Blue Water White Death Documentary Analysis

1. Models are analogies that allow us to clarify hypotheses—proposed explanations of relationships between causes and effects. What roles do models play in testing hypotheses?

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.

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

David Suzuki was called to be a steward of the earth at a very young age citing his time spent exploring his local swamp as a child as sparking his passion. Suzuki followed this by attending the university of amhurst for a bachelor of biology and a phd in zoology from the university of chicago. However he was not content to stay in the realm of academia, he knew it was his calling to share his knowledge with the public. He did this most notably through his television show The Nature of Things. In this show he shared environmental theories and explained the how humans and their actions impacted nature in a way that was accessible for the Canadian public. At the time the ideas of environmentalism and it’s scientific theories had been limited to academe causing Suzuki to receive criticism with many scholars calling his media work a waste of his talents (Philipson & Bailey, 2011).

Throughout history, humans have had a strong reliance on nature and their environment. As far back as historians can look, people have depended on elements of nature for their survival. In the past few decades, the increased advancement of technology has led to an unfortunate division between humans and nature, and this lack of respect is becoming a flaw in current day society. In Last Child in the Woods, Louv criticizes modern culture by arguing that humans increasing reliance on technology has led to their decreasing connection with nature through the use of relevant anecdotes, rhetorical questions and powerful imagery to appeal to ethos.

“How can you buy or sell the sky-the warmth of the land? The idea is strange to us. Yet we do not own the freshness of air or the sparkle of the water. How can you buy them from us? We will decide in our time” (Chief Seattle: 1855). In the Documentary “Flow – for the love of water” it visualizes the global crisis we face on Mother’s Earth as it pertains to the diminishing of fresh water. The Documentary portrays along with the help of experts that this global crises is affecting each and every one of us in today’s society including animals. The film shows us that water is constantly being wasted, polluted, and privatized by big co operations. Prime examples of these greedy companies were mentioned in the film such as Nestle, Thames, Suez,

Sea World rebuttal was not considered in the documentary of “Blackfish” which clearly defines the bias views of the creator. So without choice, viewers are marked to take the side of the creator or leave the documentary feeling like a kid in a fine china shop, unable to touch or lose your balance for fear of shattering the look of the shop. Unfortunately, the problem with animal activist groups is that they force their religious views of animals on others with no other biases to consider. Hence, their real arguments are skewed and we are unable to clearly see the real poignant side without the opinions.

We capture, contain, and control the very wildness of these animals, we so admire them for. We decorate a large bucket of water, or a box of bars to resemble a shallow shadow of the wilderness they should be in. These animals held captive in collective groups as a means to entertain us. We are trading the wonder of nature, seen in it’s own wilderness area for animal showmanship and entertainment. Losing the remarkable sensations of hope and renewal we experience, as we stand in a wilderness land, quietly observing animals and nature in the wildly beautiful and raw lands. The absence of our own lack of realization that nature and the wild places we call the wilderness are under attack. They are in danger of being beyond repair. It overwhelms the senses, and is not to be tolerated.

As Adams pursued his work in both art and conservation the various lines of his life were beginning to converge revealing both the unity and the disjunction of his ideas. 137 His impact was felt on both spheres of influence. Using modern techniques of mass communications, Adams brought a vision of idealized wilderness to a broad audience and linked the environmental movement with nationalism and a romantic view of nature. The sustained popularity of his photographs illuminates a continuing public fascination with the wilderness landscape as both a place of beauty and a symbol of national identity and ideals. (Pacific 42) Most leaders within the conservation movement continued to share his ideal assuming that economic growth and wilderness

The film is not only able to show the way humanity has lost contact with nature but also how much they appreciate and want it back in their society.

guided by a visual world, in which practically everything in nature became a sign for

guided by a visual world, in which practically everything in nature became a sign for

When one thinks of natural history it can be understood how it plays a very important role in conservation. The Merriam Webster dictionary defines natural history as the study of plants, animals, and ancient human civilizations. Although wildlife conservation deals with mainly the plant and animal side of this definition, this film tells of a human civilization: the Aborigines. Quigley Down Under demonstrates Frontier ethic and the detrimental effects it has on not only animals but also people.

His focus is on Timothy Treadwell, a man who had completely devoted his life to grizzly bears. Treadwell would leave civilization every summer for 13 years ‘alone’ and eventually would be killed by one of his fellow bears in 2003. The core to this documentary may be correlated to man’s individualism and connection to the beauty of nature. With many intervening themes Herzog creates a masterpiece that allows the viewers to truly understand Treadwell’s questionable

Werner Herzog directed a documentary film called Grizzly Man to show viewers how much interest Timothy Treadwell demonstrated towards human nature and how he demonstrates human nature through himself. Timothy Treadwell spent thirteen long summers in Alaskan Peninsula. He went to go portray his love and protection to the wild life and grizzly bears, which lead him to his miserable death. Herzog creates a sequence of scenes, comments, and interviews from people who is well connected directly or indirectly with Treadwell. His purpose of directing the Grizzly Man documentary through Treadwell’s own film was to convey the viewers the difference of human beings and the wild life animals. Herzog’s main effective argument was to convey how courageous and how insane Treadwell was to spend thirteen summers in the wild life of grizzly bears.