The Cove Film Analysis

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.

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

Gabriela Cowperthwaite’s activist documentary, Blackfish, spurred a significant public dialogue following its 2013 premier. The film centers on the role of Tilikum, an orca whale at SeaWorld, in the deaths of three SeaWorld trainers, including, most recently, Dawn Brancheau. Cowperthwaite follows a suit brought against Sea World by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), weaving together testimony of scientists, former trainers, and family members of the deceased, among others, to make a compelling case against SeaWorld’s practice of holding and performing alongside orcas. Nevertheless, after its release, the film drew criticism from some of its participants as well as Sea World itself. Cowperthwaite claims not to have tried to vilify SeaWorld. However, this claim seems dubious given the film’s fairly evident anti-SeaWorld bias.

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

Blackfish is a shocking film that reveals a lot of information regarding Sea Worlds famous known “Killer Whales”. These enormous whales are highly trained by trainers of Sea World who perform for thousands daily. The film uses the tragic tale of Tillikum to support their many claims and an investigation of the Sea World

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

Killer whales, also known as orcas, are the largest member of the oceanic dolphin family. In their natural habitat, killer whales have been described as docile and majestic creatures. Killer whales are known to travel in pods that are composed of matrilines. Matrilines are groups of whales connected by maternal descent. Relationships between killer whale calves and their mother are extremely close knit (“Behavior”). Beginning in 1965, SeaWorld – a marine zoo, began capturing whales from the wild to perform in shows for park visitors’ entertainment (“10 Things You Didn’t Know”). In the documentary Blackfish, director Gabriela Cowperthwaite urges and reassures audience members that keeping these large creatures in captivity is a horrible thing that is dangerous for both the whales as well as the humans that interact with them. To accomplish this persuasion, Cowperthwaite employs the use of rhetorical devices ethos, pathos, and logos to solidify her claims.

Blackfish (2013), a mesmerizing, psychological documentary with 7 film awards and 38 nominations, presents an extensive look into the negative effects captivity has on Orca whales. The director and writer Gabriela Cowperthwaite calls her audience to action, similar to documentaries such as Food, Inc., The Cove, and Super Size Me. In all of these documentaries, the director and writers reach out to an audience that is not fully knowledgeable on a certain topic, in order to persuade them into taking a stance on a certain topic. In Gabriela’s film, she illustrates the story of Tilikum, a performing Orca who killed many people while at SeaWorld, Orlando. Though at times graphic, the film investigates the harmful effects captivity has had on these wonderful creatures and their trainers. Blackfish uses credible interviewees, powerful voice-overs, and influential outside evidence to persuade those who are un-informed of the negative effects of captivity on killer whales. The ultimate goal in doing this is to urge these individuals to take a stance against aquatic captivity.

In the movie Finding Nemo, Nemo learns to understand that believing in ourselves can overcome any condition. This is shown throughout Joseph Campbell’s Monomyth. Marlin, had his son taken away by a scuba diver, this is where the monomyth takes place. It is Marlins call to adventure to find his son. The refusal of the call as seen in the monomyth, is exemplified through Marlins fear of the deep sea. While defying his fear, he runs into his supernatural aid whom is Dory. Dory acts as a supernatural aid through keeping Marlin calm, cool, and collected. Throughout the long hard journey, Marlin finds his goddess is a nice and helpful seagull. The seagull flies him and Dory to the dentist office where Nemo is waiting on his father to rescue him. The similarities between finding Nemo and the different stages accurately relate to Joseph Campbell’s monomyth. Here are some ways that Joseph Campbell’s monomyth and the film Finding Nemo relate.

The director of the movie Blackfish informers the audience about the incidents and situations at Sea World through rhetorical devices, ethos, logos, and pathos.

Mass dolphin murder is one of the many issues that are happening in our world today in the 21st century. The Documentary Called “The Cove” would make the viewers open their eyes of what this world is actually and the secret Taiji, Japan is trying to keep. It would show them why these activist struggle so hard to stop this social issue for the reason that fishermen’s murder dolphins behind the scenes in the cove of Taiji, SeaWorld’s organization and the captivities of the dolphins. Dolphin meat being sold to people without knowing and potential health risk. Lastly, activist being at risk from helping dolphins. These are the countless causes that dolphins goes through and how activist risk their life for a change in society.

The enemies in The Cove are obvious. They’re the committees set up to bring about change but who get so caught up in legislation that they create little progress. They’re the fisherman and multi-million dollar companies who feel their livelihood threatened by the activists determined to make a difference. With all these enemies for the activists to face, it’s good that we have a hero to root for and in this film it’s Ric O’ Barry. For years, O’ Barry was known as the best dolphin trainer in the world, having trained many of the dolphins who appeared in the Flipper TV series. It was this particular job that convinced him that dolphins were not meant to be kept in captivity but to be free in the

Not only does the documentary by Vice instill feelings of despair and hopelessness, but the documentary also provides viewers with an urge to help in any way possible. The documentary shows a clip of sea life swimming in the ocean. What viewers do not know at first is that the water that the dolphins are swimming in is filled with miniscule pieces of broken down plastic. What was most shocking was when one of the Vice journalists got into the same water as the sea creatures and felt a piece of plastic filter into his mouth, and when another journalist was diving and saw a plastic bag floating about, cautiously approaching the thin film of chemicals, thinking the piece of suspended plastic was a jellyfish. Seeing these two scenes causes a strong feeling of helplessness, followed by an urge to help, into viewers.