Landmark - Jaws: Sharks and Whales
Novelist Will Self, shark expert Gareth Fraser, academic Ian Hunter and artist Fiona Tan join Matthew Sweet to discuss sharks, whales and the impact of the book and film Jaws.
Novelist Will Self, shark expert Gareth Fraser and film expert Ian Hunter join Matthew Sweet for a discussion about sharks, whales and the impact of the book and film Jaws.
Jaws started out as a novel which reads as a sociological study of a small American coastal resort full of rather unlikeable characters. It ended up as an iconic film whose heroes engage in a fight to the death with a Great White Man-Eating Machine. Matthew Sweet discusses how the shark came to fill the space once held by the whale, why big teeth still fill our nightmares and whether all publicity is good publicity for the denizens of the oceans with writer Will Self, whose novel 'Shark' was inspired by the film, and Gareth Fraser, who now studies the dental configurations of sharks all because he once sat in a dark cinema, as did life-long Jaws fan, the film expert Ian Hunter.
The artist Fiona Tan, whose new exhibition is partly inspired by 'Jonah the Giant Whale', a preserved whale exhibited inside a lorry which toured across Europe from the 1950s to the mid-1970s will also appear out of the deep.
Last on
Podcast: Free Thinking Landmark: Jaws
Matthew Sweet on Jaws 40 years on with Gareth Fraser, Ian Hunter, Will Self and Fiona Tan
Book at Bed Time: Henry Goodman read 'Jaws' the classic 1974 novel
Peter Benchley's classic novel, which became one of the most iconic films of all time.
Click to listen to more Free Thinking Landmarks
Key films, books, TV, plays, art: 1001 Nights – 2001 A Space Odyssey, Jane Austen - Jaws
Fiona Tan's exhibition called Depot is at BALTIC, Gateshead.
Credits
Role | Contributor |
---|---|
Presenter | Matthew Sweet |
Interviewed Guest | Gareth Fraser |
Interviewed Guest | Ian Hunter |
Interviewed Guest | Will Self |
Interviewed Guest | Fiona Tan |
Producer | Jacqueline Smith |
Broadcast
- Tue 7 Jul 2015 22:00Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 3
Featured in...
Landmarks—Free Thinking, Landmark: The Tin Drum
Key films, books, TV, plays, art: 1001 Nights – 2001 A Space Odyssey, Jane Austen - Jaws
Discussions and talks from the Free Thinking Festival 2019
Click to listen to discussions, talks and music as the Free Thinking Festival 2019 Gets Emotional
CLICK to LISTEN & SEE programmes from the Free Thinking Festival 2018: The One & the Many
CLICK to LISTEN & SEE all programmes, images, clips & features from 2017's festival
Free Thinking Festival 2017: The Speed of Life