Question: Is the shark in this one at all related to "Bruce" (the shark from the original film). The woman's line "Sharks don't take things personally Mr Brody" made me suspicious.
Connor Noiles
12th Feb 2016
Jaws 2 (1978)
Chosen answer: That is highly unlikely. The woman is only pointing out to Brody that he is making it a personal issue when what he is dealing with is an animal that lacks emotion, intelligence, or self-awareness and is only acting on its primal instinct.
The ironic thing is that is the entire plot line for Jaws: The revenge.
12th Feb 2016
Jaws (1975)
Question: In the pond scene, after the shark attacks the poor man on the paddle boat, why didn't he go after Michael too? He just swam past him, sparing him.
Answer: In addition, the original scene called for Michael to be in the arms of the man, with the man in the jaws of the shark. Michael is carried across the water and the released by the man just before the shark takes him under. Spielberg ultimately felt that this was over the top gruesome and changed the scene.
Chosen answer: The horror of "Jaws" was not so much the physical trauma of being eaten alive as it was the terror of not knowing who would be next. So, we see the panicking pier fisherman spared although the shark could have easily taken him; we see the shark randomly select the Kintner boy while sparing hundreds of other terrified people in the water at Amity's public beach; and we see the shark just barely spare Michael after eating the man in the pond. Although he wasn't physically harmed, Michael was hospitalized in shock after the encounter with the shark; so, he obviously suffered unimaginable terror. It's that "almost eaten" factor that sells the film. Captain Quint's story of the USS Indianapolis drives home the point that waiting to be eaten is as terrifying as actually being eaten, and that's what film maker Steven Spielberg very successfully conveyed all throughout the movie.
Answer: Excellent answers, and just to add one more point: the shark in the movie is not a normal one. He doesn't act just out of hunger, but also out of sheer malevolence: in fact, just like in the novel, it's implied there's *something* about him, something almost supernatural. He may have spared Michael because he had just secured a meal, to escape the gathering humans before they can harm him... or because killing the boy wouldn't have entertained him sufficiently.
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Answer: For what it's worth, in the novelization the shark is a female and pregnant with the offspring of the first movie's shark, but that's not brought up in the film at all.