The 1975 film Jaw s tells the story of a great white shark that attacks and kills swimmers. Jaws was a great success. It strengthened people’s long-held idea of the great white shark as a dangerous animal.

People have always been scared of sharks, but Jaws made things worse. It made people frightened of sharks. Many people started to believe that sharks were bad animals that ate humans. Some people stopped swimming in the sea. Other people started fishing for sharks, killing as many as they could. At that time, nobody cared if sharks were killed, or how many were killed. People just wanted them killed.

After 1975, the number of large sharks around America fell quickly, and soon fell around the world. This was not only due to fear of sharks, but also finning. Finning is a type of fishing where sharks are caught and their fins are cut off. The sharks are thrown back into the sea where they die slowly and painfully. Finning kills millions of sharks a year.

Finning would have an unexpected effect upon Peter Benchley, the man who wrote the book that the film Jaws was based on. In 1980, Benchley was diving when he came across an awful sight. It was an area where fishermen were finning, and the sea floor was covered with dead sharks. Benchley saw sharks being killed and this caused a deep change in him. He came to see people as a danger to sharks, rather than the other way round. From that day on, he fought to protect sharks. He admitted that his book was wrong about sharks’ behaviour. “Sharks don’t target humans,” he said. Experts have proved that sharks do not see people as food, and they attack us by mistake.

Fortunately, not everyone who watched the film Jaws became afraid of sharks—some became interested in understanding them. Today, as we learn more about sharks, more people than ever want to protect them from extinction.

US writer Margaret Lee Runbeck once wrote, “Happiness is not a station you arrive at, but a manner of traveling.” But traveling is not always happy, at least for the two people in the movie Green Book.

The movie was based on the true story of a road trip through the southern US in the early 1960s. In the film, the black pianist Don Shirley hires Italian-American Tony Vallelonga to drive him to perform, but they face problems because of Shirley’s skin color. These problems lead them to form a special friendship.

“There’s something so deeply right about this movie, so true to the time,” wrote US film critic Mick LaSalle at the San Francisco Chronicle. The time LaSalle talked about was between the late 1870s and 1960s, a very different period in US history, when many parts of the country had Jim Crow laws, which allowed racial separation (种族隔离). These laws made life and travel dangerous for African-Americans. They couldn’t use certain hotels, restaurants, or even gas stations. They had to be indoors after sunset or they might go to jail. Even famous black people had to follow the laws.

But in 1936, a black mail carrier named Victor H. Green had an idea. He made a list of friendly businesses in New York City. He published the list as a small book with a green cover. The Green Book helped African-Americans travel more safely. Then, in 1964, Jim Crow laws went away. The book went away, too. Today many US people still remember the time of Jim Crow, but they probably don’t know about the Green Book. Thanks to this movie, maybe people can remember it again.

Being a teenager isn’t easy, whether it’s the awkward transition from childhood to puberty or the moment you finally leave home. Coming-of-age movies have been around for decades. In the list below, we’ve picked out two of our favourites.

Eighth Grade

IMDb Ratings: 7.4/10 (62,575)

What’s it about?

An anxious eighth-grader who shares self-help videos on social media and struggles to connect with her classmates. At home, her relationship with her single father, Mark, is tense and uneasy; at school, she feels like an outsider, wanting to connect with the popular kids but not really knowing how.

Why should you watch it?

Burnham’s writing and its delivery by Fisher are world-class throughout. One particular scene towards the end of the film between Kayla and her dad is particularly heart-wrenching (撕心裂肺的) — but in the moving conversation that follows, as well as in the film’s final scenes, there’s a much-needed suggestion of hope.

Moonlight

IMDb Ratings: 7.4/10 (273, 987)

What’s it about?

Moonlight focuses on the inflection (转变) points of growing up, taking place over a handful of days in a black boy’s childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. Each time period features a different actor as Chiron, and each version of himself learns a little more about the social and personal truths that inform who he is and will become. The film is tragic, romantic, and intimate — zeroing in on the realities of Chiron’s fractured (破碎的) home environment while quietly highlighting the humanity of the characters who have influenced his life for better or worse.

Why should you watch it?

Apart from its status as one of the most interesting Oscar-winning Best Films, Moonlight is a masterpiece of emotional filmmaking. Every aspect of this movie, from its meaningful camera shots, to its excellent music, demonstrates Chiron’s feelings as he matures into a world designed to deny him. The excellent performances from all three actors playing Chirons shine through despite the character being a man (and boy)   of few words, and Moonlight excels at letting the audience feel the character’s progress in the wordless spaces occupied by long, intentional silence, with a loving, compassionate (表示怜悯的) lens — a feat few movies manage to achieve with such a highly recognized level of success.