Two years ago a documentary was released that completely changed the view of a multi-billion dollar industry forever. This extremely influential and controversial documentary is called Blackfish. Blackfish centers around the story of a killer whale named Tilikum, who is nicknamed Tilly. The documentary was produced to illustrate that SeaWorld, and other sea parks similar to it, do not treat their animals in captivity well. Tilikum had killed one of his trainers in the past year when the documentary began to be filmed. Dawn Brancheau, one of Tilikum’s former trainers was dragged down to the bottom of the tank and held until she drowned on February 24th in 2010. This, sadly, was not the first person to be killed by Tilikum. Tilikum killed three …show more content…
Even though the documentary does not have strong aesthetic appeal, the film’s raw emotion draws both critics and the audience in. According to Rotten Tomatoes, 90 percent of viewers like the film and 98% of critics like it. In an article named "My Problem with 'Blackfish' | Rope of Silicon", written by Brad Brevet, some critics’ “problem isn't with the message, it's with the delivery and while Blackfish is successful in getting its message out… it fails in giving us all the necessary information” (Brevet). Brad Brevet also thinks the film fails in making this a broader topic. Killer Whale’s being treated poorly in captivity is a very important problem that needs to be addressed, but Blackfish does not cover the more general problem: animals in captivity everywhere. Animals in captivity are not provided enough space and freedom that they would receive if they were wild and Blackfish has made viewers see what truly happens behind closed doors when the show ends. The film is told primarily through former workers voice, which weakens the credibility of the film. It is not stated how long the workers were at SeaWorld, or if they worked there at all. Even though the credibility of the film is not as strong as it could be, the graphic images and videos speak for
David Kirby’s book describes the complex issues of whales in captivity. The death of a SeaWorld trainer brought up many objective reasons of the training practices of this business were not effective at keeping trainers safe in the water. Currently this debate is still being tested in a court of law. OSHA claims that even with the precautions that SeaWorld tries to use, it still cannot guarantee the safety of trainers in the water. This cultural topic has been gaining ground, and recently prompted a movie based off this book titled, Blackfish. The audience of this book includes animal activists, followers of David Kirby, and people that are interested in the topic of killer whales in captivity. Rob Grom was contracted to create a book
The death of Dawn Brancheau made national news back in 2010. Dawn was working as an orca trainer at the SeaWorld of Orlando when the tragic accident occurred. While doing a relationship session with Tilikum, the largest orca in captivity, Dawn was pulled into the water and drowned. It was a story that not only shocked the nation but left people wondering how something so horrible could happen. Gabriela Cowperthwaite‘s use of the accounts of retired SeaWorld trainers exposed the harsh reality of captured animals in her documentary Blackfish. In creating a piece focused on the life of one orca, Cowperthwaite has allowed viewers to look into the lives of captured animals and has shown the greater social issue of animal rights, the treatment
The website for SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment is speaking towards anyone that has seen the documentary BlackFish, or anyone who thinks that SeaWorld is abusing or mistreating the orcas or other animals by keeping them in captivity. They also attract the corporate side of SeaWorld as a business. The website gives information about what the business does to give back to the community, how their animals are treated and shows their credibility to draw in customers. The tab titled “The truth about Blackfish” states multiple points about how the producers of the documentary were lying about their facts or over exaggerating to appeal to multiple viewers. The purpose is to fight back against
The documentary, Blackfish, proves that there was and still is quite a bit of controversy over whether it is ethical to keep Orcas in captivity. Some people believe that it is acceptable since the Orcas are being treated and fed well. Other people, however, believe that this is not ethical because being kept in a tank for twenty years leads to aggression and therefore is too dangerous for humans. The documentary proves that there are many incidents, in the past, where a whale has harmed their trainer. One example of this, that made people more aware of the danger, was the death of Dawn Brancheau in 2010 (Cowperthwaite & Oteyza, 2013). The incidence has led to many different debates over the years and Sea World has had to try to refute the claims that were made about them. The claims were regarding their treatment of the whales and other issues. However, Sea World was not
Blackfish, a documentary by Gabriela Cowperthwaite, analyzes the horrific treatment, containment, and use of Orca whales within entertainment facilities. The discussion of treatment began in 2010, when Dawn Brancheau was killed and drowned by the whale, Tilikum. Since this incident, there have been multiple investigations into SeaWorld and similar facilities. It is argued that the whales should be released from these facilities due to the posed dangers they have to humans, and themselves.
Black Fish uses the death of a recognized Killer Whale trainer at SeaWorld, Dawn Brancheau who was one of Tilikums trainers thorough his twenty years in captivity, almost as a framing device to explore the theory that possessing Orcas in captivity is corrupt and unnatural for the whales. In Black fish, there are many different tragedies that went on while the Orcas were in captivity. Fisher men separated the young from the mothers and took them into SeaWorld. Many of the workers were unaware of all of the immoral actions they were taking part in. Tilikum was the Killer Whale that ended up killing Dawn Brancheau and causing a stir in SeaWorld. Having Orcas in captivity damages them but, the trainers were scared to leave because they want to continue to care for the whales. There is a relationship shared with the trainers and the whales yet it is obvious that very little was taught in the SeaWorld industry about these intelligent mammals.
