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Blackfish documentary essay
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Documentary analysis on blackfish
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Black Fish is a documentary released by Gabriela Cowperthwaite on July 19, 2013. The main purpose of this documentary was to expose the cruelty animals experience by being locked up in Sea World. Mainly, this film focuses on Orcas; this is because most people attend sea world to watch these wild animal perform shows. Specifically, the footage lights up Tilikum, a wild orca who was related to the death of three trainers, which by the way were blamed for their own murder. Tilikum was cruelty trained in order to obey and perform the huge shows Sea World makes by using these animals. In the film the use of footage and videos recorder by people who have attended these shows are used, which makes the film reliable and explicit. Define the Problem The main problem pointed out by Black Fish is the unhuman and murderous way orcas are being hunted. People hunt orcas for pleasure, or because they locked them up in entertainment parks such as Sea World. …show more content…
While the forensic examinations, along with the footage from each accident, stated reliable proof in each case; Sea World and Sea Land blamed all three cases the victims. In the first case, Tilikum drowned Keltie Byrne at Sea Land Park, because there was no footage that supported her dead as this way, Sea Land claimed that she slipped and drowned. Tilikum’s second incident involved a Daniel P. Duke, who was found dead on top of his back at Sea World Orlando. Trainer Kelly Clark stated at that time that Mr. Duke died of hypothermia. However, the medical examiner’s autopsy stated that his body suffered multiple bites sized from an orcas tooth. Lastly, Tilikum suffered a third incident which was recorded. The victim this time was senior trainer Dawn Brancheau; Tilikum bite Brancheau’s arm and drowned her. However, Sea World claimed that Tilikum grabbed Brancheau by her hair and pulls her in, because she had not tied her hair the proper
Blackfish is a well-known film about how whales were kept in captivity while being mistreated. This film explained the situation in more of a sequential order stating each event one after another from occurrence. This film was made to inform people of all the cruel and monstrous things that Sea Land and Sea World were doing to the whales.
The director includes footage of Tilikum and Dawn having a good time and performing together to show that Tilikum didn’t have any animosity towards her. Thomas Tobin explains the attack and mentions that Dawn was scalped and that her arm was missing. The director incorporates actual footage from the attack with eye witness testimonies to give the audience a sense of what actually happened. Although Tilikum was responsible for the death of trainer Dawn Brancheau, another whale at the Canadian park, Sealand of the Pacific was responsible for the tragic death of trainer and competitive swimmer, Keltie Byrne. Keltie Byrne was performing with the whales as she normally did when she suddenly slipped into the pool, as she was trying to pull herself out of the pool, the whale zoomed towards her and grabbed her by her boot. She proceeded to plead for help every chance she was brought back to the surface, but no one could help in time. These two incidents serve as examples that whales shouldn’t be taken out of their natural habitat because it’s unsafe for their mental health and it’s unsafe for the physical health of the
This resulted in him spending the majority of his time in isolation, something orca whales are not used to. They are known for being social, emotional creatures. They spend their whole life in their pods and form very close bonds with each other. SeaWorld’s arrangement of whales is extremely unnatural because they put random, unrelated whales in a small area together. By doing this, they add to these animals’ frustrations of being in captivity. Years passed, and Tilikum became a part of the main show at SeaWorld. One night in 1999, a man snuck into the park, assumably to see the whales up close. He was found the next morning, draped across Tilikum’s back without any clothes. Among many other injuries, his genitals were ripped off and eaten by the massive whale. SeaWorld public relations released the easy story of a mentally unstable man wanting to have a one on one experience with a killer
Bystanders are used in this documentary to show the audience how little SeaWorld care or wish to address the incidents involving Tilikum. When Tilikum killed Dawn Brancheu a SeaWorld trainer, a small and insignificant article was posted in a newspaper about her in the second page. SeaWorld failed to show the importance of the situation, instead, they tried to convince the public that it was not Tilikums fault and in fact it was Dawns. That if Dawn was here today, she would blame herself for the incident and that she should have known better than to wear a long pony tail to work that day. But it was found that many other trainers wore their hair the same, but did not end up in that situation. An autopsy of Dawns body showed that she had been attacked from her neck also, raising suspicion and intensity for the viewers. SeaWorld also fail to mention that it was Tilikum that made the attack, they claim that it was too quick to be able to tell which Orca had done what. But the bystanders interviewed for this incident were ____ & ____, and they state in the interview that it was definitely Tilikum that made the attack, because they could pick him out of all the whales easily, due to his large size and stand out bent dorsal
The mental and physical stress affects the whale’s bodies, which leads them to lash out in different ways. Expressed in the “Blackfish” documentary, Tilikum shows his stress in different ways, from breaking teeth to three deaths of trainers. Tilikum, in attempt to manage stress, chewed on the concrete and metal walls of his tank, shattering his teeth. Many of the Orca’s teeth end up being drilled, hollow, or fractured. Tilikum eventually turned to a different way of relieving stress. The first occurrence happened in February 21st, 1991 where Sealand trainer and marine biologist student Keltie Byrne fell into a pool with the holding of three orcas, one including Tikilium. Keltie’s autopsy read that she was drowned by being tossed among the three orcas like a playtoy (“Orca”). The second occurrence happened on July 6th, 1999, a man trespassing through the park named Daniel P. Dukes was found dead across the back of Tilikum one morning when the park was being opened. He was found with many wounds and punctures to his body, his autopsy showed he had a profound death of drowning. The last occurrence happened February 24th, 2010 when Dawn Brancheau, a SeaWorld trainer was pulled into the water by Tilikum, who had her ponytail in his mouth. The death of Dawn Brancheau concluded that she was killed by blunt force trauma and being drowned. “Tilikum (orca)”. By levels of stress being strained, different animals take out stress
The documentary Blackfish directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite, leaves the viewer with many different emotions. This documentary follows the life of Tilikum, a captured killer whale who is forced to preform for SeaLand. The director uses different interviews from people who have worked with Tilikum or have seen him attack people during the shows. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA, has said that swimming with and training killer whales is not safe at all and should not be done. They believe it is a very high risk to the human working with the whale.
