruit.
How did audiences react to Jaws?
Spielberg visited the Medallion theater to preview Jaws, which was a loud and chaotic event. The theater, which opened in 1969 and closed in 2001, was a significant influence on the film industry. It also presented first-run showings of popular films like The Godfather, The Sting, Love Story, MAS*H, Summer of ‘42, American Graffiti, Deliverance, and Chinatown. The theater’s influence is evident in its diverse offerings.
What happened to the shark population after Jaws?
A 2022 Nature study found that oceanic shark and ray abundance has declined by over 70 percent since 1970 due to an 18-fold increase in fishing pressure. This depletion affects three-quarters of shark and ray species. The fear of sharks and media attention surrounding shark attacks have not helped protect them. Although Jaws may have inspired a negative attitude towards white sharks, it is not entirely responsible for the decline. Peter Benchley, the author of Jaws, reminisced 21 years after the publication.
Did Jaws ruin the reputation of sharks?
The 1975 film Jaws significantly impacted the public perception of sharks, leading to widespread fear and a belief that all sharks are dangerous to humans. This negative portrayal of sharks in the film has had real-world consequences, such as vendetta killings, great white shark tournaments, and a commercial fishery that almost completely wiped out the population of white sharks along the west coast of North America.
The negative portrayal of sharks in “Jaws” has led to disregard and mismanagement of sharks in fisheries, leading to population declines and little public attention for many shark species. Conservation efforts have struggled to gain traction in some areas due to reluctance to support measures to protect these important animals.
Stockhausen, the director of Jaws, acknowledged the challenge of making the film, particularly with the 25-foot mechanical shark “Bruce” used as a major character. He considered it one of his most personal and successful films, recognizing the signature score by John Williams as a significant factor in creating suspense and tension in the movie. Today, a new ethos is developing to see, understand, and save sharks from exploitation and extinction.
How did Jaws affect beach tourism?
The Jaws Effect, a 1975 film, significantly impacted the tourism on Martha’s Vineyard, now known as “Jaws Island”. The film’s iconic locations and landmarks, such as the terrifying scenes of actors trying to escape a great white shark, have become a popular attraction for visitors. The idea for the film originated from a freelance writer, Peter Benchley, who shared stories of shark attacks with guests at his home in Nantucket.
Steven Spielberg, one of Benchley’s guests, bought the rights to the novel and turned it into a movie. During pre-production, Spielberg chose Martha’s Vineyard as the prime location for the film, and the rest is history.
Was any of Jaws filmed in the ocean?
“Jaws” director Steven Spielberg faced challenges in filming in the ocean due to rough seas, heavy rain, and winds that damaged camera equipment and sank boats. The film was the first to attempt to be made on the real ocean, and the script and budget faced numerous issues. The production went over schedule by 100 days, with the budget increasing from $4 million to $9 million. Despite these challenges, the film was praised for its unique approach to the ocean and its ability to capture the essence of the underwater world.
How did Jaws influence society?
In 1974, Peter Benchley’s novel “Jaws” sparked widespread fear of sharks, leading to the creation of the 1975 film “Jaws”, which became the highest-grossing film in history. The movie depicted sharks as malevolent, vindictive creatures seeking to feed on unsuspecting bathers. However, “Jaws” also sparked widespread interest in understanding sharks, leading to the discovery of more types of sharks than scientists were aware of in 1974 and their fascinating behaviors.
Benchley became an advocate for shark protection and marine conservation. Over the years, attitudes towards sharks and their relatives, skates, and rays have evolved, and interest in understanding sharks has expanded significantly.
What did Jaws get wrong?
In the film Jaws The Revenge, the great white shark is portrayed as a vengeful predator seeking retribution against humans who have hunted and killed its kind. Nevertheless, it is not within the cognitive capacity of sharks to hold grudges or seek revenge.
What impact did Jaws have?
The film’s portrayal of the great white shark has contributed to a pervasive atmosphere of fear and misunderstanding, leading to an increase in hunting and fishing activities driven by irrational fears. This has resulted in a decline in shark populations.
What effect did Jaws have?
The film Jaws has had a profound impact on the evolution of the film industry, public perception of sharks, and the development of summer entertainment, extending beyond its initial blockbuster status.
📹 Defunctland: The History of Jaws: The Ride
Hey everyone, A LOT has changed since this video. On top of the production improving, my team and I have vastly improved our …
shark week is super hit and miss. you’ve got stuff like “GREAT WHITE MURDERER” next to a mini documentary about a nature photographer who was super excited to float on a tiny raft and get an up-close photo of a shark breaching and loved sharks so much that he made everyone promise that if the shark accidentally hit him while breaching, they would never use any of the footage because he didn’t want to villainize the shark
In all honesty, I’m still kinda afraid of the thought running into a Shark at the ocean but at the same time, there’s a level of comfort knowing they’ll actually leave you alone if you don’t start thrashing and I wouldn’t mind encountering one (with protective gear). It just sucks how they’re being killed off so quickly
Someone else quoted a line from How To Train Your Dragon, and it works compared to how wrong we were about sharks. Seeing as how that film has scary resemblances to the irl relationship between man and shark, I’d like to quote another conversation that almost perfectly encapsulates this conflict. Stoick: “They’ve killed hundreds of us!” Hiccup: “And we’ve killed thousands of them!”
Shark encounter survivor here, I can say from my down experience, as I was swimming just minding my own business when a blue shark (one of “The five man eaters”) swam up to me, that they are vastly more awe inspiring than terrifying, yes, at first I almost shat myself when I had this 2 meter thing that they always told me that was a brainless killer literally swimming directly towards me, but when it turned and started perusal me with those big grey eyes I noticed something special, there was something hypnotic about that fish, it wasn’t scary anymore, at times it got so close that I could see the ampules of lorenzini on its snout and the teeth sneaking out of it’s sad-looking mouth. A while later, as it came, it was gone, like a flash of silver appearing and disappearing in the gloom of the waters. That day changed completely my perception of sharks and I try to do the same for all the people that surround me.
