Channel 4 (UK) Documentaries

Jaws: The Great White Myth (2012x50)

Air date: Oct 06, 2012

There are very few movies we can say truly changed the world, but Jaws is one of them. Audiences stood in lines that wrapped entire city blocks to watch the world's first summer blockbuster. Careers were made, fortunes were created, and ways of directing and scoring movies and shooting special effects were changed forever when it was released. But the impact the film had on the oceans and their inhabitants was as big as the audience it found, and at least as surprising. In the aftermath of the film's release, sharks were vilified and killed, leading to their near-disappearance from the east coast of America. At the same time, public fascination with sharks led to a golden age of shark science that completely changed our view of the ocean and how it works. And as the science began showing us how real sharks behave, it spurred a worldwide conservation effort whose earliest champion was Jaws author Peter Benchley. Jaws: The Great White Myth reveals the stories of how lives and the natural world were significantly influenced by this infamous movie monster from 1975.