Blackfish: Documentary Analysis

The events following this attack prove that there is an issue with these whales in captivity. The police report on the attack on Dawn first claimed that she slipped or “fell” into the pool, when she was actually pulled in by the whale. The lies told to the public clearly showed an issue with aggression. Not only did they lie once, they continued to change the story. After saying she slipped and fell, they then said that the whale grabbed her ponytail. The continuous telling of tall tales in regard to the reality of the attack is more evidence that the attack was something of concern. It wasn’t so hard for police and trainers to blame the attack on Dawn when she was no longer alive to protect and defend herself. One of the professionals from the film said that all whales in captivity are emotionally destroyed and physically traumatized. The evidence given in the documentary shows this to be true. One of the other speakers in the documentary was talking about how Tilikum is not killing to be a savage; he is killing because he is frustrated. These whales are unpredictable and dangerous because they are aggravated as shown in the film; they need to be kept free in the wild. We can either stop capturing and training whales, or people will continue to be injured and even killed. This is an example of the either/or logical fallacy, and it is proven in the film.

Seaworld's effort should focus less on the money and more on the treatment of the whales and the trainers. The whales are being put through harsh treatment

In 2013, the documentary called Blackfish was released, a story about a killer whale that over the years at SeaWorld killed several people. It highlighted some of the major problems with animals in captivity. SeaWorld, known for having several different animal attractions; Dolphin Cove, Dolphin Nursery, Orca Underwater Viewing, Shark Encounter, Wild Arctic (Habitat) and many more. The organization first started with the intention of learning more about animals in order to educate the public about different behaviors of each animal. Trainers at Seaworld are offered the opportunity to get hands-on training with animals and are eventually are allowed to entertain the public with the skills they have acquired. Over the years there has been controversies with the way SeaWorld treat the animals and the type of behaviors animals portray as a result of its enclosures. SeaWorld's defense of capturing

Knowledge, is the reason why SeaWorld is losing customers, money, and revenue. Action, is the reason why SeaWorld is cutting its Orca shows and the Ringling Bros. Circus is closing down.”There has been a huge backlash against SeaWorld ever since Blackfish premiered. Average Joes and celebrities alike continue to speak out against the cruelty at SeaWorld.” seaworldofhurt.com gives thirteen examples of famous celebrities that openly spoke out against SeaWorld. Matt Damon, for example, stated,”So I’ve never been a fan of places like that..I think they should just shut them all down.”Awareness caused the backlash, and protests caused progress in favor of animal rights activists. The Last Chance for Animals (LCA) campaign and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) are only two examples of the many organizations responsible for the occurring change. Their impact has been recognized nationally, ABC news reporter, Martha Sugalski stated, “SeaWorld only made changes after trainer Dawn Brancheau’s death outraged the public.” The power of the people was proven as soon as change was even considered, because before the protests, there were not many people making claims against SeaWorld or the Ringling Bros. Circus, which allowed them to easily deny any negative allegations. However, once the public started speaking, everything changed, Joel Manby, CEO and President of SeaWorld stated, “Society’s attitudes have

Since she couldn’t obtain that said interview, she couldn 't offer a strong counter argument, or offer many other solutions than the solutions she offered. Since she couldn’t create a strong counter argument she couldn’t offer many other options and it makes you think she doesn’t realize the other options available for the situation but really she’s trying to build her argument off of what she found out. The second downfall to her argument was her credibility. Cowperthwaite stated “I set out to understand this incident not as an activist, but as a mother (who had just taken her kids to SeaWorld) and as a documentary filmmaker (who can’t let sleeping dogs lie).” Cowperthwaite is by no means a whale expert but she tries her best to find out and research her information to create her supporting argument.

Fed Up is a documentary made in 2014 that is based on the issues caused by the American food industry. Fed Up, uncovers America’s true secrets about the food people consume every day. More specifically, it reveals the affect sugar has on people’s bodies. As a result, the amount of sugar in food, the bodies consent of glucose, and the satisfying taste it brings, too much sugar could cause certain sicknesses causing the body to not work the way it supposed to.

