Blackfish Captivity

Blackfish is a film that touches on the subject of whales in captivity. It turned into a very controversial matter, starting protests against SeaWorld on the streets, and questioning its care for the animals they keep. It even reached a point where SeaWorld had to make a document claiming the film being inaccurate, and false in its testimonies. The most relevant issues discussed in Blackfish and SeaWorld’s response are the health of the orcas in captivity, the possible causes of their aggressive behavior, and their involvement in the trainers’ injuries and death.

The health of the orcas in captivity is one of the first topics that appear on Blackfish. The film shows us the size of the pools the whales are kept in. It appeals to the audience’s

They use footage from different sources, showing trainers in the pool with the orcas and on the background a 911 call plays while these scenes are shown. Here Blackfish is raising the audience’s tension to believe that was the moment of that trainer’s demise. Various former SeaWorld trainers are then interviewed, and say the incidents with the trainers happened due to the aggressive behavior of the whales trying to harm the trainers. Dr. Dave Duffus also states that these attacks were a cause of the rigorous training the whales go through, making them aggressive towards the trainers. On SeaWorld’s response they state that these events were accidents, and that the cause of death was not due to the whales, but because of the trainers’ negligence. An example SeaWorld gives of trainer misjudgment, is the incident with trainer John Sillick. On Blackfish we see an orca falling on Mr. Sillick during a show. SeaWorld gives the following response to that event: “Making a poor judgment call based on the routine, Mr. Sillick decided to ride a second perimeter –facing backward -- and took the whale around a second time. This act threw off the timing of the send signal given to the other whale, which performed the behavior exactly as requested, resulting in the accident, not an act of aggression” placing the blame of the incident on the