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PearlJade (26)
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Who do you think is in a more dangerous situation …
At gas station rest room, am I the only one who thought ... (spoiler)
What I don't understand about the donut man vs. Terry Heany
End of Season 2: Did the police do the right thing?
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Yes! We think alike ^
[quote]If your assertion were true that "animals have a keen sense of impending danger" with the implication that this is evidence the dog survived, then no predator would ever catch any prey and the entire food chain would collapse.[/quote]
You missed one important point: My assumption is that Pippet didn’t go into the water after the last toss of the stick. He stayed on land where he was less vulnerable and where the danger lurking in the ocean couldn’t get to him.
Not every stalked/hunted animal gets killed. They use their natural defenses and their instincts to evade capture. If your premise is that this never works, then every “low on the food chain” species would be extinct due to its predators.
I assume, however, that such a simplistic statement is [i]not[/i] your premise, in which case we are back at the same point: the [b]possibility[/b] that Pippet survived. I’m not saying it’s a certainty, but it’s not beyond belief either, especially based on my assumption that Pippet avoided the water in the middle of the fetch game.
I guess we’ll have to agree to disagree: You’re in favour of one possibility while I’m in favour of the other.
Of course the dog went into the water; who says he didn’t? But after a few fetches, he sensed danger and wouldn’t go in again.
That’s what I want to think anyway. I just can’t accept the thought of poor Pippet becoming a shark snack when it’s entirely possible that his instincts saved him.
<blockquote>If the dog survived, they would've had a scene <b>later</b> of it bounding into it's owners arms eventually.</blockquote>
No, because the film makers wanted Pippet’s fate to be left to the viewer’s interpretation. They gave neither a happy ending nor a sad ending to his/her screen time. It leaves the viewer somewhat unsettled, which is part of the film’s atmosphere.
Sure, I can grasp that the shark <b><i>may have</b></i> gotten him; but it’s also not beyond the realm of possibility that the dog was spooked and would not go into the water. It would be fantasy if Pippet sprouted wings and flew off into a pink cloud. But running off because he had an animal’s instinct for danger? Perfectly possible <i>and</i> plausible.
<blockquote> If the dog survived, they would've had a scene later of it bounding into it's owners arms eventually.</blockquote>
Not necessarily. That would undermine the tension that the Kintner beach scene was trying to convey: the push-pull of dread (Chief Brody’s nervous watchfulness because he knows something the island visitors don’t) and the obliviousness of the beach frolickers. The tension breaks when Brody’s fears are confirmed and everyone experiences the shark-induced panic. A dog with a wagging tail reunited with its owner doesn’t fit the tone.
I think Pippet’s fate is deliberately meant to be unresolved because much of <i>Jaws</i> (especially the early scenes when the shark is unseen) is about viewers letting their imaginations fill in the blanks regarding the terror. We can apply our own interpretation to Pippet’s fate. I just choose to interpret that Pippet escaped based on what I’ve observed/read about pet behaviour. To me, it doesn’t make the shark any less terrifying.
No, it was the very clear confirmation of the shark’s impending arrival, causing Pippet to abandon the game of fetch.
The floating stick is no less a chilling foreboding of peril even if Pippet survives. Pippet’s animal instincts kicked in, thus saving him/her. Unfortunately for us humans, we don’t possess that sixth sense. Danger was lurking for the beach goers of Amity.
Why does everyone believe that Pippet fell prey to the shark?
Animals have a keen sense of impending danger; for example, they get skittish before earthquakes and storms. A few years ago, an adult bear was spotted in the neighborhood where my friend and his wife lived. They personally didn't see the bear, but their two dogs were spooked and didn't want to go for their walks. After the police shot the bear, the dogs were back to their normal behavior.
After Pippet's owner tossed that stick into the ocean that last time, I can imagine Pippet thinking, "Uh-oh, there's something creepy in that water. See you later, stick; I'm outta here ..." I think it's quite plausible that Pippet just ran off somewhere, and later came out to join his (her?) owner when the danger was over.
The stick floating in the water while Pippet is no where around still effectively foreshadows the impending menace of the shark; only I would add that this menace was clear to Pippet in ways that humans can't intuit, thus causing him (her?) to take cover.
I wondered that myself, and I simply concluded that the company only offered its services to men.
As others have said, that may have been for practical reasons. At that time, single women would not likely have the required financial resources, while married women would not have easy access to the household funds. Since men were the breadwinners, they were likely deemed the owners of the family wealth.
I also think women are less likely to abandon their children, even grown children, for a second chance at life. Imagine not being there for a child’s wedding or missing out on future grandchildren. I don’t know how Tony justified not seeing his daughter again.
I especially noticed the absence of women in the CPS day room. If the company did find women of means who elected to become reborns, this would imply that they adapted to their new identities better than the men did. (After all, only the “unsatisfied customers” are sent to the CPS room.)
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