"That's the one thing I still fear. I don't want to be eaten by sharks, but sharks are mad at me for feeding frenzy of crazy sports fishermen.

Steven Spielberg is reflecting upon how his movie "Jaws", which was based on the iconic film, had severe repercussions for the shark population.

During an appearance on BBC Radio 4’s "Desert Island Discs", the 76-year old Oscar Award-winning director acknowledged that the blockbuster hit of 1975 put a target on sharks.

Spielberg admitted that "that's one thing I still fear." "Not to be eaten by sharks, but that sharks are mad at me for feeding frenzy of crazy fisherman that occurred after 1975. I really, and still to this day, regret the loss of shark population due to the book and film. That is something I truly regret."

"Jaws" was the story of a great white shark who terrorized a small town on the coast, killing and inflicting a series of violent attacks. Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, and Richard Dreyfuss starred in the movie. It won three Academy Awards.

Peter Benchley, the author of the 1974 novel which became the basis for the movie, shared the same thoughts about the book in 2006. He also expressed his regrets that the book made sharks villains. Benchley, who was a shark conservationist after he was wrongly portrayed the animals as killing machines, spoke out to the Los Angeles Times.

"Knowing all that I know, I couldn't write that book today." He said that sharks don't attack human beings and don't hold grudges.

His 2002 nonfiction book, "Shark Trouble", was his attempt to make amends for his previous novels' shark hysteria. Benchley was a champion for sharks in the years that followed his death. He gave lectures on marine conservation and traveled around the globe to create documentaries that featured him swimming alongside sharks and whales.

He told the Daily Express that he hoped "Jaws" would have brought sharks to the public's attention at a time where we urgently need to reevaluate how we care for the environment.

Mongabay is a news website dedicated to conservation and environment science. It looked at 109 shark movies from 1958-2021. Only one of them, "Finding Dory," in 2016, didn't portray sharks as threats.

"What we found was that the film portrays sharks in a consistent manner with what is reported by news media. Except for one film, all of them featured sharks that bit people or were frightening. The most striking thing about sharks was their fear," the article stated. "... "... It also makes people more likely want potentially deadly mitigation techniques.

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Title: Steven Spielberg Regrets How Jaws Negatively Impacted Shark Populations
Sourced From: toofab.com/2022/12/20/steven-spielberg-regrets-how-jaws-negatively-impacted-shark-populations/
Published Date: Tue, 20 Dec 2022 22:04:43 +0000

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