Blackfish 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.

Anderson’s “Orca Behavior and Subsequent Aggression Associated with Oceanarium Confinement” states that, “a fundamental refocusing of our relationship with orcas is warranted, in favor of a new era characterized by mutual friendship, understanding, and much greater appreciation of these remarkable creatures than has been the case to date” (Anderson). In 1961, the practice of capturing wild orca whales to use for entertainment and educational purposes in amusement parks began; however, the captors knew little about the social complexity and strength of orcas. During this time, investors saw this magnificent animal as the proper investment to allocate revenue during the boom of amusement parks. After nearly forty years of orca captivity, researchers begin to unravel the nature of orca whales, and scientists now raise the question of if these powerful and intelligent mammals belong in captivity. Captors argue that captivity provides insight on a species is nearly impossible to study in the wild and promotes respect for the species. Activists and scientists plead that due to scientific data it is senseless to hold captive such a highly intelligent animal. Although activists and scientists create a convincing argument against orca captivity, millions of people flock to see orcas in captivity proving that

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.

Animals are held captive against their will every day, all around the world. They’re deprived of the life they could have in their society or the wild. Over the centuries, animals have suffered from cruelty from humans Animals have been inflicted with pain from humans for reasons other than self-defense.. In a majority of cases, they have even been abused for someone’s own personal amusement or personal benefit or financial profit. The 2013 documentary, Blackfish is a response to this animal dehumanization and illegal treatment meted out to all the animals but specifically the killer whales. Blackfish was created by Gabriela Cowperthwaite, a documentary filmmaker who for more than 12 years has directed, produced and written a variety of real life stories, and premiered in January of 2013 at the Sundance Film Festival.

Throughout the documentary, the director has elucidated how victims are accused of their own deaths by corporation in order for the corporations to maintain the positive reputation and confine their financial success. One of the focus of Blackfish is Dawn Brancheau's death which is critical about keeping orcas in captivity. Director Gabriela Cowperthwaite has argued that the claim that orca had targeted Brancheau because she had worn her hair in a long ponytail was conjecture and that "there had to be more to this story". Archival footages of various news reports were used and had juxtaposed with actuality footage of experts’ inference. By evaluating the news report, experts and ex-trainers had said the converse and justified the logic. Non diegetic sound was also used to further portray corporations as villainous and incorrect. Low, fast beat and suspenseful music was played in the background the news report. With effect, these techniques had drawn the audience to agree to the idea and had mock corporations on how they have institute reason to unjustly blame to sustain their

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.

Imagine a place where you can see your favorite sea animals. Whales, dolphins, sharks, even penguins. Doesn’t that sound like somewhere you would enjoy going? SeaWorld is what comes to most people’s minds when they think of this, but is SeaWorld really that wonderful? Is SeaWorld truly what it’s hyped up to be? SeaWorld claims to be a sanctuary for animals where they keep animals like killer whales safe from the dangers of the world. Well, SeaWorld should really get a dictionary because a “sanctuary” is truly not what they give these animals. Orcas are the main attraction of SeaWorld but they are also one of the animals that suffer the most. Orcas in SeaWorld lifelessly float in their pool with little to no shade from the sun. In the wild,

The rhetorical situation of the documentary is presented by director and writer Gabriela Cowperthwaite when she brings to light the history of Seaworld and it’s famous orca, Tilikum by recruiting former trainers and whale experts. The context of the film is explained when it dives into the orca attacks, the most recent victim being Dawn Brancheau who was killed by Tilikum in 2010. The principle aim to this documentary is that orcas should not be held in captivity because it is detrimental to their mind citing past incidents throughout Tilikum’s life. I found this “text” to be effective because it highlights the developed brain of an orca, former incidents with Tilikum, and consistent concealment of blame from

In 2013 a documentary called “Blackfish” (a documentary explaining the illnesses of orcas and the weaknesses of seaworld) was released to inform the world why seaworld was not all fun and games. In fact after the release seaworld lost $31.6 million the second-quarter income. Just one of the many things “Blackfish” told us is that capturing the orcas doesn't always go as smoothly

Blackfish is a movie about how Sea-world is treating their orcas and trainers that are there. It came out in 2013 and was directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite and her goal of the movie was to try and get the facts across to the people of how bad Sea-world actually is. The film shows credible information throughout it and hooks people into watching it and supporting their cause by using tones and emotions however it lacked the ethical side. Overall the movie had great Logos and Pathos parts but was left with an emptiness of Ethos

The most relevant issues discussed in Blackfish and SeaWorld’s response are the health of the Orcas in captivity, the Orcas’ aggressive behavior and the trainer’s death. Blackfish and Sea World’s response in Blackfish, Ethos Pathos and Logos are used to present information about the health, treatment about the Orcas in captivity and the safety of the trainers. Through blackfish and SeaWorld’s views, Ethos

Gabriela Cowperthwaite‘s use of the accounts of retired SeaWorld trainers exposes the harsh reality of captured animals in her documentary Blackfish. In creating a piece focused on the life of one individual orca, Cowperthwaite allowed viewers to catch a glimpse of the lives of captive Orcas at SeaWorld, and the similar effects on other captured animals under this umbrella of issues. Even when the topic is centered, researchers on this matter have drawn inspiration and gathered evidence through the large following of SeaWorld's accumulating issues. This has nevertheless shown the greater social issue of animal rights, and the treatment of animals for research and the need for actions taken against these certain industries and

The tear-jerking story of a young orca being stripped from its family and taken to a park where it is then abused by other animals, is enough to make any compassionate soul long for the protection of killer whales and mammals in captivity. Blackfish not only presents this emotional story, but also illustrates that some of these whales who grow up in strained environments, (such as Tilikum) even resort to killing those it interacts with. Stories of a man killed in the sea-park Loro Parque, and a woman killed at SeaWorld by an orca, are both retold within the documentary. The backgrounds of the individuals are presented in a way that make both individuals likeable, and interviews are held with relatives of the deceased, which further intensifies the feelings of sadness when the trainers’ deaths are disclosed. Viewers of the documentary consequently connect emotionally with the families of the deceased, and empathize with those who mourn over the loss of the sea-park trainers.

SeaWorld’s mission statement states that they are committed to bring excitement, wonder, and awe of the natural world into our home, school, business, or place of recreation. SeaWorld strives to provide an ever-evolving kaleidoscope of animal and environment information. SeaWorld decided to purchase their first orca whale in her name was Shamu. Shamu was the first whale to ever be held in captivity for entertainment purposes.