maybe film reviews say more about the reviewers than about the film

Due to a recent interest in the movie Jaws, I have been reading a lot of analysis of it
that is often plain idiotic. there is all this talk about what the shark represents for
instance.

how about it represents a big ass shark.

some of the things at least one reviewer ascribes to hidden meanings etc. are
the direct result of mechanical failure of the fake shark. lack of information
(or ignoring of it or forgetting) can breed wrong evaluation.

biting off a limb is supposedly castration symbolism. Well, this writer should
look at photos of shark victims or a video of a girl who lost an arm to a shark.
its just plain facts that this can happen.

I think this kind of crap can only occur (that is, be written or thought of) in
a society that is comparatively safe. Back in the days when you might run
into a bear or pack of wolves or whatever or some godawful disease, no
one would be thinking of the symbolism of anything, though they might
consider the wrath of God was involved.

A few years ago, I saw a video of some people who live in a wild part of
the Horn of Africa (Ethiopia, Sudan, Somalia) and at night they had to take
turns sleeping because someone had to guard against lions.

that was just plain a fact of life. no garbage about the majestic nature of
the things, no garbage about what the predatory beast creeping about in the
dark looking to pick off someone represented, it was what it was and you
kept on guard and that's that.

That doesn't mean someone can't draw analogies to describe bad human
behavior that was done in societies that were not sheltered in lands free
for generations from some dangers that others just grow up with. Or some
city dweller might use a motif in some story maybe. But for the most part,
all this crap about "symbolism" is crap. the movies at issue describe
things that are in some places and were in other places stark realities.

That some characters might represent ways of doing things or embody
some philosophy is one thing, but again I think that this is accidental
in Jaws since it is drawn off a book and modifies to make the characters
more likable so everyone isn't rooting for the shark like one book
reviewer was (everyone in the book was crap).