# Jaws Poster Parodies

Jaws Poster Parodies are remixes of the 1975 Jaws movie poster, keeping the same shape of frame while swapping the great white shark or the swimming woman for characters from other films, games, and pop culture. The first known version ran on the January 1976 cover of MAD Magazine with Alfred E. Neuman as the target, and artists kept remaking the layout for decades after.

## Origin
The Jaws film opened in United States theaters on June 20th, 1975[4]. Its promotional artwork was based on artist Roger Kastel's 1974 paperback cover for Peter Benchley's novel, showing a great white shark rising toward an unaware swimmer with the word JAWS in red above them[4]. That single image became one of the most copied compositions in film advertising history.

The earliest known parody appeared on the January 1976 cover of MAD Magazine, which put mascot Alfred E. Neuman in the swimmer's spot with a shark closing in[4].

- **Platform:** Print (MAD Magazine) / Internet (viral spread)
- **Creator:** Unknown
- **Date:** 1976

## Overview
The parodies keep the poster's exact composition: a lone figure floating at the water's surface, a threat charging up from the blue below, and the film's title in red block letters overhead[1]. Most swaps happen in one of two slots. Either the shark gets replaced with a different predator, monster, or mascot, or the swimmer gets replaced with a character the artist wants eaten.

Because the source image reads as a silent visual gag about a fatal surprise from below, almost any pairing works at a glance[2]. Some parodies target a specific film, like a 2013 mock poster placing Pacific Rim's Kaiju in the shark's spot[6]. Others go for broader pop culture, using video game creatures, animated mascots, or political figures as the substitute[5].

## How It Spread
On August 3rd, 1978, the horror film Piranha shipped with a promotional poster that slotted a giant piranha in for the shark and a floating woman on the surface, an early direct film-to-film reworking[1]. On October 2nd, 2003, comedy site Something Awful ran a piece titled 'Nazi Jamboree' with an anti-Semitic version of the poster, an example of the template getting pulled into edgy shock humor[3].

The format hit a second wave online in the early 2010s. On August 3rd, 2011, Acid Cow published a roundup of notable Jaws parody images, and Neatorama posted its own compilation the following day[2]. The British site ShortList followed on February 29th, 2012, with a gallery titled '16 Alternative Jaws Posters'[5].

Remix communities kept it going. On June 20th, 2013, pop culture blog Blurppy featured artist Matt Ferguson's Pacific Rim tribute poster styled directly after the original[6]. That October, Redditor eput posted a Minecraft version called 'Squids!' to /r/Minecraft, which pulled over 1,300 upvotes and about 70 comments before archiving[7]. On January 20th, 2014, TV Tropes opened a 'Jaws Attack' page cataloguing references to the poster and film across pop culture[8].

## How to Use
Artists typically keep the poster's exact layout: red block title above, swimmer on the water's surface, and the attacker rising from below[1]. Common swaps include cartoon mascots, video game creatures, or other movie monsters in the shark slot[6]. The JAWS title text often gets replaced with a matching one-word name for the new threat, keeping the same red block lettering[8].

## Frequently Asked Questions
### What is Jaws Poster Parodies?
Jaws Poster Parodies are edits of the 1975 Jaws movie poster that keep the composition of a swimmer above and a threat rising from below, while swapping in different characters from film, games, or pop culture[1].

### Where did Jaws Poster Parodies come from?
The earliest known parody ran on the January 1976 cover of MAD Magazine, with the magazine's mascot Alfred E. Neuman placed in the swimmer's spot[4].

### What does Jaws Poster Parodies mean?
The joke is a visual pun on the shark-from-below composition, letting artists put any threatening character in the water and any target on the surface[2].

### How do you use Jaws Poster Parodies?
Artists typically keep the poster's layout, red title text, and the split of surface and underwater, then replace the shark or swimmer with the characters they want[6].

### Is Jaws Poster Parodies still popular?
The format kept getting reworked well into the 2010s, with TV Tropes opening a dedicated 'Jaws Attack' page in 2014 to log examples across film, television, and animation[8].

## References
1. [https://acidcow.com/](<https://acidcow.com/>)
2. [https://www.neatorama.com/](<https://www.neatorama.com/>)
3. [https://www.somethingawful.com/photoshop-phriday/nazi-jamboree/](<https://www.somethingawful.com/photoshop-phriday/nazi-jamboree/>)
4. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/jaws-poster-parodies](<https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/jaws-poster-parodies>)
5. [https://www.shortlist.com/](<https://www.shortlist.com/>)
6. [https://blurppy.com/](<https://blurppy.com/>)
7. [https://www.reddit.com/r/Minecraft/](<https://www.reddit.com/r/Minecraft/>)
8. [https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/JawsAttack](<https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/JawsAttack>)
9. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vn1pf0Xi3nU](<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vn1pf0Xi3nU>)

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Source: https://meme.com/memes/jaws-poster-parodies
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