Jaws on big screen with live orchestra

CENK ERDEM

One of the most iconic horror movies of all time, Steven Spielberg’s unforgettable “Jaws” is now set to take stage with the accompaniment of BBC Concert Orchestra for this year’s Festival of Film at London’s Royal Albert Hall. 

BBC Concert Orchestra will perform John Williams’ legendary score at the Royal Albert Hall’s famous auditorium. The film and orchestra screening of the notorious “Jaws” will also include three pieces of music that was previously composed by Williams for the movie back in 1975 but was removed from the movie at the final stage.  

The Festival of Film will start on Oct. 20. The tickets can already be found on the venue’s website. The world premiere of the screening of “Jaws” is now ready to remind us our deepest fears.  

Interestingly, people still love the images of “Jaws,” they wear t-shirts with sharks on them, and drink coffee in mugs with the film’s iconic scenes printed on them, thus they contribute to its legacy via pop culture but are also still scared of the idea of sharks in deep water because of the unforgettable film.  

Why are people scared of the film? First of all, psychologically, we are built to fear the unknown and we all carry the memories of our ancestors’ survival experiences at an unconscious level.

So, naturally, our instinct to survive raises our anxiety over any danger, especially when it comes to the unknown like the dark depths of water without knowing what is lurking below. As you can imagine, our ancestors do not have many memories with beautiful beachgoers, but instead they have so many lethal experiences when remembering memories of the sea. So, the movie “Jaws” directly stimulates our deepest fears.

Moreover, Williams’ powerful music playing on each attack scene in the movie makes our anxiety stronger just because we tend to remember bad, terrifying and negative memories longer than the positive ones, which you can blame it on the part of the brain called the amygdala.

Nevertheless, it can be useful prejudice to be afraid of taking a dip in the ocean as it can protect us from unknown dangers. But being terrified of the idea of sharks even if you’re not talking about a deep ocean but instead, when you’re in the shallow parts of the sea, it is natural to become quiet irrational. But even some irrational fears, which are also known as phobias, can be explained by the experiences of our ancestors, just like the fear of snakes (ophiophobia), which has been theorized by scientists that it’s a kind of innate reaction based on our vital instinct to react to dangerous threats. Additionally, we have to face the unknown dangers in the sea where we may feel so vulnerable to danger.

Excitement and adrenaline

Of course, there are horror movie fans who love “Jaws,” considering its popularity, and scientific studies show that these fans are likely to be filled with excitement and adrenaline. So for instance, children who like thrill in amusement parks also love “Jaws” for its powerful attack scenes. Some of those kids are now in their 40s who remember the film from their childhoods. The newer generations who grow up as horror fans surely love to discover horror classics like “Jaws.”

Besides, people are generally terrified by the film and horror fans might like knowing that people are scared of the film, because horror fans enjoy these movies most if they know many are scared of it too.

So in many perspectives, when you look at the movie on a psychological level, “Jaws” is the perfect example to see that it changed the game way back in the 1970s.

We still observe people mumbling the famous “Jaws” theme, composed by Williams, when they swim deep and are afraid of the uncertainty that lies beneath their feet. So, this is again related to human survival instinct against threats and to the unknown no matter where you swim.

Additionally, in a psychological perspective, we can talk about galeophobia (fear of sharks) and thalassophobia (fear of the open sea) but all goes back to the memories of our ancestors’ experiences.

Above all, “Jaws” as a movie is also powerful regarding the dramatic elements and character development, which gives it a special value as a thriller. Its legacy is still strong, and now this year’s Festival of Film at the Royal Albert Hall will make it even stronger.