This year marks the 50th anniversary of the publication of the iconic novel Jaws by Peter Benchley in 1974. The book was quite popular in its own right, but it was Steven Spielberg's film adaptation in 1975 that made Jaws a household name. Upon its release, Jaws was the highest-grossing film of all time—it won several awards, and basically originated the notion of the summer blockbuster. Like other pivotal films, the release of Jaws marked a before and after in cinematic history.
To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the book and the upcoming 50th anniversary of the film in 2025, we've taken a deep dive into the differences between the two. Fans of the film might be surprised by some of the history surrounding the book and how it came to be, as well as by just how different the original novel is from its famous adaptation.
Who wrote Jaws?
The novel Jaws was written by Peter Benchley. Benchley was a struggling freelance journalist when Doubleday commissioned Jaws in 1971. Benchley grew up fishing with his father in the waters off Nantucket, where they often encountered sharks, and had a lifelong fascination with the creatures. He became even more interested in sharks after reading an article in 1964 about Frank Mundus, who caught a massive great white shark off the coast of Long Island. The Doubleday editor who commissioned Jaws was reportedly not interested in Benchley's various nonfiction book ideas, but he did like the sound of a novel about a killer shark terrorizing the population of a small tourist town. Thus, Jaws was born.
Benchley put a huge amount of research into the project, reading up extensively on sharks, and finished the manuscript in a year and a half. A fun bit of little-known Jaws trivia is that its famous, catchy title was not decided on until the last possible moment. Nevertheless, Jaws became an immediate hit—it was picked up by numerous book clubs and remained on the bestsellers list for 44 weeks. Despite its enormous commercial success, the novel received mixed reviews from critics.
Later in his life, after Jaws became a cultural phenomenon, Peter Benchley expressed regret that his book had contributed to societal fear and negative attitudes toward sharks. He became a staunch environmentalist and ocean conservationist, with a particular interest in shark conservation.
