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Symbolism In Blackfish

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Blackfish tells of the story behind Tilikum, the killer whale that is being held captive at Sea World. Tilikum has taken several lives over the course of the last few years and has participated in harmful and violent behavior since its arrival at the theme park. The documentary analyzes and reveals the mistreatment of the killer whales encaged and being held captive there, the lives lost at Sea World, and how deceptive the theme park really is. According to the second humanity formulation of Kant’s Categorical Imperative which states that individuals must never treat others as a tool or the sole purpose of a need. As visualized in the documentary, the killer whales, and other mammals were treated poorly and as objects for the means of entertainment. …show more content…

The theory of psychological egoism declares that actions are based on the idea of self-interest. We see that the animals are confined and miserable. The orca whales often engaged in violent behaviors towards other whales and even divers. Whales are often left with fatal cuts on their bodies due to this and human lives were lost in the process as well. These whales would chew on the arms and legs of divers during performances and even after hours. Over the years, the number of deaths caused by the killer whales at Sea World increased significantly. Despite this, Sea World still decided to run their theme park and continue as though it was not a problem. Because they most likely fear of losing millions in the process, they acted in their self-interest, rather than taking the deaths and injuries in consideration. Furthermore, there is a part in the documentary that brings to light the misconceptions and lies as told by Sea World workers. Sea World workers tell tourists that collapsed dorsal fins are quite normal. 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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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.

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Once these orcas are brought into the amusement parks like SeaWorld, they get harassed by other whales which makes them much more aggressive than they would have otherwise been if they had remained in the wild. For example, in the movie one whale bashed in the jaw of another whale and in the process slashed its jugular causing the whale to bleed out. This is all due to the confinement which makes the whales more aggressive. Orcas turn surly and unpredictable when they are penned into small pools. The only time they get out in the bigger

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Attention Getter - How many of you have heard of the documentary, Blackfish? This documentary released in 2013 “focuses on Tilikum, an orca whale held by SeaWorld, and the controversy over captive whales”, according to wikipedia.org/blackfish. It goes behind the scenes of the glorified water shows to expose the truth on how these whales are treated. According to www.care2.com, “SeaWorld stated it spends 70$ million on its orca facilities every year, but a tank is still a tank and no amount of money can turn a tank into an ocean.” Reason to Listen - Imagine being put up for display like the orca whales showcased in this recently publicized documentary.

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The film presents the argument that Orcas should not be kept in captivity and should be allowed to live freely in the ocean with their families. It also shows the cruelty of using punishments, such as withholding food, to discipline Orcas in captivity. In conclusion, the film encourages viewers to sympathise with these magnificent creatures and support their freedom, instead

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That’s so crazy! Some people like to think that if SeaWorld has to close down, then so should the zoo. But that is really different, at the zoo no know has been hurt by an animal (at least I don’t think so), but at SeaWorld they have been many death occurred, because kids think it is safe for them to touch the animals, plus while training the orcas killed the trainers. “Orcas in the wild have an average life expectancy of 30 to 50 years—their estimated maximum lifespan is 60 to 70 years for males and 80 to over 100 for females. The average age of death for orcas who have died at SeaWorld is 13 years old,” by SeaWorldog Hunt.

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When someone thinks about SeaWorld, they think of a tranquil place where humans and marine animals live in harmony and perform fun shows for families to enjoy. However, this is far from the truth. In reality, SeaWorld is hiding a dark secret. Within all those marine shows, there are voluminous amounts of lies. “It’s safe for trainers to be in the water with Orcas,” and “Captive Orcas’ life spans are equivalent to those in the wild,” are one of many lies about Orca captivity told by SeaWorld.

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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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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.

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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

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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.

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Killer whales were initially captured in the 1960s, when a female orca was captured and put into a tank. Two days into the female orca's stay she repeatedly bashed her head against her tank wall and perished the following day. Unfortunately, people did not heed or take any precautions from this traumatic incident and since then killer whales all over the world have been captured for entertainment purposes and have been stored in facilities such as SeaWorld. From these types of facilities incidents continue to happen such as killer whales killing their trainers, killing themselves, dying due to medical conditions, and more. Continuous accidents such as these have caused suspicion among the public of whether killer whales live healthy and prosperous lives in captivity and brings up the concern of ethicality.

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The purpose of this article was to get the news of seaworld’s neglect and abuse out in hopes that it will be stopped. The article gives direct quotes and names their source. This article has helped my research by giving me specific stories of abuse. The stories found in this article will

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Territories border a specific species’ personal space, the Orinus orca is no stranger to this as any other living thing. What makes the whale’s reputation “killer” is its compliance to territories. Killer whales are innocent, but immature. Their actions prove them to be “killer” as witnesses say, but do they really think on the Orinus orca’s perception of the situations of violence they are involved in? Killer whale’s do what any other wild animal does, and when captive it is no surprise they would do the same.

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Being held captive leads animals to have abnormal behaviors that unfortunately can lead to the deaths of people. Although zoos and sea-parks claim they are all about educating the public and conservation we know its

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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

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