My take from Nemo was that the scene was based on behavior some species display during feeding frenzy: the snout moves up, the eyes roll back, and they go nuts. I read about it in a book that spoke of how sharks are vital to the sea, only a few species attack humans, most are accidents or result of curiosity, and that we’ve done far worse to them with pollution, overhunting, and things such as shark fin soup.
My grandfather used to be a life saver in my local beach, he swam several times near Sharks by accident, most of them ignored him, one them got kind of curious and swam next to him, he told me and scratched him on the side when they bumped each other swimming and that was it, the shark swam away. There has been recently articles on my city where they can see sharks eating people, which turned out, those people were already dead and dumped in the water. I’m guessing some mafia wanted to disappear the bodies using Sharks to delete them. Even as shark ate several dead humans from unknown origins, shark attacks are extremely rare in my hometown.
For certain audiences, and especially in recent times, when people seem generally more empathetic toward non-human beings/objects, I think Jaws is for sharks what “ten legs, eight broken” is for spiders. I remember crying during my first watch of this movie as a kid. My mother made me sit through it as a sort of PSA to scare me into staying away from the beach (I always wanted to go, she didn’t like the “hanging out with your kids” aspect of parenting, this was normal behavior), I felt so bad for the shark. I hated seeing people cheering on the poor creature’s demise and demonizing it by projecting human traits and motivations on something non-human. It was the first time I realized how entitled to the world people are.
This is why I’m going into marine biology. My parents are marine biologists who left due to lack of jobs and just how disheartening the work was. It’s a disheartening job, a horrible world where you have to tear one another down in order to gain any measure of success. But some of us need to be able to do that, to make those sacrifices, in the hopes that it’ll make the world better in the future.
I love sharks ever since I was a kid when I watched some documentaries back then (when it was good) but there was one advertisement that really struck me to the core. It was an ad about stopping shark finning and plus one scene in a documentary where a shark was finned and then just tossed into the water as the narrator says it will drown as sharks need to move to swim and I cried. I cried just imagining how it must feel having your limbs cut off and then just thrown into the water to drown, I can’t even imagine myself in such a situation. Not to mention the benefit they bring to the oceans, sharks do need to be protected.
My brother told me about when he was fishing off of a pier recently, and the guy next to him reeled in a small shark. I can’t remember the type of shark, but my brother recognized it immediately as it was super rare and hardly ever seen anymore in that area. The guy who caught it swung it up in the air, and slammed it down on the dock, repeatedly, to make sure it was dead. Then threw its lifeless body back into the ocean. The guy’s young son was with him and asked him why he did that, and the guy was just like “it was a shark, they eat the fish.” Makes me so angry.
From Australia. When I was young in school, we were taught that sharks attack due to thinking we were injured seals. Sadly, a few years ago, government decided to start a shark culling that luckily most people were against. But it was so sad to hear how many sharks were killed during that period. I mean come on, we go into there territory. People who have been bitten have said theyd happily go back into the water. Edit. Nurse sharks are cute and so harmless.
My elementary school teacher liked diving on her spare time (she was really cool) and I remember she had a shark bite on her leg, though it was from a small shark. Yet she never demonized the shark nor referred to the incident as an “attack”… ever. She wasn’t afraid of the ocean and still went diving even after that. From her I learned to respect these creatures (I mean, if for any reason they decide to bite you, they certainly can) but they are far from being the killing machines Hollywood depicts them as.
I remember reading the book as a kid (probably way too young), and believing firmly that the book portrayed the mayor as the real villain, and was baffled with everyone that was suddenly so scared of sharks afterwards. Even after perusal the movie as a teen, I still thought the focus was always that the mayor was the bad guy, and to be a lot more wary of how people in charge handle dangerous situations. The shark was just an animal that was dangerous to people, but it was the mayor who made the decision not to adapt because money (through even as a kid I was fascinated with the reason why, like trying to keep businesses open, trying to keep everyone employed and being able to live there by keeping tourism open).
When I worked as a guide at an aquarium/zoo one of the most common and best things I got to teach people was about the true peaceful creatures sharks really are. We educated people about the horror that is today’s slaughtering of sharks and what that does the ecosystems, but most importantly, how to save them. I can happily say that most of our guests had a different view on sharks when they left. One of the most important things I wanted people to take from my lectures was the difference between fear and respect.
I remember growing up perusal Wild Kratts, and perusal an episode about sharks. Before I watched the episode, my opinions were based on what my mother told me about the open sea and what she was so scared of. The episode talked about the shark fin soup industry, and i vividly remember being sickened by how rapidly the species was being hunted. When I was really young I had this teacher who kept two tiny sharks in a large tank in class, letting us name them & get familiar with them. I remember a name I came up with stuck with one of the fish, and I was incredibly happy whenever I walked into class and saw the tank of them just swimming about. I spoke with my mom about her opinions on sharks last week, and she told me that her experience was very limited, legit only perusal Jaws; I’ll show this article to her later today. Its wonderfully made, thank you! <3
Those “grey nurse sharks” are actually Sand Tiger Sharks. That’s my only issue with this article essay, as I’ve reached enough of a level of obsession with sharks to identify roughly over a dozen species by a slight glance alone, much to my sister’s dismay whenever we’re at the museum giftshop looking at the little plastic shark figurines. Other than that little nitpick, this article essay is just what I need to help me explain to people that sharks are not the vicious monsters the media likes to portray them as!
I was once at an Aquarium and a woman who worked there was talking to a crowd about sharks. Most of the people weren’t willing to accept that Sharks are friendly, but explore with their mouth like a puppy would. She asked the crowd, “What was the worst thing to happen to sharks?”, nobody answered so I stood up for her and said “The movie Jaws.” She was so surprised that someone got it. Someone understood. She neglected the crowd and started chatting to me. She admitted it’s really getting to her that people don’t just turn a blind eye to the hatred towards sharks, they actually support it. Long story short, We talked for a while and decided to go on a date. Still together 2 years later.
You know it’s funny, I showed this film to my baby sister growing up one time to get her to leave me alone since she surely wouldn’t like horror movies. Since then she’s become obsessed with sharks, she loves them and thinks they are super cool. It’s just funny to me that my sister took the exact opposite message the movie was trying to give about liking sharks.
