Antagonist

Character Role Analysis

The Shark

The shark is star of the show, the big guy, the main attraction, the raison d'etre of le filme. In that sense, Jaws is a classic monster movie, where the bad guy gets top billing. Does anyone remember the protagonist in Dracula? The Mummy? The Creature from the Black Lagoon? No way, man. It's the monsters we love. Although we know he's a bad guy, it's the shark—more even than the movie's three heroes—that we're coming to the theater to see. So how do we feel about the creature's extremely limited onscreen time?

Mayor Vaughn

Mayor Vaughn got a raw deal. He's a bad guy, but he'll forever be in the shadow of the other bad guy (the 25-foot-long one). Then again, he's kind of a victim too, because he's responding to outside pressure from Amity's business community. But he's Brody's major obstacle in getting people off the beaches and hiring someone to kill the shark. So Mayor Vaughn is sort of doomed to be a shortsighted stooge in a funny sport coat. At least he pulls off the role (and the coat) very well.