Blackfish written by Gabriela Cowperthwaite. From the start attraction at Sealand of the Pacific in 1969, the aquarium grew attention for their orcas that would perform. Years later a two year old whale was captured and arrived in 81’. His name was Tilikum, coming in at two years old and 4,000 pounds. How do you go about taking orcas out of their setting, changing how they feel, and go about certain lies of how situations occurred?
The documentary states that orca species are “amazingly
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.
Freeing Willy: A Rhetorical Analysis on Blackfish the Documentary The documentary film Blackfish, by Gabriela Cowperthwaite, is a daring venture, which claims that orcas in captivity become dangerous to human beings, as well as to other orcas. Cowperthwaite points to SeaWorld, in particular, since this world-renowned tourist attraction has had many examples that support her claim. In producing this film, Cowperthwaite hopes to bring about an end to SeaWorld’s practice of using killer whales as performance animals since the limited environment is ultimately doing more harm than good for both the whales and their trainers.
Summaries In Easy Writer, Chapter 37 "Conducting research," Andrea A Lunsford, a English professor, asserts that after finding the topic one must do a great deal of research on it. Remember what sources one is using. Occasionally it is favorable to have both current and noncurrent sources, however that does depend on the topic (Lunsford). Lunsford details the types of sources such as: primary, secondary, scholarly and popular to choose from.
In the poem “Death Over Water” by Elizabeth Rhett Woods, juxtaposition between the beauty and grace of ice dancing and the savage fighting between two enemy birds is shown as an eagle is compared to “the male of a pair of ice dancers” (line 9), a gull to the female ice dancer and “a clamour of crows” (line 1) to the crowd watching them. The eagle is the dominant force in the fight that is in control of the movements of the birds maintaining “every advantage of size and speed” (line 17), comparable to the lead dancer of a pair. In ice dancing, the male is often guiding the female through the moves remaining “above and behind” (line 8) the female dancer at all times. The gull is at the mercy of “the enemy” (line 16) eagle and is forced to move
The first reason why I think should not be in captivity is of what happens in their tank. The first piece of evidence from the PETA practical “Aquariums and Marine Parks” is that since the tanks for the orcas are usually small for them, they get insane because of the echolocation they use. This makes me think that since their fin sometimes curves, that they would get injured while swimming. In addition, this might make the whale die faster than what they are supposed to live to. Other people might say it might non’t affect it
The documentary “Blackfish” focused on killer whales in captivity, specifically Tilikum; a wild orca who was caught and exposed to captivity and its environment which eventually lead him to violently turn on his trainers at SeaWorld and even took some of their lives. This documentary examines how the difference from living in sea life to captivity can cause these whales and orcas to live up to their names. Blackfish discusses and argues how life in captivity for these whales is cruel and dangerous, not only for the whales but for their trainers as well. The information throughout this documentary was all painful to watch in my view, but it also had a positive approach.
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
Andre Cole Ricardo Acosta G. English 101 September 22, 2015 Do Killer Whales Actually Belong in Captivity? Ever since wild animals such as Killer Whales have been captured and kept in theme parks and zoos as amusement, there have been issues on whether they should or shouldn’t be kept in captivity. Killer Whales, otherwise commonly referred to as Orcas, have regularly been taken away from the sea at a very young age so they can be trained, raised and kept in theme parks for exhibition. Although theme parks no longer capture whales from the wild, they are still bred in captivity for public display at marine parks such as Sea World (Gorman).
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.
Orca whales are forced to live in small tanks with other Orcas instead of their family. Believe it or not, Orca’s have a lifespan as long as humans, but in captivity they are only living up to 25-30 years. Employees at Seaworld and other theme parks are telling visitors false information that the Orcas live longer there than they do in the wild, and that is it normal for them to only live that up to that age. Their life is decreasing because their tanks are too small for them to live in, poor diet, anger towards each other because of stress, life without their family, and harm towards themselves from anxiety and boredom. They are losing years off their life because of captivity, when they could be living at least twice as long in the ocean.
Whales in captivity have become too much for humans to handle. Many of the pools that they are kept in are far to small to accommodate their need for exercise. The small pools can also cause a large amount of stress for these animals as well. Sometimes these animals, like dolphins, are kept in captivity for research. After being in captivity for too long
Orcas are incredibly smart, so the mother orcas would swim away from where the herding was happening. As a result to this, SeaWorld began releasing planes that would fly over the sea and find the mothers, because the orcas had to come up for air eventually. They would throw bombs into the water, so the orcas would be forced to go into nets. One of the whales, named Tilikum, who recently died in January of 2017, was kidnapped from the ocean at the young age of two. A man named Ted Griffin, who helped capture the whales, killed a mother whale in front of her daughter, to later be named Shamu; the first performing whale at SeaWorld.
It is a common misconception of natural instinct and imaginative onlookers; these whales are not people they are wild marine life. It is no secret that killer whales have a bad reputation, however what earned the reputation was sheer unintentional killings. Orinus Orcas are wild marine life that should not be prosecuted like human beings, and the name “Killer Whales” is the result of false
