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Blackfish Documentary Analysis

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Imagine living your whole life in a bathtub, separated from your family, and forced to put on a show to entertain people. How long you could you live in a life like that? The documentary Blackfish, was released in 2013 and directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite. It is a very eye opening movie that really makes you feel strongly against keeping animals in captivity and everyone should get the chance to watch it. Living in your own natural habitat should not be a privilege, it should be a right. 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. …show more content…

This causes aggression and violence that you would not normally see in the wild because they are usually with their family. Orcas are highly social animals and have a very emotional part of the brain us humans do not have. In the wild they stay in groups of 2-15 and in some populations they stay with their mothers their whole life. As a result from being separated, whales are getting seriously injured or dying, and some are forced to be left in a smaller tanks as punishment or protection, making them completely immobile. What kind of life is this to

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923 Words | 4 Pages

Joshua T. Brooks Professor Patty Chaffin English 111 8 February 2023 Blackfish Blackfish is a documentary filmed in 2013 directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite. This film was produced following the lawsuit against SeaWorld where people have died while training with killer whales. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) ruled that it was dangerous for humans to be in the same water as Killer Wahles in captivity because the only deaths by whales have come from them being in captivity, there have been no reported deaths by whales that live in the wild. This shows that you do not know how animals will react when you get them into the wild. Gabriela Cowperthwaite shows all of Ethos, Pathos, and Logos in the film.

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262 Words | 2 Pages

In 2013, Gabriela Cowperthwaite released her documentary, Blackfish, to establish her argument as to why orcas should not be kept in captivity. Orcas have been kept in captivity at SeaWorld since the mid-60s and have shown aggressive behavior towards trainers. Throughout her documentary, Cowperthwaite creates ethos and pathos appeals through the use of interviews with former SeaWorld trainers as well as showing the change in behavior of Tilikum, an orca that has been kept in captivity since he was two. With the information provided by the interviews and the examples of Tilikum’s behavior, Cowperthwaite emphasizes why orcas should be released from captivity.

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850 Words | 4 Pages

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

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266 Words | 2 Pages

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.

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1109 Words | 5 Pages

Blackfish: DROWING IN BIAS!!!! The 2013 expository documentary Blackfish, directed by 2-time award-winning Gabriela Cowperthwaite, sheds light on SeaWorld’s abusive orca captivity program and the death of SeaWorld trainers by orcas such as Tilikum. Intended to educate and bring awareness to a wider audience, the documentary sends a powerful message that SeaWorld’s abuse and negligence towards orcas, blinded by their profit-hungry mentality, jeopardizes orca wellbeing and trainer safety. The film utilizes various techniques and persuasive devices to influence audiences and portray its bias agent SeaWorld that they are a heartless, greedy, and corrupt company.

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611 Words | 3 Pages

However, the truth is that in the wild, it does not occur very often and indicates a serious problem. We also see that Sea World workers tell individuals that an Orca’s lifespan is equivalent or longer in the theme park versus the wild. This could be far from the truth, as they tend to die younger being held captive in Sea World. Sea World does this to hide the truth behind colorful lies and to deceive the public from the unlivable living conditions these animals must endure and go through on a daily

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1143 Words | 5 Pages

The people of the Ethical Treatment of Animals have filed lawsuits on SeaWorld (PETA), PETA claimed that SeaWorld captured 5 orcas from the wild and they are seeking a declaration that those five orcas are slaves and subjected to involuntary servitude. Different rhetorical devices such as extreme exaggeration, ethos, are used to persuade and inform the audience about animals that are being held at SeaWorld in articles Orcas Aren't the Only Ones Being Mistreated at SeaWorld, The Guardian, and As SeaWorld stops breeding orcas, what are the impacts of research?. As seen in the movie Blackfish several orcas at SeaWorld have a collapsed dorsal fin that has the public concerned.

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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

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1140 Words | 5 Pages

Starting from the way they are captured, these animals suffer all their life in confinement. Currently, 58 orcas are held captive in different marine parks around the world. (The fate of captive orcas). At the moment of their capture this animals are hurled in and the young ones are captured, leaving the parents in despair over their offspring’s. (blackfish).

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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.

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754 Words | 4 Pages

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.

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81 Words | 1 Pages

I found two books that could be useful to answer the essay question. The first book is called ‘’Pre-Columbian foodways: interdisciplinary approaches to food, culture and markets in ancient Mesoamerica’’ has information about rituals and everyday life of Mesoamerica, as well as the social order in the Mayan religion. The second book is called ‘’Shamans of the foye tree: gender, power, and healing among the Chilean Mapuche’’ and talks about gendered rituals and the social life of the Mapuche in Chile.

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727 Words | 3 Pages

Blackfish 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. Firstly, Cowperthwaite uses effective language techniques to position the audience to view the trainers as undertrained and unprofessional.

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1560 Words | 7 Pages

When whales are bred in captivity they don’t know how to live on their own. They depend on humans for food and don’t learn how to hunt. They don’t understand how to interact with one another like whales in the wild do. When orca’s are bred in captivity, they are normally premature and have more calves than they would in the wild (“Captivity is Dangerous”). This causes these whales to have a “high adult and high infant morality” (“Captivity is Dangerous”).

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When whales are taken from families they are lost forever. When a whale is taken from its pod, ( families lived in pods) the whale could have some negative effects. Every pod has their own way of speaking with whistling and shrieks. When whales go to aquarium they

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