’She was the first’: The Place of Jaws in American Film History

This essay reviews some of the scholarly debates (from 1979 onwards) about the emergence of a 'New Hollywood' across the 1960s and 1970s, and the particular importance role these debates have assigned to the release of Jaws in 1975. By looking at audience demographics in the US in the mid 1970s, and by examining the narrative, themes, attractions, marketing and reception of Jaws, it argues that this film can be seen as the culmination of earlier trends rather than the beginning of a new era. By contrast, Star Wars (1977) marked an important turning point in Hollywood history, especially with regards to its appeal to an all-inclusive mass audience (whereas Jaws was more narrowly, and exclusively, targeted at young, male cinemagoers).