When it comes to movie logic, most audiences find themselves shouting at the screen that they would never do something as foolish as the characters in the film are. However, when it comes right down to it, most people aren’t actually sure what they’d do in some of the crazy situations that our favorite characters end up in. The same goes for Jaws, a movie rife with addled logic and strange holes in the characters’ common sense.
Though the people in Jaws don’t always make the best decisions, there’s no guarantee any member of the audience would, either. That doesn’t mean the disproportionate responses aren’t absolutely hilarious, though.
10. Who Would Win?
Starting off the meme competition with a bang is this hilarious (and fairly recent!) meme pitting Chief Brody against the infamous great white shark. Though many simply refer to the shark as Jaws, as if that were the shark’s name, big fans know that the shark was referred to on set as Bruce! Though it doesn’t quite make sense that the career and reputation of a well-respected officer like Brody would hinge on whether or not he can defeat a great white shark, it doesn’t really matter, because, without this plot point, we would have no movie. Honestly, that just makes the meme all the funnier!
9. The Right to Vote
Remember to exercise your right to vote, or you could end up living in a town just like Amity! As we all know, summer tourists means summer dollars, and we need those summer dollars if we’re going to survive the winter. The Jaws mayor (who does actually have a name — he’s Mayor Larry Vaughn, portrayed by Murray Hamilton) finds himself completely ignoring the fact that a great white shark is stalking his beaches and killing the people in the town he is in charge of, only so he can make money for the town. I mean, in theory, it makes sense, but once the second kid dies? You gotta draw the line, Larry.
8. Can You Hear That?
The now-iconic theme from Jaws plays several times throughout the movie, typically used to build suspense when the shark is about to attack. When Bruce first approaches Chrissie Watkins at the very beginning of the film, that iconic theme plays for the first time. The word Jaws appears across the screen as the audience floats underwater with Bruce before joining Chrissie back on the shore. It’s a thrilling opener, to be sure, but it also begs the question: if this loud music actually played every time Bruce showed up, then nobody would ever actually get caught by him. Good thing John Williams wasn’t in Amity that summer!
7. The Prodigal Hoop Returns
When everyone’s favorite character in Jaws, Matt Hooper, volunteers to stop the shark by lowering himself into the water in a shark cage and taking Bruce down once and for all, most audience members are not surprised when the cage comes back up empty.
After all, Bruce brutalizes the cage, tearing it to shreds and destroying anything and everything in sight. That makes it all the funnier when Hooper ends up surviving, resurfacing at the very end of the movie immediately after Brody’s done all the hard work to actually take the shark down. I guess Bruce must have offered Hooper a helping hand— or, fin?
6. Stop Visiting the Beach
I gotta say, I’m not sure if this a me-specific course of action, or if the people in the Jaws universe are just plain dumb, but after everything that happens in Amity, why would anyone want to go back into the water? This happens numerous times throughout the movie. It’s not enough for a teenage girl, or a dog, or a little boy to die, not for the people of Amity; they just keep going back to the beach. Apparently, when they started the season with this is gonna be a summer to die for, they meant it! The tourists of Amity are sticking by their word.
5. Sharknado, Anyone?
This one is a little bit of a cheat, since the shark in Jaws 2 is the one who roars like a lion, but I’ll say it applies because oh my God, what a mess of dumb, dumb logic a roaring shark is. Though Jaws 2 really isn’t as bad as many make it out to be, and often pops into mind as one of the better sequels out there, a roaring shark is really hard to forget. Plus, anyone who remembers the glory of Sharknado knows it wasn’t really being played uber-seriously — definitely more of a for-laughs movie than Jaws was!
4. RIP to Amity, But I’m Different
This person on Twitter has a pretty hot take: “If I was in the movie Jaws I would simply stay out of the water, rendering the shark’s fury useless.” That’s a completely valid point; people can go into the water and become Bruce’s victims, but Bruce really can’t leave the water to attack anybody else.
The people of Amity keep running back to the beaches, and Quint knows they have to go in the water to stop Bruce, but we know even better than that: simply stay out of the water, and you’ll be fine!
3. Pillow Talk
Sometimes, it feels like Quint is the only sane person in Amity. Of course, once Quint tells his story about the U.S.S. Indianapolis, and the experiences he’s had on the ocean before, it makes a lot more sense that he’d be more wary of sharks than your average Amity summer tourist. However, doesn’t that all mean Quint should know even more about sharks than he does? This meme shows just how chill actor Robert Shaw was with Bruce in between the takes, begging the question: could Quint and Bruce have been great friends, if they just communicated better?
2. That Face When…
We know that Larry Vaughn is a terrible mayor. We know. But that’s exactly why he makes such good fodder for these hilarious memes about the logic in Jaws — most of the flawed logic comes directly from Mayor Larry Vaughn and that terrible (but, somehow, also wonderful) nautical little suit he wears. Larry doesn’t make this face very often in the movie but, when he does, he’s realizing that there may just be a small chance that there’s a shark problem. You think, Larry?
1. K.O. Mayor Vaughn
Alright, alright, I couldn’t end the article without one more burn on Mayor Larry Vaughn. Seriously, what is wrong with that guy? Honestly, this meme is hilarious, but also strikes pretty close to home. Larry Vaughn pretty much is the type of guy who would stitch that raft right up and resell it as used for a profit, regardless of whether or not Alex Kitner was killed while he was on it. Classic Jaws.
