Analyzing The Film 'Blackfish'

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On January 19, 2013, an independent film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. This film was titled ‘Blackfish’. The film’s director, Gabriela Cowperthwaite, chose to investigate SeaWorld after the death of killer whale trainer Dawn Brancheau in 2010. ‘Blackfish’ depicts that life at SeaWorld is harmful for killer whales and that the company has attempted to cover up the facts surrounding the death of Dawn Brancheau, as well the history of Tilikum, the killer whale involved in that accident. The ‘Blackfish’ production team employed former SeaWorld employees to recount their experience with the company and the whales themselves. Yet, there are quite a few things that the film failed to mention: the actual facts from Dawn’s death, the date …show more content…

What Blackfish tells about Dawn’s death. Interview of George Tobin, who states that Tilikum ate Ms. Brancheau’s arm: a totally false statement. Facts on Dawn’s death. Article her family posted to baynews.
The film relies heavily on the testimonies of former SeaWorld employees, most of whom have little experience with killer whales, and others who have not worked at SeaWorld in nearly 20 years. These individuals make it out to be that they are the apparent authority on all things killer whale and Tilikum that goes on SeaWorld. However, most of them have little or no firsthand experience working with any of the whales, let alone with Tilikum. The “cast” have no idea of the company’s current techniques and conditions for the …show more content…

The film makes the argument that, in the immediate aftermath of this incident, SeaWorld effectively concealed its occurrence from its trainers. However, in the Whale and Dolphin magazine article titled ‘Blowing the Whistle,' Ms. Berg admits that: “the John Sillick incident, where John was crushed between two killer whales at SeaWorld of San Diego, happened in 1987, three years before I was hired. I only found out about it because my husband was sitting on a plane next to John Sillick’s sister on his way to visit me” (WHALE&DOLPHIN 21). Samantha Berg did not work at SeaWorld in 1987. However, in the film, she insists that she had been working for the company for 6 months and was not informed of the

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