I remember when i was little around 1980 seeing a news segment about a guy who they termed and “Australian Buffalo Bill” who would swim out and was bragging he’d kill any shark he saw while he was diving. Even though I was only 10, I was able to tell that he was harpooning harmless nurse sharks and it made me pretty mad. As an adult I moved from the Canadian prairies to Australia and have encountered shark-phobia around, from an aquarium by a sanctuary that allowed people to dive with the sharks captive in the tanks (and it was advertised as a really exciting and scary thing to do) to harmful “shark nets” that are not only really too deep to be very effective but are deadly to air-breathing sealife like dolphins, turtles, and dugongs; and just people who refuse to get in the water at all due to the possibility of sharks even in unlikely areas like deep in Sydney harbour where you are much more likely to get a bad infestion from a discarded fishhook or broken bottle than ever see a shark. These people confuse me, as crossing the street here is much more dangerous. I did encounter two bronze whaler sharks the first time I snorkeled and estimated then to be about 2.5 meters long or more each, it was an amazing this to watch as they went along the reef, they weren’t interested in me, and posting about it later, some people said they would have gotten out, I felt I was lucky to see them. About fish declining in size, humans are the only species that trophy hunts. We intentionally select for the biggest, healtiest, most impressive animals for bragging rights rather than hunting for sustenance.
Some clarification: I’ve seen the 2019 shark week. I will say it has gotten better and discovery has taken the criticism of going the intimidation route for the most part. If I recall, none of the episodes/shows of shark week 2019 were really about sharks being threatening and attacking humans. Despite the edgy names, it wasn’t really like that. So what’s really left for discovery to do is get rid of the edgy names. Also: Hungry shark is sponsored by some conservationist group iirc, plus the game itself is supposed to be very silly and more or less child friendly.
the term “waste fish” just absolutely made my skin crawl. not a single animal in any ecosystem is a waste. edit: to everyone saying things like flies and mosquitoes, just because something is considered a pest to humans doesn’t mean it doesn’t have a role in the ecosystem. we have no idea how many species would be affected if mosquitoes were wiped out. edit 2: oh my god everyone stop arguing you’re all saying the same shit over and over again and not even adding anything to the conversation anymore. there’s not a single animal you’re mentioning that’s the “gotcha!” you think it is.
This is a while too late but just wanted to point out this article included a screenshot of the Hungry Shark mobile game stating it adds to the shark myths, yes the game is all about being a shark and eating endlessly without reason but the team behind the game works in cooperation with shark conservation teams and there is always links on the home screen of the game with websites to better inform people on real life shark behavior and what you can do to help
I had a friend in grade school who really liked sharks, and he when I said sharks are dangerous would get super passionate about the over hunting of sharks. I’m really glad he did because now as a young woman I understand and am disgusted by the vilification of sharks who haven’t done anything other than exist. Thank you to that friend for educating me on this topic!! And thank you for the amazing article which hopefully will reach the masses of people who still think sharks are super dangerous creatures
“sounds like something a shark would s-” okay jokes aside seriously tho, sharks are pretty chill. kinda sucks that they’re always portrayed as the antagonists. and then dolphins are portrayed as ‘good’ when they are intelligent and have the mental capacity to wake up and choose violence. sharks are just out here trying to survive. they know nothing else.
I read another Book by Peter Benchley. In German it was simple called “Haie” ( The german word for Shark). IN this Book Peter Benchley talk about his experience writing Jaws. How he was surprise the book was such a success, his regret writing the book and although the harm it brought to the image of sharks. He did write a fictional monster. This Book although told about his experience as diver and how the seas had change into a bad way, how reefs get destroyed and his very positive experience with sharks.
When I was maybe 7 or 8, I saw a documentary about sharks that had footage of live sharks being thrown back into the ocean with their fins cut off. It affected me like nothing had until that point. I cried, and then I was angry. That was the first time I ever cared about something outside of my own existence, and I’ve been a supporter of shark conservation ever since. I wrote about it in school several times from elementary school all the way through college. I’m 38 now, and I’ve loved sharks all my life. Jaws played a big role in that, and so did Shark Week. Shark Week pisses me off so bad, but it would be a lie to say it didn’t fuel my love of sharks when I was a kid in the 90s. I wish Discovery would turn it around.
Interesting thought: the idea of rogue individuals comes from encounters with land animals, and even then isn’t often true. Some of it is based on “rogue cats” basically a single big cat whose hunting range is overrun by humans and livestock, is driven from their territory by a rival, or has a medical ailment that prevents efficient hunting, and turns to rural villages that have high mortality rates and lots of herds. This tends to be mostly an Indian phenomenon with the massive economic disparity, constant epidemics and huge population . In the medieval Europe this was applied to wolves: wolf packs would turn to humans as their forests were destroyed and hunt herds, with plagues causing corpse pileups that attracted scavenging, and finally the Little Ice Age making wild prey scarce while adding more human corpses to replace them. Thus we have various “Beasts”, where a population of wolves in one settled area are identified as a single monstrous individual. The Beast of Gevaudan is only the most famous of them, as they’ve been recorded from the 14th century to the Napoleonic Wars (probably because of habitat destruction from the war and the appearances of mass animal and human graves throughout Europe) And since the ocean disguises actual shark populations, people make the assumption that the same shark is “attacking” people and attribute mammalian traits. Sharks can’t get rabies, plague and war victims don’t wind up in the sea, domestic fish don’t exist to replace wild populations, sharks in general have more varied diets, and humans can’t really invade their territory.
I had recently watched a shark week “documentary” on the National Geographic website, and it disgusted me how much they were trying to fear-monger. They would list multiple possible reasons for why sharks are returning to Cape Cod, many of which being great things like the building of kelp farms which creates new ecosystems for fish and wildlife, stricter fishing regulations resulting in more fish in the waters, and the general recuperating of the cape after severe overfishing, and made them out to be bad things since it attracted more sharks. The icing on the cake was when they stated there were no deaths by sharks on Cape Cod in the year the “documentary” was filmed. They legitimately just artificially made it a problem that people were dying/being attacked frequently on the cape. That has to count as some kind of academic dishonesty and everyone involved should be ashamed for perpetuating the evil shark narrative. The following show was about rogue sharks which is when I shut the TV off.
