How does Spielberg present the Watergate Scandal and President Nixon

within the (1975) film Jaws?

This review will explore how Steven Spielberg’s Jaws can be seen as an
allegory for the Watergate scandal and the eventual resignation of the United
States President Nixon. It will explore how the character of Mayor Vaughn’s
can be argued to represent a Nixon, through his story ark supported by Paul
Byrnes article Why 40-year-old Jaws was never just about the shark, while the
character of Mayor Vaughn’s will be used to compare and contrast again the
president and his involvement in the Watergate scandal against the Mayors
involvement within the shark attacks, supported by Ben Dowell’s article Is
Jaws just a film about a shark… or something else? and Histories article
Watergate Scandal.

Fig 1, JAWS, (1975)

Firstly, Jaws is Steven Spielberg’s second feature films and centres around the police
chief Brody and his mission to defeat the giant shark that has been terrorising his small
island town. The film can be argued to be an allegory for the Watergate Scandal, an indecent
where the United States President Richard Nixon attempted to win his re-election by sending in
burglars to steal and bug the Democratic National Committee in Watergate, which lead to an
investigation and eventual resignation of the President following his attempts to cover up the
event. The films arguably obvious parallels come mainly in the towns Mayor, Larry Vaughn whom
within the film much like Nixon attempt to cover up the shark attacks around the island in order to
keep the beaches open for their busiest time of year, an idea that
eventually leads to the films protagonist chief Brody to confront
and force the Mayor to agree to higher someone to kill the shark,
paralleling Nixons own eventual impeachment and resignation
from the Whitehouse, “The weasel mayor in the horrible sports
coats who refuses to close the beaches is a perfect match for the
recently disgraced Richard Milhous Nixon, who left office in
August 1974…what Nixon did to American democracy, the shark
did to the holidaymakers of Amity Island.” (Byrnes, 2015).

The film also further supports this

Fig 2, Murray Hamilton as the mayor of through the incidents that surround the shark
Amity, with Roy Scheider as police chief
Brody and Richard Dreyfuss, (2015) attacks, as Mayor Vaughn offers to close the
beaches but one for twenty-four hours in
order not affect the islands business, as well
as using the red herring dead tiger shark that appears at the mid point
of the film to encourage people to keep coming to the island despite
chief Brody’s warnings about the real shark still being at large, “In the
small town of Amity in Jaws, the Watergate scandal, which had just
occurred, is played out in microcosm. Fearful of the drop in tourism, the
Mayor (with Brody’s help early on) hides the truth about the shark attack
that claimed the life of young Chrissie (Susan Backlinie) at the
beginning’ (Dowell, 2015) .The fishermen surround Vaughn within the
capture of the tiger shark, can also be argued to parallel Nixons attempt Fig 3, Nixon (1974)
to hide his involvement with the Watergate burglary, as the sailors go out to hunt
down the threat to the island, the shark, when the real threat, Mayor Vaughn is
encouraging and also damming them from the sidelines, just as Nixon faked
his way through his re-election, presenting himself decently to the media,
while planning to cheat his way to get re-elected.

But unlike Nixon, Vaughn is a character and Spielberg so wanted to give

him a character ark. Vaughn’s ark does differentiate from his one from the
original book Jaws written by Peter Benchley in which the Mayor attempts
to cover up the shark attacks in order to stop his ties to the criminal
underworld being revealed, for Spielberg he wanted all the characters,
unlike the book to be likeable and sympathetic to audience, so by having
Mayor Vaughn have a character ark it ended up making him a more
compelling and almost likeable character. At the end of his ark, Mayor

Fig 4, Vaughn, (1975)

Vaughn eventually agrees to sign a contract to higher Quint the shark killer after the attack on the
beach on July 4th, this shows to the audience that he has grown from his selfish desire and now
sees that the issue with the shark must be tackled head on. This change contrasts him against
Nixon, whom unlike Vaughn had resign from his role as President, but still denied any formal
involvement within the incident “Nixon himself never admitted to any criminal wrongdoing, though
he did acknowledge using poor judgment.” (History, 2009), contrasting Vaughn as Spielberg still
needed him to be likeable and grow from the situation, which also can be argued to shows
Spielberg’s style as a director, because arguably if anyone else would have made this film, Mayor
Vaughn might not of have gotten the development he received to make him more likeable and
instead might of have leaned more heavier into the Nixon allegory.

In conclusion Spielberg’s decision to give Mayor Vaughn a character ark gives him more
independence away from the Nixon allegory, his story ark can still be argued to parallel the
Watergate scandal, but Mayor Vaughn as a character shows growth at the end of the film and
guilt for his actions, making him more compelling and human compared to the actions of
President Nixon, as Spielberg needed Vaughn to be compelling and engaging to keep Jaws
interesting for the audience.

 Illustrative Bibliography

Fig 1, JAWS, (1975), [Film Poster], URL: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Jaws-Movie-

Poster-/252951607087, (Accessed: 15/01/19)

Fig 2, Murray Hamilton as the mayor of Amity, with Roy Scheider as police chief
Brody and Richard Dreyfuss, (2015), [Online Image], URL:https://
www.theguardian.com/film/2015/may/31/jaws-40-years-on-truly-great-lasting-
classics-of-america-cinema, (Accessed: 14/02/19)

Fig 3, Nixon (1974), [Online Image], URL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

Richard_Nixon, (Accessed: 14/02/19)

Fig 4, Vaughn, (1975), [Online Image], URL: http://fear-world.wikia.com/wiki/

Mayor_Larry_Vaughn, (Accessed: 14/02/19)

Bibliography

Byrnes, P, (2015), Why 40-year-old Jaws was never just about the shark, URL:
https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/movies/why-40yearold-jaws-was-never-just-
about-the-shark-20150622-ghujg1.html, (Accessed: 13/02/19)

Dowell, B, (2015), Is Jaws just a film about a shark… or something else?, URL:
https://www.radiotimes.com/news/2015-06-21/is-jaws-just-a-film-about-a-shark-or-
something-else/, (Accessed, 13/02/19)

Kermode, M, (2015), Jaws, 40 years on: ‘One of the truly great and lasting classics of
American cinema’, URL: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/may/31/jaws-40-
years-on-truly-great-lasting-classics-of-america-cinema, (Accessed: 13/02/19)

Tashjian, R, (2018), Why Calvin Klein Referenced “Jaws,” the Ultimate Watergate
Film, URL: https://garage.vice.com/en_us/article/xwp8nd/calvin-klein-jaws,
(Accessed: 13/02/19)