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).
Some critics may also not like that the documentary seemed to primarily focus of the attacks against trainers, instead of the maltreatment of the animals, in order to induce more of a shock factor. I feel that it's true, most of the interviews held with former employers were subjective, and emotion filled, although I feel that this only added to the powerfulness of the documentary. Having former employees, as well as witnesses appealed to the audience more and, if anything, made the documentary more interesting. There were two personal interviews from former employees who recounted their admiration of Dawn, a trainer, who had been drowned by the Orca, Tilikum. They insisted that all precautions necessary had been taken, and that Seaworld was lying in their court case against OSHA.
High controversy exists on the capture and containment of all organisms in the world today. However, due to extremely popular public attractions Orcas have stayed under heavy debate on the right and wrong of zooing situations. People alike on the side against the containment of orcas have created a rigged documentary Blackfish, assessing the harm corporations, primarily Seaworld, cause in containing orcas. Because of the heat, I will be assessing the evidence the movie gives as well as Seaworld's rebuttal, then gauge its strength. This essay is also not limited to the response of Sea World in a orca Related situation.
The target audience of this documentary is the general public that includes a big emphasis on the customers of SeaWorld. The filmmakers are trying to inform the public of the inhumane treatment and the conditions that the orcas face while at amusements parks such as SeaWorld. As described in the film, orcas are seen as intellectual animals that are aware of their surroundings. Because of their intellect, orcas don’t belong in a place SeaWorld and should be released.
The viewer of this documentary is going to believe an actual research or specialist over a simple animal trainer. The former trainers in the film admit to believing what they’re told by SeaWorld and now they know that the information SeaWorld told them was false. Seaworld made another false accusation when trainer Keltie Bryne fell into the pool and was pulled under by the six-ton orca Tilikum. Sealand of the Pacific said she drowned, but many people witnessed her getting pulled under. There were photos and videos, but Sealand continued to make this claim until they were eventually shut down and Tilikum moved to SeaWorld
In conclusion Blackfish is gives audiences a shocking, aggressive and deeply compelling look into cruel practices of marine parks for decades that will change the way you look at captive/trained killer whales and other animals. In watching this documentary has significantly opened my eyes regarding the brutal treatment and methods of capturing wild animals giving me a greater sympathy for orcas in parks such as SeaWorld. This startling documentary will surprise audiences as Cowperthwaite is unrelenting in showing the fatal consequences of keeping killer whales in captivity while also critiquing of the cruel and immoral practises of
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
But children are blind to this fact, as SeaWorld is a corrupt organization that is excellent at covering up their unfair treatment, such as abuse, kidnapping animals, and deaths. SeaWorld has been proven to abuse their animals. Imagine living in a bathtub your whole life; that’s the size that tanks feel to
Furthermore, this can be the cause of all the incidence including to what happened to Dawn Brancheau who was completely mutilated by a whale. Despite the interview with a former trainer, from a document which was published after the release of Blackfish by SeaWorld to object
Director, writer, and producer, Gabriella Cowperthwaite, in her documentary, Blackfish, describes the shameless hunting and treatment of killer whales. Cowperthwaite’s purpose is to persuade us into opening our eyes to the reality of what we are doing to killer whales by confining them in captivity. She invents an emotionally wrenching tone in order to transmit to the adult viewers that living in captivity may not be acceptable life for the whales. The film effectively showed that the whales should not be kept in captivity by giving the audience examples of their signs of aggression and displays of emotion. Cowperthwaite begins her documentary by showing how killer whales can become barbaric when held captive.
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.
In 2013, a documentary called Blackfish was released to the public. This film was produced, written, and directed by a lady named Gabriela Cowperthwaite, as a way to show the world how poorly whales are treated and why they do not belong in captivity. Blackfish also shows how little people really know about the beautiful and highly intelligent orca whale itself. Her film was seen by many, and touched the hearts of a lot people, taking the debate of the topic to a higher level. The movie hits on a lot of main issues about captivity, told by reliable people, along with proven statistics to go along with them.
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
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
This is exactly how animals held captive in zoos and sea-parks feel. Zoos generally hold a variety of animals for public display, also known as “zoological parks.” On the other hand, sea-parks, hold fish and amphibians. These parks that exhibit animals are inhumane and barbaric. Vulnerable creatures are being abused daily and few seem to care about this issue.