I once went on a fishing boat for a summer camp at an aquarium, It was the first time I ever saw a sunfish, it was sunning horizontally but when we got close to it, it turned it’s head and stared at us. It was a truly amazing experience. I had no idea how big they got until I saw the picture of one in this article taken over 50 years ago. Great article!
it just sucks how all it takes is some bad media representation for people to completely turn on a whole species. It becomes even more apparent when you get interested in a species and all you can hear and see is disgust regarding animals you love. I have 2 rats and have been interested in snakes, sharks etc and it makes me so sad when you openly get told how your lovely pets should die. Ever since I have gotten invested in rats I wanted my own, theyre honestly very intelligent and adorable. A popular misconception is that theyre dirty animals which doesnt apply to domesticated rats at all. In fact they clean themselves almost constantly, even more than cats and will be clean as long as their cage is. They all have unique personalities and its so easy to get attached to the little fluff balls makes me sad how people can be so hateful:((
I’m a big animal activist, and I just now realized how even I (the same person who takes in unwanted pets, and is even working past my fear of spiders because I know they are harmless here in Canada) i still have a fear of the ocean because of everything I saw as a kid, I hope this article gets picked up in the algorithm so more people can learn
I remember seeing the Jaws poster as a young kid and being extremely creeped out by it. A time came when I was snorkeling in the ocean, looking down into just green nothing, and imagining those shark jaws just appearing out of the depths and eating me. I panicked and booked it back to the boat, and I’ve been scared of deep water since. Which is weird for me now to actually think about, because I grew to really like sharks and I think they’re pretty cute– like big sea dogs. You can just bop em on the nose if they get too close and they’ll go away, simple as that.
Awe man! I remember hearing about this when I was in my early teens and I wrote a novel about sharks for fun based on the “Guardians of Ga’Hoole” series. A tiger shark was the main protagonist. Never got published, I wrote it on an electric typewriter for fun. But every now and then, I think about that story and how a piece of media showing sharks in a positive light could help with the overall perception of sharks.
Listen, i have an awful fear of sharks. Because of this movie. Saw it way too young and now I’ve got Thalassaphobia. I’m trying my best to get over it, actively perusal documentaries and reading up on them for as long as i can before i need to read something else. I think maybe one day, i’ll have the gumption, the courage to get in a cage and watch sharks. Maybe one day reach out as it passes and touch one’s rough skin. I don’t think its fair that I’ve had this seed of fear planted in me. I’d like to overcome it cause it definitely isnt the sharks’ fault
As stupid as it sounds, realizing as a kid that no small number of people are not just scared of sharks, but genuinely hate them & think they’re some form of evil or overly violent, despite not knowing much about them & never having seen one in their life, caused a shift in my perspective on the world. I saw myself in sharks before I knew that. Realizing it made me fear for my own life, in classic kid overthinker fashion. To this day I sometimes struggle with the idea that people might see me like a shark at the beach. I also learned not long after that a shark that bites even once, no matter the reason, is hunted down & slaughtered.
I’ve always loved sharks, I went to a marine biology aquarium when I was 7 maybe 8 and when I saw that the gift shop was selling shark plushies, I was so happy because I was upset they didn’t have live big sharks (I didn’t know what I know now), so I’ve had a love for sharks since I was very young and it upset me, and is still upsetting me that people were doing this to almost harmless creatures just minding their own business. I remember being in awe at the sight of the giant whale cadaver hanging on the ceiling (she sadly died after being beached 40-50 years ago, but she was used for research and was memorialized) and I also really enjoyed perusal the jellyfish.
Funny enough the movie Jaws had the exact opposite to me. Jaws and deep blue sea has had an impact on me, not fearing sharks but adoring them and being fascinated. with shark week being my favorite thing to watch. Looking back now I see how negative the movies and SW was. But still rather than fearing I wanted to become a marine biologist and hope to in person encounter one. Such an amazing article essay and taught me alot than I knew!
I am an 80’s baby. JAWS was actually the catalyst for my interest in great whites especially. I was the kid, during library visits be it in elementary school or leisurely with my mom and sisters (which was a neat every day activity for years after school), who gravitated to the Carcharodon carcharias books. I also started my college degree in marine science at a most reputable university but changed it to psychology the first time I went out on a boat (for our lab class) and nearly lost my stomach lining 🤮. Twas a very rough day on the high seas! That said, I’m still so captivated by them and search out educational vids on here more than anything else 🦈.
People really need to stop thinking of ANY animal as “Evil”. That’s such a human concept. Animals such as sharks, snakes, crocodiles, spiders — the “creepy” ones — aren’t capable of like, malicious intent. I mean, be afraid, be wary, be creeped out, but at the end of the day, they’re just trying to live.
Marine biologist here: Trey THANK YOU! this is all true. I’ve been working with sharks (and lots of other critters of the deep) for 11 years now. Before that I was in general pet care. To this day I’ve been bitten by about 50 hamsters and exactly 0 sharks. We NEED sharks like we need wolves in Yellowstone (look it up and you’ll see what I mean). From all of us who know we need our oceans to survive: thank you, Thank You, THANK YOU 💜
This article really helped my mind shift to a different perspective. I’ve been terrified of sharks and ocean creatures my whole life to the point where I didn’t swim in the ocean from the age of 8 to 12 because I was so afraid that a shark or killer whale would pop out of nowhere. To this day, I thought that sharks just killed people as they pleased. Now I realize that’s not the case at all, so I just want to thank you. Really thank you.
I grew up in the state of Maine and learned a lot about the lobster industry as a child. While there were affords to conserve the population of Lobsters the demand is far too overwhelming to be effective. The large old lobsters you would see in restaurants were extremely rare. I think the same is true for Lobsters and we have underestimated how long they live as we’ll BECAUSE it’s such a high paying career.
