Black Fish Documentary Summary

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.

The documentary film, Blackfish, targets an audience of the general public who feel for the customers of SeaWorld.

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.

Director Gabriela Cowperthwaite in the documentary, Blackfish (2013), argues that captivity triggers aggression in killer whales. Cowperthwaite supports her argument by demonstrating shocking footage and emotional interviews to present a convincing case against keeping these animals in captivity and for human entertainment. The author’s purpose is to show the problems that are caused by captivity in order to aware the audience that keeping killer whales in captivity affects their behavior mentally and physically. The author writes in resentful tone to Sea World, the people who visited Sea World, and those who were present during the killer whale incident. Gabriela Cowperthwaite argues that keeping killer whales in captivity at SeaWorld affects their mentality due to how they are being treated. She makes this argument by applying pathos, ethos, and logos.

In the documentary “Blackfish”, directed by Gabriela Cowperthawaite in 2013, is asking the audience to take up a position on the inhumane treatment of whales in captivity. In particular, she invites us to feel sympathy for the whales and anger toward SeaWorld cruelty and denial of culpability. Cowperthawaite makes choices of visual image, language, sound and structure achieve her outstanding outcomes.

In Blackfish, the use of ethos, pathos, and logos are used to condemn SeaWorld’s mistreatment and irresponsibility of taking orca whales into captivity. The use of the rhetorical device ethos, which refers to the credibility of a source to persuade an audience, is used repeatedly through the use of interviews with SeaWorld trainers. During the documentary, former SeaWorld trainers talk about their time at

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

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” 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.

Documentaries are a form of genre in the film industry that aims to discuss a certain topic in the world, often trying to prove a point or persuade the audience towards a particular cause. The cove (2009), directed by Louie Psihoyos, is about the annual dolphin slaughter in Tai Ji that happens every year in Japan. It shows the ventures of the activist Ric O’ Barry who tries his hardest to expose the injustice within the industry. Blackfish (2013), directed by Gabriela Cowpertha is about the captivity of Orca Whales in public wild life parks such as Sea World. Very much like The Cove, Blackfish attempts to expose a certain dark side of what seems to be a harmless company and show the world that captivity can be dangerous for whales and even

Animal rights activists have been around for decades, and while their efforts have made some measurable changes, there is still more that needs to be done. One of the most influential factors of Blackfish was it’s convenient timing because “the size of the movement … w[as] less important than … the responses of the targeted groups [that were] shaped in part by the timing of the campaign in the life of the entire animal rights movement” (Jasper 655-656). Blackfish was created after the death of SeaWorld trainer, Dawn Brancheau, made national news back in 2010. It did not matter how big the documentary was, the fact that it came out shortly after Dawn’s death and was centered around her and the orca that took her life, automatically captured the nations’ attentions.

In 2013, CNN released a documentary referred to as Blackfish. The public has insisted for lawmakers to bring up legislation outlawing the breeding of the captive Orcas. There are reasons SeaWorld should change the way it treats them. It separates calves from mothers leaving the poor animals without a mother. SeaWorld has had their focus on entertainment since day one, they should develop into a company for animal research or release the animals out into the wild.

Blackfish (2013) directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite argues that orcas in captivity, including entertainment aquariums such as Sea World live in abusive situations and poor conditions that can lead to mental problems. She argues this through the films use of interviews, video, and statistics.

A part of the reality about seaworld is that it benefits the country and the people in some way. Watching the “Blackfish” documentary I was emotionally affected I thought it was great at first, and they really did a good job supporting their idea and convincing their audience.. I believed that seaworld is the worst institution on earth. But after I read two different articles about seaworld I realized that seaworld were not the worst institution on earth and that there is a bright side that wasn't shown in the documentary. The documentary main purpose was to convince us the

Blackfish is a documentary about the treatment of both trainers and Orcas at SeaWorld. It shows how the whales are mistreated, but it’s not all the trainer’s fault. These people are continually misinformed and kept in the dark by people higher up in the chain of command. The whales are separated from their families, shoved together, and they fight each other simply because the space is too small. The males who are more submissive can’t escape, there is nowhere to go. All of these horrible things are shown for a reason. This film is meant to show that what the public knows about SeaWorld isn’t true. These whales have killed trainers before and if kept in these conditions they will keep killing trainers. It’s hard to say that it is the fault