Blackfish Documentary

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.

On its website, SeaWorld asserts that several key points made in Blackfish are untrue. One of the film’s primary claims is that orcas in the wild live significantly longer than those in captivity, which bolsters the film’s thesis that captivity harms orcas. Great controversy surrounds this

          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

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.

One of the first examples of any fallacy being used in Blackfish would be when the audio recording of the 911 call regarding Dawn Brancheau’s death is paired with video footage of a killer whale and trainer performing during a regular show. By pairing these two unrelated events together the audience is manipulated into believing they are witnessing the accident that took Ms. Brancheau’s life and that the accident took place in front of an entire crowd of people during a show. This is not true, seeing as the show had been stopped at the time of the accident and a only a few park goers were witness.This is not the only example of video footage being manipulated to assist in convincing the audience to see their point of view. In a montage of whale related accidents, injuries, and deaths, a video depicting John Hargreaves with blood running down his face is featured. Having this included allows the audience to believe that his injuries were caused by his interactions with a whale; it is not until, or if, the audience looks further into the matter that it is revealed that his injuries were in no way related to an incident involving orca whales and in no way applies to the

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

Most people today have visited or at least heard of the popular tourist attraction, Seaworld. These tourists may think of it as a place to see marine animals do trick, like killer whales interacting with humans in a fun and entertaining way- but do we ever stop to think about the treatment or feelings of these creatures? After visiting Seaworld and seeing the famous Shamu, the thought of how living in captivity affects the animal had not crossed my mind. After researching I am now extremely concerned with the way these whales are impacted by spending their lives in bathtubs and forced to do tricks for food, all while humans are blindly funding this billion dollar business.

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

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

At SeaWorld, animals have access to 24/7 veterinary care, so they should be healthier than their wild counterparts, but that is not the case. Many factors determine the overall well-being of an animal, so the average lifespan of an animal remains a crucial factor. In orcas, this remains one of the biggest differences between captive and wild whales. The lifespan of an orca drastically reduces in places like SeaWorld, because they live in captivity. Scientists expect wild female orcas to reach 100 years of age, and wild male orcas to live roughly between fifty and sixty years of age. On the other hand, all captive orcas live approximately thirty years (Blackfish). When living in captivity, an orcas lifespan decreases by twenty

Since 1961, 157 orcas, or killer whales, have been ripped from their homes and shoved into captivity. 127 of these orcas are now dead. With the number of captured orcas plus the number of those born into captivity, The W.D.C. (Whale and Dolphin Conservation) reports that, “At least 162 orcas have died in captivity, not including 30 miscarried or stillborn calves” ( “The Fate”1). Out of the 127 taken into captivity, 44 have died in SeaWorld. There are currently 58 orcas residing in 14 marine parks in eight different countries. 24 of those orcas are held in SeaWorld’s three parks in the United States. Since 2002, 14 have been taken out of the wild and put into these marine parks. (“The Fate”1) It is not fair for these innocent creatures to be physically and mentally manipulated and damaged. Such brutality would not be condoned if it were targeted towards a human, and it should not be condoned when targeted toward an animal. Orca whales should not be held in captivity because they are forced to live in subpar conditions, they are mistreated while in captivity, and they are led to aggressive behavior.

Captivity kills orcas. Very few captive orcas make it to midlife (approximately 30 years for males and 45 for females) and not one out of more than 200 held in captivity has ever come close to old age (60 for males, 80 for females). Most captive orcas die while they are still very young by wild