Jaws = Tiamat???

[Old-Barbarossa]

Is "Jaws" a reworking of the Marduk/Tiamat myth?
Marduk the lawbringer is Brodie and Tiamat the chaos inducing shark?
The gas tank in the sharks mouth the wind of Marduk? The rifle shot the lightening?
Order re-asserted...
Wonder if this was meant or if we just have all these myths stuck in our dna somewhere???

[Old-Barbarossa]

Or maybe I was reading too much Joseph Campbell.
Anyone think of any other "updated" myths?

[David]

Lol! I just found this thread. Brilliant.

And no, there is no such thing as "reading too much Joseph Campbell."

[Aaron]

LOL I never thought about it in such a way but once you consider it it has its parallels. I think that we as humans can pull unconsciously from a greater meta-mind of shared experiences. Perhaps that can explain why so many myths around the world can describe the same things in similar ways?

[[deleted user]]

Didn't Marduk and Tiamat have children, and didn't the children behave badly and uncontrollably?

[Feliks]

Peter Benchley might not have been aware of Joseph Campbell at the time of writing. Benchley was a Washington speechwriter prior to 'Jaws' fame, (and also a grandson or a grand-nephew in the famous literary Benchley family). I've read that he based the Brody/Hooper relationship on the moral angle of King David in the Bible. So its possible he was interested in myths. But the original germ of the story was an actual shark incident which took place one summer off the eastern seaboard. However, I forget whether this was contemporary (occurring during Benchley's speechwriting days) or whether he simply stumbled over a forgotten news story during general research on Americana.

[Susanna - Censored by GoodReads]

The attacks were historical - they occurred off the coast of New Jersey in 1916.

[Feliks]

Thanks for that clarification! Makes one wonder what prompted his research in the first place...