I couldn’t have been more excited. It was finally time to sit down with my sons to watch one of my all time favorite movies. JAWS. I couldn’t wait to see their reactions to some of the pivotal scenes, to the appearance of the shark, to the watery terror that still resides in a small box at the back of my brain.
I first saw Jaws in the theater with my dad and a younger cousin. We were about 10 and 8, I think. Not sure exactly how old we were, but I remember with absolute clarity the moment Chrissie Watkins gets yanked under the water for the first time shrieking in terror. I can recall precisely our reaction when the fish smashed into Hooper’s cage; and when Ben Gardner’s head rolls into view through the hole in the bottom of his boat, our asses clenched so tightly we both levitated off our seats.
It’s been more than thirty years since that first viewing. I bet I’ve seen Jaws a hundred times, and I still consider it when I go in the ocean. Every shadow is a toothy killer. Everything that brushes my legs is finny death. It was that affecting.
OK, back to the present. Both boys loved the movie, but I suspect it won’t scar them as it did me. I was sure of that when the aforementioned head rolled out of the boat, my younger son yelled “Ah, zombie!!” I know it shocked both kids, but for any number of reasons they saw through the robotic shark. They appreciated the movie, my older (12 year old) son even proclaiming Spielberg a genius when the movie ended, but they were already beyond the psychological horror.
I know it’s cliché to compare our (40 something’s) childhood to our kids, but this weekend made it more clear that kids today really are a little more jaded than I was. Whether it be from television content, more intense video games, internet access to everything, round the clock doom and gloom news coverage, their small psyche’s have had to absorb, filter and deal with much more than I remember having to.
The moment the credits were done, we talked about their favorite parts and the special effects…they always like creative special effects. Then they quickly moved on to requesting another movie viewing. Now they want to see Alien. That one is a little more intense, but I’m considering letting them watch it. Part of me wants them to be scared like I was at these movies but part of me doesn’t want them to go through it. Either way, I’m more than happy to sit and share the experience with them. And if I’m “lucky” one of these days, I’ll have to deal with a couple kids who can’t sleep afterward. If nothing else it taught me a lesson in not living vicariously through my kids, but instead to enjoy living with them.
RALSTON HAS SPOKEN
THAT IS ALL
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