[lbo-talk] the shark

[Doug Henwood]

"A direct search for the shark's ideological meaning evokes nothing 
but misguided questions.... In order to avoid this lure, we have to 
shift our perspective radically: the daily life of the common man is 
denominated by an inconsistent multitude of fears....and the 
accomplishment of Jaws consists in an act of purely formal conversion 
which provides a common 'container' for all these free-floating, 
inconsistent fears by way of anchoring them...in the figure of the 
shark. Consequently, the function of the fascinating presence of the 
shark is precisely to block any further inquiry into the social 
meaning...of these phenomena that arouse fear in the common man.... 
It does no symbolize them, since it literally annuls them by 
occupying itself the place of the object of fear. It is therefore 
'more' than a symbol: it becomes the fearwd 'thing itself.' Yet the 
shark is decidedly less than a symbol, since it does not point toward 
the symbolized content but rather blocks access to it, renders it 
invisible...."

  - Slavoj Zizek, Tarrying With the NEgative, p. 149