I’m sure part of the issue (when regarding public consciousness) is the “we know more about the surface of the moon than we know about the ocean” idea. It creates the idea that the ocean is so vast an mysterious that what we’re doing must be just scratching the surface of what the ocean has going on. It also doesn’t help that most oceanic life doesn’t recieve the same public attention or even interest that land mammals do. Fish really don’t fall under the cuteness bias, there are obviously the exceptions. Whales are cool, seaturtles are pretty, and dolphins and seals are cute. For most people their appreciation for the ocean only goes that far, with the rest of their opinion falling under “fish are weird and the ocean is scary.” It doesn’t help that the results of over fishing are almost never felt by the public. They can’t see the change in the ocean like they can with land habitats so they just couldn’t care less, and they won’t until we reach the point of no return and even then the majority of responses will be “aww, that’s sad,” before going about their day.
this is why i’m gonna study marine biology in college. i hope to help conserve sharks and to reduce the stigma of them. they’re amazing animals and they’ve literally been here longer than trees, we have no right to wipe them out now. they have no ill will towards us and shark “attacks” are mostly accidents. we need to work to help conserve them to make sure the don’t go extinct.
I remember when I was scuba diving in fiji. This was my first ever open water dive when I was getting my license. Around the reef there were a few reef sharks. I was a little bit scared at first, but that fear quickly went away when I saw that they didn’t really care about me. It replaced my understanding of sharks completely.
I remember when the Discovery website had reputable programming, even during shark week. My favorite shark week was from when I was very small like 5 or 6, in which one night they had programs on shark evolution. It blew my mind to see the different prehistoric sharks and shark kin so different from sharks alive today; to know they used to be as common as bony fish are today, that they used to be a part of freshwater ecosystems and came in so many unfamiliar shapes and sizes. I think that was the night that I had an awakening and truly became interested in prehistoric life beyond as just “cool animals” or “movie monsters”.
TO HELP CONSERVATION: A great way of helping out in your daily life is to make sure the fish you buy is farmed and not wild caught! I don’t know how easy that is around the world but I would think it’s doable in any country with good regulations around food labeling. Here the EU fish and other seafoods are labeled with both country of origin and production method, no matter if it’s bought prepackaged or from a fish counter, and in my experience farmed fish is widely available. Also, farmed fish isn’t just better for the eco system but it’s safer as well since man-made fodder prevents parasitic infections and ensures the fish contains less pollutants and waste, even none depending on regulations. Fish farming is way more environmentally friendly than that of any other livestock so supporting the industry has a positive impact in general, at least at the time of writing. Making smart decisions and being mindful of how your actions impact nature doesn’t have to be difficult 🙂 If anyone has any more tips on helping conservation efforts in your daily life or as an average Joe please comment below!
Watching Jaws as a child made me interested in learning more about real sharks. It’s sad that so many people gave into fear instead. I find nature documentaries that try to assign humanizing stories to wild animals (well, to the cute ones, since uglies and predators are portrayed as savage beasts) distasteful for the same reasons. The shark is just being a shark, or the hyena is just being a hyena, etc.
When I was a kid, I LOVED this movie, still do. So when my teacher told our class we can present on anything we wanted. I picked sharks and as I started researching them I realized they are harmless. It’s super rare if a shark harms or kills someone. They are beautiful creatures and are killing machines. If you go to aquariums they swim around with many fish and ignore them. They’re amazing!!!!
I don’t understand how industrial fishing with its floating fish factories and radar-guided fishing technology is still not banned – small fishermen worldwide complain that their future is being stolen from them and their families because they cannot compete with the multi-billion dollar fishing industry. A ban on such fishing fleets would at least eliminate two of these problems and allow the fish stocks in our oceans to recover.
Honestly, I’d pay to see a Jaws sequel where the Shark is the victim. Just set the movie with a main character who is there to hunt another giant shark making the audience see him as the hero but over time reveal that he is driven by a personal and irrational hatred for the animal because of some distorted childhood memory of a shark attack or something.
As someone who grew up learning correct facts about sharks after about five years of life, I always liked the idea that the shark from Jaws was some kind of anomaly – either a massive great white potentially sick or mentally impaired so that its survival instinct was inhibited, or it was some kind of living fossil like cretoxyrhina, leptostyrax, or, as cheesy as it is, a megalodon. My own interpretation of the story has kept negative stereotypes from coloring my view of sharks, and I think it’s a legitimate strategy when trying to change peoples minds.
Now that I think about it, it’s not entirely the films fault for the effects it had on sharks. It’s the ignorance of the public that thought this was all real. It reminds me of the war of the worlds broadcast in a way were a well put together peice of art calses mass hysteria. I’m glad that our veiw on sharks are changing and were now seeing them as just big fish that act like…well…fish.
The ocean needs a few hundred years of little to no fishing to fully recover. I don’t eat fish very often because commercial fishing is pretty horrible; so many fish are caught and you KNOW a lot of it is not going to be eaten (I think something like half of all food is thrown out). It’s hella unsustainable and really wasteful. Shameful. My suggestion, for whatever it’s worth, is if you want to eat fish tonight YOU go and catch a few, eat at a restaurant that is licensed to sell it or buy from a fish farm. This doesn’t mean you can’t eat fish, but instead you will be forced to practice sustainable fishing, which would also set a good example for the next few generations.
When I was a little kid Jaws scared the hell out of me, but as I got older (pre-highschool) I was well into my love of animals/”circle of life” phase (thank you Lion King!) and eventually realised that sharks are still as they’ve always been, and that’s pure animals. By which I mean they do whatever they need to do to survive and ensure their own survival and nothing else, they don’t waste time with grudges or playing games. Same thing goes for the Xenomorph I guess, the Terror of the Nostromo was just doing what it was born to do: ensure the survival of the species and kill anything that isn’t clad in black armoured skin. More often than not a shark will take a curious “ooh what’s this taste like” bite, if they truly man-eaters then they’d have finished the job every time, they’re more than capable of doing so but the fact is once they realise we are not their preferred blubbery morsel they lose interest. No animal will show outright malice to humanity first, if that ever happens then I wanna know what the hell you did to deserve it! Leave the Sharks to their own business and I’m sure they’ll do the same … except for the shark in Jaws 3 (those assholes killed her kid, she was justified) oh and the shark in Jaws: The Revenge, that big bugger was out for revenge (it was in the damned title!) now I’m wondering if it was one of Bruce’s great-grandsharks? 🤔🤔🤔
It also kinda annoys me how predatory animals in article games are always portrayed as aggressive, rabies-infected monsters. Like every game with water has random sharks swimming in it and they will just attack you on sight and swim around the beach just to wait for you. For example in The Forest, Sea of Thieves, GTA V or Crysis. And many games use sharks just as unstoppable monsters so players can’t swim too far. (So they don’t reach the invisible wall) Games like Raft or Stranded Deep basically started just with the player, a raft and a shark as the entire game. And other games have other hostile predators like wolves in The Long Dark or Skyrim. And in all cases those predators are just mindless attack machines attacking the people on sight. And don’t get me wrong. I like all of those games. And it’s not that bad. It’s just how article games work. You want some wild life. And if something has some big jaws and sharp teeth, it will attack you. Easy, one enemy more. And to use sharks to “defend” level borders is kinda smart. But especially in survival games it’s kinda unrealistic. It’s not something bad for the individual games, but it’s just an omnipresent cliché – or maybe even a rule. And yes, my true reason to be annoyed is my 7 Days to Die-Wolf-PTSD. Everytime I play I am constantly harassed by the wolf mafia. I can be in a building and they will come and tear down any door or wall between them and me. They are like assassins.
