In Blackfish, Director, Gabriela Cowperthwaite, addresses the accidents that occurred at SeaWorld involving trainers and whales. Cowperthwaite’s purpose is to educate the audience on the cruel treatment and rough conditions of whales that occur in SeaWorld. The film maintains a shocking tone in order to persuade the audience and appeal to feelings of sadness and anger. Cowperthwaite begins Blackfish by discussing the biggest accident SeaWorld is known for. The audience is introduced to a chilling 911 phone call regarding one of the whales and the trainers. It appeals to shock factor by stating “a whale ate one of the trainers” (Blackfish, 2013), this phrase is repeated a second time which adds emphasis to the context of the film. In contradiction …show more content…
John Crowe, one of the hunters, is interviewed and tells the story of “the worst thing he’s ever done”. He appeals to the appalled emotions of the audience by admitting to the inhumane way they captured the baby whales. He uses an analogy when discussing the capturing, claiming it was like “kidnapping a kid from its mother”, which pulls at the heartstrings of any parent watching the film, establishing a sense of relatability. The film uses juxtaposition by examining how Crowe, a tough looking man, can be brought to tears by this horrific act. Blackfish then moves to discussing the reason behind Tilikum’s outburst by running a montage of news reports ambushing SeaWorld on the inhumane treatment of whales. The use of the rhetorical question “If you were in a bathtub for 25 years don’t you think you’d get a little irritated, aggravated, maybe a little psychotic?”, grabs the audience’s attention by creating a scenario they can understand. These events create an accusing tone that convinces the audience that SeaWorld is the antagonist of the film. Along with accusations from reporters, SeaWorld has fought many lawsuits against OSHA- the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, due to the way SeaWorld treats their animals. A court hearing is held regarding Tilikum’s behaviour due to pulled video footage of Tilikum lunging towards one of the trainers …show more content…
This appeals to surprised and saddened emotions of the audience by stating “whales are stored for 2/3 of their life in a small dark area”. The trainers “would deprive them food to make them go into the box” and this resulted in “whales covered in rakes and blood”. The music slows to a wistful tune as the former trainers discuss how “it didn’t feel right to store them there” in order to draw the audience in to empathize with them. The use of these heartbreaking scenes exhibits a sympathetic tone that proves to the audience that whales should not be kept in captivity. Blackfish uses reasoning to explain that an orca is a very intelligent creature and aware of its environment and interactions. “Whales have a part in their brain humans don’t have, they can process emotions. They live emotional lives”. The film uses this claim in order to emphasize that orcas in captivity suffer mentally. Blackfish confirms this statement by explaining that orcas have a limbic system that is more complex compared to humans. It then displays a scene reviewing an MRI that proves that researchers found a development in the brain of an orca that cannot be fully explained. By examining the brain first hand it is proof for the audience that allows them to understand this concept. The film states that mental stress and irritation can occur when
Blackfish is a documentary based on the story of Tilikum, a performing killer whale that has taken the lives of several people whilst in captivity. This documentary underscores problems within the multi-billion sea-park industry, describes man's relationship to nature, and how little has been learned about these highly intelligent mammals.
uncovers the truth about the fish, and how it and its environment was abused by the old
How would you like to be abducted from your family and locked in a bathtub to live out the rest of your days and be used as a source of entertainment? That is exactly what happens when an orca is captured, which is disgusting and pure evil. The Documentary Blackfish by Gabriela Cowperthwaite helps depict the horrors that orcas face while in captivity and reveals the ugly and hidden side of SeaWorld. Blackfish does a great job at showing what SeaWorld has been hiding and really makes you hate them. The main focus of Blackfish is on an orca named Tilikum, who was captured off the eastern region of Iceland when he was two years old.
Blackfish is a 2013 documentary attempting to elevate public awareness regarding the orca that are being kept in maritime amusement parks, specifically SeaWorld, and the inherent danger of their captivity. The film is effective because it raises a set of important ethical questions for the viewer while presenting with a necessary fact-based style of documentation that does not evoke gratuitous scenes of abuse in order to inspire sympathy, unlike some of the other films that are intended to raise awareness about animal abuse. The film focuses on one orca, commonly referred to as a killer whale, in particular by the name of Tilikum. The documentary begins as a group of contract fishermen hunt a family of killer whales off the coast of Iceland.
A large part of this has to do with the way the director appeals to ethos. The documentary was funded by CNN, a company that many audiences knows and trusts due to the reliability in being a top news network. Cowperthwaite uses actual news footage by NBC and FOX, plus CNN debates, from the coverage of the different whale attacks. She also creates credibility through the interviews with the four former SeaWorld trainers that worked with Dawn Brancheau. Their background and first-hand experience establishes a trust with the audience that makes them believable when they speak out against SeaWorld. Another extremely trustworthy source that appears in the documentary is OSHA, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Those who work in this administration aim to help employers and employees reduce job injuries, illnesses and deaths. The organization sued SeaWorld after the death of Dawn Brancheau and have fought many other lawsuits because of the way the Sea World treats their
In 2013, Gabriela Cowperthwaite’s documentary, ‘Blackfish’ was presented at the Sundance Film Festival. The film featured a SeaWorld killer whale, Tilikium, and his involvement in three deaths that were claimed to be “accidents.” Former SeaWorld trainers were interviewed in the film and shared their recollection of events and how little was told to them by the parks. The film received most of its attention when the CNN network introduced the documentary. SeaWorld responded to the film by stating that the film was “inaccurate and misleading.”
