Fearful Symmetry

[bimo]

Apparently someone at our local community-run indie cinema possesses a certain wicked sense of humour. Two showings of Jaws , one in German, one in English, right at the start of bathing season.

Of course, Cavendish and I went to see. Jaws is one of the movies that I know by heart and will never cease to admire because of how skillfully it was filmed. By a director who, at that time, was still a relative newcomer to the business and hadn’t even reached thirty years of age.

One aspect I have never realised before, though. (And here comes the amusing part): Matt Hooper, the youthful marine biologist played by Richard Dreyfuss, is Dana Scully. Totally. Just think about it.

• Comparatively small and soft-featured person
• Extremely smart and competent in their field
• Strong belief in science, rationality, technology and proper equipment
• Able to hold their own in a macho surrounding, while not necessarily subscribing to hyper-masculine ideals themselves
• Coming to town to fight monsters
• The second they utter their first line of dialogue you know they are cool.
• And then there is that autopsy scene where Hooper cuts up a shark that isn’t the shark…