It is known as one of the biggest red targets for animal activists and people that believe it is animals cruelty. Part of this criticism comes from the documentary “Blackfish”, which basically made revenue drop dramatically. According to an article by Binder, “The film is not fully accurate, and it portrays events that happened 30 years ago as contemporary. “The unfortunate thing is that people are taking that film at face value.” Most people now a days believe anything they see on TV. They take things and just believe it without knowing the truth or doing any research to support the claim. Today in the United States there are approximately three different Sea Worlds located in San Diego, San Francisco, Orlando, and San Antonio. Over the past years, Sea World has begun to lose a lot of revenue and money because of drastic drops in people attending Sea World. According to Michael Calia in his article “Sea World hit by Bad Press; Stock Off 33%” this drop is mainly because of the recent media debate about the treatment of the captive Orcas in Sea World. Publicists and media stated that the treatment of these animals was very bad and they deserved to be set free into the

The documentary Blackfish, directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite released in July 2013, explores the mistreatment of killer whales and the relationship between the killer whales and trainers as well as the significant problems of the sea-park industry, with a focus upon SeaWorld. Cowperthwaite positions the audience to feel sympathy towards the killer whales by making deliberate choices in sound, visual, language, and structure through the representation of trainers as unprofessional, and whales as mistreated, also experts as reliable information source.

In 2013, Gabriela Cowperthwaite directed the documentary Blackfish. This documentary is about Tilikum, an orca from SeaWorld that has taken the lives of many trainers. The documentary makes the claim that orcas should be freed from captivity. While in captivity they are causing harm to both themselves, humans, and the other orcas. Blackfish is a great example of an argument that can be rhetorically analyzed because it has pathos, ethos, and logos.

Do you remember that day that you and your family took a trip to that one park? That one that you got to see many different types of sea animals, dolphins putting on shows, and getting to even interact with the sea animals in a great learning experience. That park is SeaWorld. When you were there, you might have not noticed the stuff that was happening behind the scenes. Lately, the animals have been very sad and not living healthy lives. As well as, SeaWorld’s money is dropping at a very fast rate. Seaworld should be closed to end the companies dropping of money completely, to let the animals’ live free lives, and to save the Orcas.

I believe keeping orcas in captivities is not humane .To keep orcas in a zoo for display is acceptable, but it is morally unacceptable to use them for entertainment at SeaWorld. I saw the film Blackfish and now, I resent SeaWorld. They care more about profit than animal welfare. Keeping these sentient animals in captivity for an extended period of time causes them severe psychological damage, as evidenced by several killer whale attacks on trainers. SeaWorld Entertainment has had a rough year in the wake of Blackfish, the explosive 2013 documentary about its killer whales, most notably Tilikum, a 12,500-pound male who has fatally attacked two trainers. The film sparked protests at SeaWorld’s three marine parks and attendance has been steadily

It 's clear that the living conditions that these animals are forced to live in are just plain unethical, but something even worse is the relationship between animals in captivity and a spike in their stress levels. “It 's irrefutable that many zoos drive animals insane -- and if that isn 't cruel, I don 't know what is” (Masci) For starters, SeaWorld is one of the most notorious places in the world accused of stressing out their animals. Since the tanks are so small the whales tend to get very stressed out, and some former workers even say that the whales seem to go psychotic. “ If you were on a bathtub for 25 years, don 't you think you get a little irritated, aggravated, maybe a little psychotic ” (“Blackfish”)? A clear example is when one of the

When the word artificial comes to my mind fake thoughts run through me, like water runs down your throat. Artificial christmas trees, flowers, foods, anything artificial you can think of, almost everyone has it and has produced it. As you read this, do you have any idea what artificial means? Said on dictionary.com, artificial means produced by humans, not occurring naturally. For example, artificial selection would be taking a wild animal, such as a whale, living in the huge ocean and putting him/her in a place like Seaworld, where they don’t adapt to the environment well, and are not used to the resources and rules. As you can see there has been many deaths at Seaworld because the animals, such as Orca whales, can not adapt to the small warm environment after being in the huge ocean with their family for their whole life. As said on “Live Science”“A 3-month-old orca calf

SeaWorld has been in the spotlight for several years now. Whether it is negative or positive publicity, someone is talking about SeaWorld; from the new animal births at their facility, killer whales attacking their trainer and the sudden unexplainable deaths of many of their animals. In 2013 the documentary “Blackfish” explained how SeaWorld’s animals and staff are really treated. Since the release of Blackfish, SeaWorld’s image and attendance has gone down the drain. SeaWorld San Diego’s attendance is down 12% and SeaWorld Orlando is down 8% (Weisberg, 2015). People want to see change; some have even suggested SeaWorld closing for good and releasing all the animals back into the wild. However, preparing the animals to be released is costly

In 1874, the first zoo opened; however, since then there has been a lot of controversy around zoos. With over 10,000 zoos worldwide, the biggest issue people are seeing is that zoos are capturing innocent animals and putting them in small areas. In reverse, others believe that zoos are great for educational purposes. Zoos are extremely miserable for animals and they should be banned.