MovieChat Forums > Special and Visual Effects > I'm really disgusted

I'm really disgusted

posted 16 years ago by squeezebox
8 replies | jump to latest

My twelve year old cousin recently told me he watched JAWS. I said, what a great movie! One of my favorites. He said in a very deragatory tone the shark was so fake looking that he could only laugh at the movie.

I was tempted to lecture him, but I didn't. So I'll just rant here.

Okay, yes, special effects are objectively more advanced now than they were in the 70s (even the 80s and 90s) and certainly moreso that previous decades. Here's my question: SO WHAT????????

Why should the fact that the special effects are not up to today's standards (a ridiculous and meaningless way to judge a movie) hinder one's enjoyment of a movie? It's a MOVIE! It's fantasy. It shouldn't matter whether or not the effects are breath-takingly realistic. KING KONG still works. JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS still works. 2001 still works. STAR WARS still works. And JAWS certainly still works.

I think there is a weird need by some people to somehow feel "above" what they watch. They intentionally look to nitpick in order to be able to brush off an older movie, especially one that is considered a classic. They hear that a movie is scary, they're determined to not be scared. They hear a movie is thrilling, they are determined to not be thrilled.

JAWS. The shark actually looks pretty damn real. Watch the Discovery channel sometime during shark week and you'll see the special effects even by today's standards are pretty convincing. Even the one scene in which the shark's mechanical seams do show a bit (Quint's death) is still effective because it's so damn horrifying. The scene still gives me chills. It doesn't matter that the shark looks, for lack of a better word, fake.

People can't get lost in the story any more. They're too busy picking the movie apart to make themselves feel superior. I don't think it's a new trend. I'm sure people in the 50s took great delight in negating movies from the 30s for their primitive special effects.

Well, maybe the effects are "primitive". If someone hadn't invented the wheel, there may have been be no cars. And if George Melies hadn't made A TRIP TO THE MOON, there may very well have been no frigging HARRY POTTER.

[–] rnigma-1 16 years ago

I can appreciate old school FX if they're well-staged and not too obvious. But who among us hasn't played "Spot the matte painting" or "look for the wires" years ago?

[–] Nick-1593 16 years ago

What makes Jaws so good is that often the tension is built up without seeing the shark. Probably the thing that made me jump out of my skin most was when Roy Scheider is shovelling chum off the back of the boat and the shark rears up. Who cares if it was rubber?

[–] heather-sprenger 16 years ago

The scariest part of Jaws in my opinion is the very beginning when the girl gets chomped while skinny-dipping. The shark was nowhere in sight - all of the action took place underwater and you could see it in the girl's face! Brilliant and terrifying. I can still barely watch that scene.

[–] zeroalias 16 years ago

Shouldn't be a surprise - most of today's action films are special effects, stunts and noise, enhanced (sometimes) by a story and not the other way around.

[–] rnigma-1 16 years ago

Yeah, it was unexpected because it was right after Brody wisecracked "How'd you like to chomp some of this sh--?"

[–] fyo_films 16 years ago

There have been crappy action movies for longer than ten, fifteen years.

Everybody runs.

[–] sticktoon 16 years ago

Well lets be fair... He is 12. He is growing up in a time where the visual effects are SO much more advanced than they were back then. For somebody who wasn't around when Jaws came out and they see the effects we have now, then something like that could very well kill the movie for them. As a matter of fact if I heard anybody under 20 trying to defend the movie I'd be pretty sure they were just trying to fit in and hop the bandwagon (I'm assuming you are well over 20 or else we shouldn't even be having this discussion), so it's fine that a 12 year old is being honest. You can't force him to like it. If this movie came out today nobody would like it, because lets be honest... the special effects do kind of suck compared to today's standards. Besides, men under 20-25 years old (sometimes even their whole life) generally like action movies so special effects are important to them. If you were going to lecture your cousin about the movie Jaws then you should invest in a hobby :S

[–] ian-wr 16 years ago

He's saying-"Come on down and 'chum' some of this s##t"