Blackfish Essay

Blackfish is a documentary directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite in 2013. This movie used informative clips to inform marine mammal trainers and viewers about the various welfare issues surrounding the use of orcas in marine parks and the dangers that these trainers face. In a world where people would use any means possible to earn profit, Cowperthwaite directed the film of one woman’s death which led her to discover the truths of what Seaworld covered up. Through the use of eulogy, anaphora, and imagery, Cowperthwaite proves to us the truth of the matter.

The clip where it addresses Dawn Brancheau presents an eulogy about the dangers of having orcas around because it resulted in her death. The other trainers didn’t expect any of the killer whales

Since these marine mammal trainers are expected to train the killer whales in the water it can be very dangerous. From the film, “We don’t speak whale. We don’t speak tiger. We don’t speak monkey.” This informs the audience that wild animals such as these whales are unpredictable. That anyone can be easily harmed and face severe consequences. Halfway through the documentary another anaphora was used. A male orca, Tilikum, was always kept at the back and was brought out only at the end for the big splash. When he was brought out he would always be friendly to the trainers and seemed to want to interact with the audience. In the transcript, “He seemed to like to work, he seemed to be interested, he seemed to want to learn new things. He seemed to be enjoying, you know, working with the trainers.” This proves that orcas might seem to be content and are enjoying their situation but they can easily choose not to do so as well. They behaved well for their own survival and wellness. As known, killer whales aren’t meant to be captured and trained for others’ entertainment and money. The effect of this anaphora appeals to the audience’s logic and reason since it states facts about the processes of our minds and the

As described in the documentary, “The whale just took a different approach to what it was going to do with a very senior, very experienced trainer, Ken Peters, and dragged him to the bottom of the pool and held him in the bottom, let him go, picked him up, took him down again.” This description allows the audience to know about the situation that the trainer went through. Also entails about the dangers that these marine animals as they’re trapped and trained can do to trainers. Another imagery described in the film was the incident involving Keltie. Keltie was performing with the whales when suddenly she tripped. In the clip, “Her foot just dipped into the edge of the pool and she lost her balance and fell in and then she was pushing her way up to get out of the pool and the whales zoomed over, grab her boot and pulled her back in. . . And then they would pull her under and then they would come up. . . And then they take her down again.” The director wants the audience to realize that the whales know what they’re doing and that they don’t like their environment. It encourages the audience to prevent these performances from occurring and stop the captures of these whales. The effect of this imagery appeals to the audience’s emotions through descriptive phrases to persuade emotions and