Sharks aren’t my favourite animal, and they do scare me, but that doesn’t mean we should hunt them down! They’re still beautiful creatures and deserve to live, who cares if they attack the occasional human? Our fault for designing wet-suits that look like seals! (Saw a TV show once that did talk about that issue, solution? Designing suits that resemble seaweed, absolutely genius.) I loved the article Trey! Keep up the fantastical work! <3
I had no idea we were hurting the oceans this much and it truly saddened me to see the wildlife like this at all. Hopefully we finally learn our lesson and start realizing that animals of all kinds deserve to live on this planet just as much as we do. Thank you for educating me and great article as well. 👍
I’m really glad this article was made. As a young kid, I was always fascinated with sharks, but even to this day, while I think they are some of the most fascinating and beautiful creatures to exist, I’m deathly terrified of them. They are largely misunderstood. They really play into fear of the unknown, especially in JAWS. Sharks are understudied creatures, who live in an understudied environment. I believe a game like “Maneater” actually aims to undo the stigmas and association by showing a “rogue shark” from the shark’s perspective. Not only that, but it provides many shark-related facts, including the fact that most shark-related deaths are actually from blood loss. They bite down, realize they don’t like the taste (as stated in the article, we don’t have enough blubbery fat), and let go. Sharks, like any wild animal, can be provoked, but that shouldn’t set them apart from a mountain lion or a grizzly bear. It’s really a shame the reputation they have from a movie and its successors, and my only hope is that we as a society can grow to co-exist with sharks, and other sea species.
Shark appears in the beach Shark: How do I open this PDF? Human: SHARKS!!! Get out of the water from this devil! Shark: Doesn’t give a damn and swims around to find some tuna until he found a fish Wow, rude. Maybe this fellah knows. Do you know how to open this PDF… Ok you swam off. Maybe this seagle knows? For real, if there’s shark, I’ll just be calm, take a dip and snooze with the boys. Or just pet them if they’re calm. Edit: Added more for John H Baumbaertner because he want to have a continue of the joke. If you can put your own, be my guest
Excellent work on a very important issue, overall, sharks being only a microcosm of a problem that I believe will reshape the entire planet as we know it if we do not take steps to preserve as much as possible now. Excellent way to inform the public at large using the most wide renowned pop culture source of sharks. Bravo!
One of my favorite portrayals of sharks is in the article game Abzû. None of the sea creatures in that game seek to harm the player, and a Great White actually proves to be one of the player character’s closest allies. Plus the game is absolutely gorgeous visually and musically, would highly recommend it.
I would absolutely love to hear the whole audio recording of your conversation with that guy, very interesting and very entertaining to listen to two intelligent people talking. In fact, I think a podcast with you and other guests discussing genetic, biological or palaeontological subjects would be so entertaining and fun. The episode you did on your trip to the Mississippi where there was a clip of you talking amongst yourselves genuinely left me wanting to listen to you guys discussing your subject areas, theories and ideas. I get right now with Covid-19 it might be difficult and your schedule might be busy, but honestly, a podcast with you guys choosing a subject would be so very interesting to me. You could have a guest on and discuss their specialist areas. Or even just talk to some viewers over Skype and discuss the views and opinions of the general public on things like evolution, cryptids and the historical significance of religion or folklore or fashion. I know I’d like to have a conversation with you, even if it was just over email, let alone over a call, and I doubt I’m the only one who’d love to hear you converse with others in fields that interest ourselves and you 🙂 Keep up the awesome articles!
The common misconception is that people make this seem like ite all the sharks fault like we own the world for them harming us. But those same people keep forgetting that the sharks have lived and dominated the ocean for millenia. It’s our fault for disrupting their law. Thank you for reading this comment 🙂
Now this is the quality content I like to watch! I knew most of this already because I’m very interested in these topics; but you managed to put all this information that I learned from hundreds of sources over the years together in a very well structured, edjucating and still entertaining article. Kudos! And thanks for spreading awareness about overfishing and the problems our oceans are facing! Now when I try to edjucate people, I only have to link them one article instead of 3 documentaries and 20 articles! 😄 Since you briefly mentioned it here, would you consider making such a article on the topic of whales and whaling (historical and current)? “An Ecological article Essay Part 2 – Moby Dick did nothing wrong”? 😉
I have an Personal Experience with Sharks, an great White to be specific. The Female Great White was swimming near the Shore Region, as I was on an Diving Trip with an Guide and an group of Tourists. The Sharks swam by us and I thought that something was off, not just that it was this close to Shore, but in the behaviour of swimming was I stealthily swimming away and found an Great White Young that was trapped in an Debrie of an Fishing Net leftover and helped it out. The little one paniced and I let my hands away from it. The Guide soon found me and “told” me to get away from the Little Shark, but I signaled her that the Great White earlier was looking for her Young, which was the Little Shark I just freed. She came with me, guiding the little one away from the Shore and to the Great White. Soon we found its Mother and had it swim over, the Mother then came up close, letting me Touch her and swam shortly after away.
