Lo squalo, le strategie di marketing della Universal e la construzione della "Jawsmania"

• Jaws (Steven Spielberg, 1975) set a new standard for Hollywood film production by introducing the concept of “summer blockbuster,” but it also changed the way in which people thought about sharks. Almost 40 years after the release of the movie, the idea of sharks as ferocious man-hunters still underpins public opinion. This conceptualization of sharks as ruthless killers is mythical rather than factual, and in this presentation I intend to track the mechanisms that rooted the idea deep into popular culture. My research addresses the problematic of media constructions through a case study of the movie Jaws by looking into the production process, and applying Barbara Klinger’s interpretation of Epiphenomena (1989). Through intensive archival work, the paper studies how cinema travels into popular culture, by following the traces of the movie into other media, and the surrounding texts linked to marketing and merchandising; underlining its position as an integral part in the construction of myths, while tying to prove the connection between the movie and the stigmatized portrayal of sharks.

Subject headings

HUMANIORA  -- Konst -- Filmvetenskap (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- Arts -- Studies on Film (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Medie- och kommunikationsvetenskap (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Media and Communications (hsv//eng)

Keyword

jaws

spielberg

marketing

epiphenomena

new hollywood

Cinema Studies

filmvetenskap

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)