Jaws is the 1975 Steven Spielberg thriller about a great white shark, with a score by John Williams built around a simple two note motif in the low strings. The theme became one of the most recognised cues in cinema because it suggested the shark even when it was not on screen. It later spread far beyond the film into trailers, parodies, sports arenas and online edits, where the accelerating pulse is now used as instant shorthand for danger approaching, suspense building or a joke about something getting too close.