18:50 for me personally, i dont think in the game “Hungry Shark” its not about demonizing the sharks but rather showing how cruel human was to the ocean (like there’s a shit ton of trash and toxins that depletes our health dramatically, or a diver that shoots a harpoon / slice us with a knife when we doesnt even think to kill or eat them) Idk its just my perspective, but its a fun game for sure. (I play all of the series lmao)
Really well done, dude. This was great! I love fishing, and occasionally eat my catch (really only seasonal trout and in season walleye), but 99% of the time just do catch and release. Last couple times I caught actual massive, old ass beasts, I couldn’t bring myself to keep them.. It’s like with hunting (which I don’t do anymore, though mainly out of impracticality), I just can’t with people who do it for trophies, which I honestly can’t think of a circumstance where that’s ethical. If I could, I’d hunt deer (which are way overpopulated in my state) for meat, which I do think is more ethical than most other ways of attaining it, but anyway, I’ve veered off topic… Point being, of you love to fish, by all means go have fun, but please just be respectful enough of nature to not go trophy fishing…
Lions, kills around 200 humans per year. Humans: How majestic, they’re kings of the animals. Elephants, kills around 300 humans per year. Humans: How beautiful, they’re so intelligent. Sharks, kills around 10 humans per year. Humans: How scary, they are monsters, we should exterminate them. Logic? XD I mean, I don’t want to blame elepants or lions, just it’s stupid that we care so much for these beasts, and consider sharks as bad while they kill least humans ^^’
Speaking of the harmful portrayal of sharks in movies, when I was a kid, I saw a animted movie about a fish defeating a evil shark; the shark was defeated by being caught by fishermen, and it was implied he was then made into food, and every other fish cheered at that. I must admit I really found that extremely disturbing as a child.
I wrote to Peter Benchley when I was in the 7th grade. It was the early 90’s. The novel was out of print and the movies had become a joke. I had to write a letter to a celebrity. I wasn’t like other kids, I wrote to Peter Benchley. He answered me back, and he signed the letter with the same shark drawing as appears at 36:59. I still have it.
Something that really helped me get over the fear of sharks that was instilled by the media was someone saying that sharks are kind of like cats in the ocean. They’re skittish but curious which is one of the reasons why sharks sometimes bite humans even though we’re not their prey – they don’t recognise us and are curious to investigate. And while we humans have hands to check things out with, they have teeth, so they bite to inspect something and see if it’s good to eat. This also helped to internalise that they aren’t evil as many like to claim – they just do what they’re used to doing. A cat doesn’t catch a mouse or a bird or some kind of weird lizard because it wants to scare them, it catches them because it’s hungry and wants to eat. It’s the same with sharks. They don’t hunt and kill because they want to frighten us, they do it because that’s what they do and there is zero malice in that. I know that the cat analogy doesn’t 100% translate, but it helped me see these fascinating creatures with more nuance again and I hope that it helps someone else.
In short, to quote Randy Feltface: “They did not go rogue, they are just doing what Mother Nature programed to do for thousands of years. You see that bit there, that huge wet bit. Thats their bit. See this bit here, this dry bit that you are standing on with your two legs. Thats our bit. When you leave your bit and go into their bit, you’re going to get bit.”
idk how we fix this. I like playing games when I play as all-hungry shark (or any water creatures if that matter) and can see the value of how cool these monsters are. But, I also educate myself to know more about real sharks. I didn’t know feeding frenzy doesn’t exist till today tho. The idea that supposedly-educational series demonize predators has been around forever, some people excited to watch them because ‘look how these dangerous powerful predator goes’ but the fact that the series do harm is disheartening.
The only recorded casualty on a zeppelin in WWII was when a US observation balloon near the Florida Keys was shot down by a U Boat. The crew all survived and were stranded on the wreckage and waited until a sea plane arrived to pick them up. Just as it was touching down to rescue them, one of the crewmen was eaten alive by a shark and was never recovered.
I actually had a bit of an argument about this with my mom. We were perusal the movie Meg, and I made a sarcastic remark about how the characters could just leave the megalodon alone and they won’t hurt anyone. My mom then told me they can’t do that because the megalodon would eat people. I told her that it wants to eat sea animals, not people since people are not on sharks menus. People only get attacked by sharks when they go into the ocean, aka their home and territory. My mom then said she still wouldn’t trust sharks anyway since they often attack people. I told her they don’t, and that has only happened a few times in real life. And that there is speculation that sharks actually don’t like the taste of humans since we’re not naturally on their menu. She didn’t say anything after that
We need like a horror movie from the POV of a group of sharks being hunted by monsters who are actually humans, but it has to be live-action, otherwise it will be disregarded as “for children because animated”. Also no happy ending, but it gets us invested into the characters of the sharks. But it still can’t be a doku, that wouldn’t reach enough people, but some sort of action movie…. I have no idea really if such a movie would work, but I would love to have sth to turn around this wrong view on these interesting animals.
Bravo for saying this! I also love the movie, but it definitely worsened the reputation of sharks. I am a shark-lover, marine environmentalist and tour guide, and I’ve lost count of the number of passengers who are terrified about sharks of the ocean, and point at this movie as the source of their trauma.
I was a Skipper on this ride from 1995 to 1998. Summers were brutal; especially during the fire effects. Falling in was extremely dangerous and one of the reasons a huge Emergency Stop button were installed on the boats. The Pit (the area underwater housing the shark mechanics) was actually 15 feet deep. The shark rested on a scissor lift. If you fell in and were caught under the lift, it would drag you down and eventually crush you.
Worked at Universal for a while, started in the Jaws area actually. The bit about using real shark’s teeth reminded me about the statue everyone would take pictures with. The famous statue, until recently, the teeth were fiberglass molded to the rest of the body, so when people would inevitably bump their head, their shoulder, their arm, etc, they could get some serious scrapes, tear their clothes, even draw blood. I used to joke “the red on the statue’s teeth? That’s not paint.” Sometime after the ride closed and the statue was moved next to the lagoon, they finally removed the fiberglass teeth and replaced them with rubber ones. But for a couple days the shark had no teeth and it was hilarious.