In 2010, Tillikum killed Dawn Brancheau, as described in a recent news article: “The SeaWorld trainer, he crushed, dismembered, and partially swallowed" (Brower). Tillikum grabbed the trainer and dragged her into the water. After seeing these incidents occur, people have urged SeaWorld to ban these activities. Permitting such activities will create more problems that can cause the injury and death of more people like Dawn, who love and cared for the animals.
Blackfish Paper The documentary “Blackfish” is about whales at seaworld. And also how the audience didn’t like the fact that they were kept in captivity. , And another is they didn’t like how seaworld were lying about the deaths of trainers. The question I am going to be answering is “what are the arguments for and against breeding animals in captivity?”The arguments are for animals that are in captivity and they are against animals that are kept in captivity to breed animals.
The controversial documentary Blackfish, directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite rose to popularity four years ago in 2013, when it was released. Blackfish tells the stories of killer whales, or orcas, that were caught and kept in captivity, and the effects that arose due to their capture. The documentary focuses on Tilikum, an orca caught in 1983, who was kept in captivity in SeaWorld Orlando since his capture for 34 years. Blackfish does an excellent job in using all three rhetorical appeals, providing many real life examples and statistics, to defend their argument that orcas should never be captured or held in captivity.
Blackfish shows all of rhetorical situations throughout the documentary. The rhetor in Blackfish is Gabriela Cowperthwaite, the director. The audience is Sea World customers or potential customers. The purpose of the documentary Blackfish is to inform people on how damaging mentally and physically it is to keep an orca whales captive. The exigence in this documentary is that holding killer whale’s captive and it is very dangerous mentally and physically to the whale, but also can be dangerous for the workers. The constraints in Blackfish is that the film may appear to be slightly biased against SeaWorld, making the audience see only one side of the issue. The affordances are you get to see live footage from the harmful attacks and listen to real life stories that people that witnessed it. Cowperthwaite goes on and appealeed to Pathos, Ethos, and Logos to create awareness on the harm of keeping killer whale’s captive.
A documentary is an expository text that informs its audience about an issue person or event using visual and auditory conventions to convey a message. Documentaries are often used to reveal an unusual, interesting or unknown angle. Topics are limited only by one's imagination. The documentary Blackfish is the story of Tilikum, a captive killer whale that has taken the lives of several people, it underscores problems within the sea-park industry, man's relationship to nature, and how little has been learned about these highly intelligent mammals. This documentary was directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite. The ideas that orcas are wild and unpredictable, Seaworld’s treatment of orcas are inhumane and Seaworld’s was negligent in their training of their trainers. These ideas are shown throughout the documentary as visual techniques of Celebrity figure, expert opinion, audio codes, the documentary technique of interviews, archival footage and written codes. I think these ideas in the documentary are quite true and are well proven throughout the documentary.
If you have ever been to Seaworld you would have had to go see the Killer whales in fact its one of the top attractions there. Through the eyes of a child, these gentle giants seem to be happy, healthy, and enjoying a playful game with their trainers. The question is are they really happy, do they get treated the right way, and why have there been deaths and injuries. Many people wonder about these things and after the movie Blackfish came out more and more people began to question how well Seaworld treats their animals. “The truth is that Sea World keeps its animals for entertainment and money and helps no one but themselves.”- Animal Legal Defense Fund
In 2013 Gabriela Cowperthwaite produced and directed the documentary “Blackfish”. This documentary mainly focused on the issues behind killer whales being held in captivity such as at the famous amusement park Sea World, instead of the open ocean. Some negative outcomes of these animals being confined to such small spaces is, many accounts have been documented of the whales being agitated and having an aggressive tone with other whales and the trainers as well that work with them. A handful of these are human deaths caused by the orca whales. Throughout the documentary the director uses the Rhetorical strategies ethos, pathos, and logos to persuade the audience and try to convince them that her argument has a valid point and can be
“Blackfish” the documentary film was created to reveal how confinement of killer whales can lead to dangerous behavior toward human trainers. The main claim this film displayed is how the captivity of Killer Whales triggers aggression and is unsafe for humans and other marine mammals. Blackfish uses the story of Tilikum (most aggressive killer whale who killed the most amount of Sea World trainers), interviews of previous trainers, and court hearings regarding OSHA and Sea World to support their claim.
While Blackfish does not touch upon any of the good that SeaWorld does. Again, this does not mean that the film is unreliable in and of itself. However, it again casts reasonable doubt over the film’s veracity, an issue that the director of a compelling film should strive to avoid. If Cowperthwaite aimed simply to get people thinking, she would have given viewers a positive perspective as well, so as to enable viewers to conduct their own robust cost-benefit analyses of SeaWorld’s business