Special and Visual Effects : I'm really disgusted

I'm really disgusted

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.

Re: I'm really disgusted

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?

Re: I'm really disgusted

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?

Re: I'm really disgusted

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

Re: I'm really disgusted

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

Re: I'm really disgusted

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.

Re: I'm really disgusted

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.

Re: I'm really disgusted

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

Everybody runs.

Re: I'm really disgusted

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

Re: I'm really disgusted

When the frescos of Pompei get taken to a landfill because they are old and dirty and unrealistic and etc I'll be worried. The new and improved special effects aren't that great anyway. They are just fake-looking in a modern way. Some of the old special effects were pretty darn real looking. If stuff looks too real it risks being unappealing, like reality can be. Art direction and cinematography have similar challenges.
It will be ok. Appreciation usually grows over time.

Re: I'm really disgusted


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.

Why? I mean it's been a joke that the shark looks fake in Jaws for a long time. Check out Back to the Future Part II if you don't believe me.




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Re: I'm really disgusted

mm. If you watch a play, you don't expect things to be full on realistic. I do'nt quite know why tv has to be. I think of tv and movies with not perfect special effects to be sort of like watching a play. You're there for the story. I think anyway.

http://notnegativenews.com
For Those Who Hate The Negative Media.

Re: I'm really disgusted

If you watch a play, you don't expect things to be full on realistic. I do'nt quite know why tv has to be. I think of tv and movies with not perfect special effects to be sort of like watching a play.

Movies are inherently a more realistic medium than the live stage. You can get away with all sorts of stylizations and visual shorthands in live theater that would never work in a movie. For example, in the stage production of The Elephant Man, the actor playing the deformed John Merrick wore no special makeup. His horrific deformities were left to the audience's imagination. And then there's the matter of "nontraditional" casting. There was a stage production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof with James Earl Jones as Big Daddy, performing with an otherwise all-white cast. It worked because the audience accepted Jones in the role. Obviously, that wouldn't work on film.

Unless a film is extremely stylized like Sin City or 300, or unless it's simply a stage play recorded by cameras, audiences expect what they see on the movie screen to look more or less real. The effects in science fiction, horror and fantasy films have to be capable of maintaining the viewer's suspension of disbelief.



All the universe . . . or nothingness. Which shall it be, Passworthy? Which shall it be?

Re: I'm really disgusted

Well, i think with special effects, it really all depends on what you expect going into the movie. For example: when i watched Jaws, i loved it, and didn't care that the shark looked fake, because i knew it was from the 70s. When i watched The Dark Knight, however, i was pissed off because the CGI on two-face looked so terrible, and felt that it really detracted from the film. Both are cases of bad CGI, yet I find Jaws easy to forgive.

Re: I'm really disgusted

Both are cases of bad CGI, yet I find Jaws easy to forgive.

I assume you meant to say that both are cases of bad EFFECTS. CGI (computer-generated imagery) didn't exist at the time Jaws was made. The shark was a practical, mechanical shark (nicknamed "Bruce") and the problems the crew had with filming it are legendary. Half the time it didn't work at all!


All the universe . . . or nothingness. Which shall it be, Passworthy? Which shall it be?

Re: I'm really disgusted

I feel your pain squeezebox... JAWS is my number 1 favorite.

What is sad is that there is no appreciation, I mean he is 12 so we can cut him some slack, hopefully with age his view of JAWS will change. They just make so many movies that are more about spectacle then character and story. JAWS was so thrilling and Roy Scheider just kicked a**... they just dont make em like they used to

Re: I'm really disgusted

Given today's trends in Hollywood and the lack of originality, I keep waiting warily for the announcement that a Jaws remake is in the works. And, also with the trends, it'll be nothing but a poor imitation of the original with better(?) special effects.

Re: I'm really disgusted

Ohh dear that would be awful. I mean I get re making old classics, but at least try to do it in a new way. Romeo and Juliet has been done over and over but at least its usually inspired by...not just the same movie with different people. Ugh. I can see it now Shia LeBoufe as Chief Martin Brody in JAWS. AHHH
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