The movie that shocked thousands of Americans with the secrets of SeaWorld became one of the most talked about movies of its century. Blackfish came out in July of 2013 with shocking evidence of the mistreatment of Orcas, also known as killer whales, and the dangers imposed on the whale trainers. The movie had several strategies to appeal to its audience. These strategies included the three pillars of writing; logos, ethos, and pathos. Although the overall theme of Blackfish was to inform the viewers of the treatment Seaworld imposes on Orcas, the fundamentals of the movie actively used the three pillars; ethos, logos, and pathos to effectively catch the attention of the viewers and keep them drawn into the movie; the most prominent pillar was pathos followed
In this film, previous employees of the theme parks were contacted and asked to speak about their experiences with the whales. These were not the typical “sell lemonade to you during the show” workers. These were the people who trained day in and day out with the animals and performed
For decades SeaWorld has operated and advertised under the guise of being a happy family destination where children can interact and supposedly learn more about sea life and sea creatures. The documentary Blackfish, however, has illuminated the public on the shady practices of this world renowned park and the manner in which they mistreat their animals and endanger their employees. The death of SeaWorld whale trainer, Dawn Brancheau, sent out shockwaves to the public; was this supposedly educational, family-friendly Park not as safe as people thought? SeaWorld scrambled and changed their story multiple times as to how the incident occurred and denied that they were at fault. The world-famous sea park built up such a celebrity status with their main attraction, “Shamu” that they could not possibly let the name be smeared by the death of an employee. What the research gathered hear proposes is that SeaWorld has built such an empire with the “Shamu” moniker and the killer whales’ “celebrity-ism”, that it’s gotten to the point where they are simply exploiting intelligent creatures to line their pockets with money.
It’s a very common practice in todays society for people to go to Sea World and see the famous shamu show while on vacation or out for a day of fun. Many people don’t fully understand how these animals feel while in captivity. Light has been shed on having these killer whales in captivity when a trainer was killed at Sea World recently. At one of the early parks called Sea Land one of the male killer whales Tilicum killed one of his trainers. After this incident Sea Land closed its doors. This meant that Tilicum was up for sale, Sea World jumped at the chance to buy him at a good price. Sea World was not fully aware that Tilicum was the actual cause of his trainers death. This was a death sentence for one of Sea Worlds female trainers. Sea World and companies like it are only in it to make money, these large animals should not be kept in captivity by any means.
Currently, live whale performances have become a main attraction for tourists. When visitors are at SeaWorld, they only see what is right in front of their eyes and do not care or want to know about the complications the whales go through just to make people smile. The documentary “Blackfish” exposes the truth about killer whales, their habits, and why they behave in the manner that they do when in captivity. The inhumane treatment of whales in captivity causes negative effects on the animals which, in turn, affects the humans who care for them.
Sad music accompanies certain scenes in Blackfish to influence the reader’s emotions regarding what they are shown. The documentary opens with audio from the original Dawn Brancheau accident 911 calls. Underneath this audio, mournful music plays. Even before the viewer
That specific lobe has to do with processing emotions. This extra lobe has evolved in their brain causing them to have a very emotional life (Blackfish). When their very own child is ripped from these mammals, they get very emotional. There is a scene in the documentary BlackFish when a calve had been taken away from the mother and she was constantly sending high pitch vocals. A vocalist whale expert came to study these sounds and concluded that the mother was sending long distance screeches so she could reach her baby. For SeaWorld to keep separating the mother and calve knowing how much it hurts these mammals is
The only reason circus animals perform is because they are scared of what will happen to them. Due to the cruel behavior many circus animals become dysfunctional, unhealthy, depressed, and aggressive. These intelligent captive animals sometimes snap under the pressure of constant abuse. Others make their feelings abundantly clear when they get a chance. In the documentary blackfish killer whales become hyper-aggressive when confined in captivity. Multiple attacks proven that keeping these creatures in captivity is a safety hazard. In February, 2010, Tilikum dragged senior Seaworld trainer Dawn Brancheau into the pool and forced her underwater, eventually killing her. Killer whales are not aggressive in the wild but confinement can lead to dangerous behavior toward both humans and fellow marine mammals. Keeping the unstable animals close to the trainers is unacceptable and should not be allowed. This not only puts multiple people in danger but other animals as
Orcas in captivity are forced to all eat the same thing. Their meals consist of frozen whole fish about the size of sardines. In order to train the animals, they must all do the same trick correctly, if not they are all deprived of food. The jumps, dives and other tricks the whales perform, are similar to their natural behaviors. The severe food deprivation causes aggression between the whales, especially the ones who never have been trained before.