I remember a while ago, I was at Universal Studios on some holiday. They were selling “Yard of Beer,” you know a 3-foot long glass of beer… It was getting late and people were pretty liquored up and we decided to ride Jaws. Now, this was later in its lifespan… maybe 2010 or so? Therefore, the ride was in a questionable state of repair and the employees had grown somewhat cynical. We boarded the boat and went through the ride as usual until the first opportunity to use the grenade launcher came. The cast member raised it up and tried to shoot it and said “Oh no, I’m out of ammo! I gotta use my Kung Fu! Perfectly timed, he flailed his arms around then kicked and yelled “HIYAAAH!” Then in the water, BOOM! Then he got all cocky, like “Oh yeah we gonna get dis shark!” It turned into us chasing the shark with the skipper screaming fake Chinese while karate chopping and kicking explosions. The drunk passengers loved it and egged him on. 10/10 best time I ever rode Jaws.
I remember riding this when I was a kid. My family tricked me into thinking it was a tour on a boat )I didn’t speak English so I didn’t understand when they where explaining the shark) so I hopped in the boat very happily. Imagine how scared and confused I was when a shark started to attack the boat! (And yes you could feel the heat from the explosion. )
Man, I remember the first time my family and I went to universal. My dad was deadset on all 4 of us going on the JAWS ride. He went up to the guy as everyone was boarding, and he asked where was the best spot for the shark biting the boat. Soon as he was told which row, my dad made sure my, at the time, 10 year old sister sat in that row. The look on her face when the shark jumped up to bite the boat, was sooo worth it. Best memory from that trip. Anyway, great article as always.
My family got to experience the original version of the ride just once. It was damn impressive when it worked. I remember the shark biting a chunk out of the boat freaked my kid sister out pretty bad. The effect was realistic enough that she was convinced that the boat was about to sink and we were all going to die.
I’ve ridden this ride easily a half-dozen times while it operated and it always seemed to hinge on the skipper. We had some really good ones who got into it and had fun and we (the guests) had a blast. If they were uninterested or boring it was a real let-down. I miss this one for sure. No Animations or CGI. All practical. All real. You just can’t replace that with a screen.
ok- this article ruined my day.. I worked on the jaws ride 1998-1999. I subsequently moved to the west coast- for the heck of it I looked up the ride and saw that it closed! – ha I still have my “costume” shirt. I guess it is a collectors item now. Welcome aboard watch your step, take your seat and we’ll get ready to go…. My name is “Ron” and I’ll be your skipper- loved this job….
I am SO grateful that I got to experience the Jaws ride twice before it closed down. I’ll never forget the first time because it was raining hard and we were dressed in yellow ponchos getting drenched by the rain. It was only me and my grandmother that went on the ride. We were horror movie buddies and we loved Jaws. The heavy rain we were in really enhanced the experience, making it WAY more terrifying! And the fact that we were also in yellow ponchos was the subtle icing on the cake that made it even scarier because in one of the sequels at the very beginning of the movie, a guy gets eaten by Jaws and he’s in a yellow poncho/raincoat. I got to experience the ride one other time in my life before it closed down. The weather was clear that day so I got to experience it the “normal” way but it wasn’t the same for 2 reasons…1. The bad weather the first visit actually added to it and made it better. 2. and more importantly…my grandmother was no longer with us 😥 She was all I could think about during the ride and it just wasn’t the same. She died May 1st 2014. In a strange way…experiencing that ride for the last time felt like a way to say goodbye to her. Because I never had the chance to in person. I miss you so much Glinda Gilreath! 🥲💓
The shot at 12:26 finally answers a confused childhood memory, from the late 70’s, that the Jaws shark at Universal Studios was stiff and disappointing and nothing like the footage in most of this article. That wasn’t Jaws: The Ride, it was just the shark popping up (literally) on the tram tour. Thanks for bringing together all the better if not perfect incarnations of theme park Jaws.
My wife and I went to Florida in November 2011. We mainly went to Disney World and stayed at one of the Disney resorts. But we did go to Universal for 2 days (one for the main park, the other for islands of adventure). I didn’t even know until after the trip that the Jaws Ride was scheduled to close just a couple of months later. I did ride it while we were there. And it was obvious that the ride had seen better days. When you first see the shark fin come up out of the water, it had noticeable rust streaks on it. LOL
I remember riding this ride when it was open. I rode it in the summer of 2011…I loved it. Was sad to see it go, as it was a representation to one of my favorite movies of all time. I was glad to have gotten to experience the many sharks you encounter on the ride, and believe me when I say this: articles of it do NOT do justice. that damn thing was HUGE. But with it’s constant state of upkeep, it’s a no wonder why it needed to close down for good. R.I.P. Jaws, Universal Orlando…I will miss you.
I remember going to this in like…idk, 2010? or was it 2013… maybe it was 2013 because the jaws ride wasn’t there anymore…but it was?? idk anymore. the most I remember is at least seeing a sign for the ride, and also a giant cockroach, and also a guy vomiting really heavily onto the sidewalk! also some guy who was drawing portraits recognized my soul eater shirt and drew death the kid saying “happy 13th birthday” on my portrait 10/10. …. 8/10. thanks bro!! I guess it was in 2013 then, since I’m 20 now. also, they really just kept the jaws ride advertised even after it closed, huh? weird. even weirder though is that I remember them being like “it’s not working right now!!” …so maybe it really was before it closed??? ahhhhhhh idk time is weird for me. pretty much the only times I’ve ever been remotely happy are during these amusement park trips, which happened nearly every year for a while before that birthday… well anyways, thanks for coming to my ted talk! <3 (and don't ask how someone who can afford a yearly trip to every florida park could live in poverty 99% of the year, because the answer kinda comes from the question...) ahhh wait no no no...I think maybe they said the ride was over for the day??? I really can't figure this out. it doesn't matter even. but it's 2am in a pandemic and there's a giant wasp in the bathroom and I need to comment- okay okay, I think I got this! it was probably around 2007 because I don't think harry potter whatever was there yet-- but I do remember going in 2013 to harry potter land...place. idk I'm not a fan really, but I got a sick ravenclaw scarf (and obvs. no wand because who the hell can afford a $200 fucking wand on top of going to universal tbh). ... PS: SHARK SHARK SHARK SHARK SHARK SHARK-