Expert: Popcorn Guy - 7/19/2006

Question
Hi, can you tell me if the role of the shark in Jaws was supposed to be a male or female shark? I know it was plastic (!) but was it meant to be male or female - we have a bet on this! Thanks.

Answer
Hi, BML...

Dunno if I wanna know how this came to be a bet or not...

According to the book, the shark was a male... it's never made an issue, one way or the other, in the movie.. to my knowledge, it's never mentioned... Quint refers to the shark as "him," as in "He can't go down with three barrels, he just can't." But there is no line stating anything like, "The shark is a great white, a male great white."

If you want to get a bit silly, I'm sure you've heard that the plastic and rubber robot they used for the shark was nicknamed "Bruce." Following that logic, it was a male...

Now, all that being said, I have a vague memory of the shark featured in the last one of the series, "Jaws - The Revenge" was supposed to be female...

Hope this helps... lemme know what the bet was!

PCG