Tilikum is sold to SeaWorld and all of the news reports regarding the death of his previous trainer are altered to reflect an error on the trainer’s part in order to ease the public’s conscience regarding the aggressive
Australian beaches are some of the best in the world and WA beaches are some of the best in Australia. But this may soon no longer be a view held by everyone if the WA government continues to support and allow the shark culling off Perth's major beaches. Hi I'm Maya Koentgen, a marine biologist, ecologist and fellow beach user, and I'm here to tell you why shark culling needs to stop. At the moment hundreds of innocent sharks are being caught and killed and why? Because they are simply swimming in their own homes that us humans have invaded.
The first genetically modified animal has been given the green light to reach dinner plates.
On February 24, 2010, this incident was a reality. The death of Dawn Brancheau occurred during Shamu show. Imagine what is was like for the Orca. I wonder how the Orca felt. If I was the Orca, I wouldn't feel bad for the trainer at all. Why? Because swimming with your mom shouldn't result in having to be forced to do tricks which ends with a crowd of high-pitched shrills. This is why believe that Seaworld isn't treating their Orca's very fairly.
It’s a very common practice in todays society for people to go to Sea World and see the famous shamu show while on vacation or out for a day of fun. Many people don’t fully understand how these animals feel while in captivity. Light has been shed on having these killer whales in captivity when a trainer was killed at Sea World recently. At one of the early parks called Sea Land one of the male killer whales Tilicum killed one of his trainers. After this incident Sea Land closed its doors. This meant that Tilicum was up for sale, Sea World jumped at the chance to buy him at a good price. Sea World was not fully aware that Tilicum was the actual cause of his trainers death. This was a death sentence for one of Sea Worlds female trainers. Sea World and companies like it are only in it to make money, these large animals should not be kept in captivity by any means.
John Crowe, one of the hunters, is interviewed and tells the story of “the worst thing he’s ever done”. He appeals to the appalled emotions of the audience by admitting to the inhumane way they captured the baby whales. He uses an analogy when discussing the capturing, claiming it was like “kidnapping a kid from its mother”, which pulls at the heartstrings of any parent watching the film, establishing a sense of relatability. The film uses juxtaposition by examining how Crowe, a tough looking man, can be brought to tears by this horrific act. Blackfish then moves to discussing the reason behind Tilikum’s outburst by running a montage of news reports ambushing SeaWorld on the inhumane treatment of whales. The use of the rhetorical question “If you were in a bathtub for 25 years don’t you think you’d get a little irritated, aggravated, maybe a little psychotic?”, grabs the audience’s attention by creating a scenario they can understand. These events create an accusing tone that convinces the audience that SeaWorld is the antagonist of the film. Along with accusations from reporters, SeaWorld has fought many lawsuits against OSHA- the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, due to the way SeaWorld treats their animals. A court hearing is held regarding Tilikum’s behaviour due to pulled video footage of Tilikum lunging towards one of the trainers
Blackfish is a 2013 documentary, directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite, about the captive orca, Tilikum. The documentary chronicles Tilikum’s life in captivity while examining the conditions that SeaWorld’s orcas live under. Cowperthwaite argues that SeaWorld mistreats their Orcas and intentionally misinforms both their employees and the general public. Rhetorical analysis reveals that Cowperthwaite uses emotional appeals and juxtaposition to sway the viewer to her perspective.
Kirby, David. Death at SeaWorld: Shamu and the Dark Side of Killer Whales in Captivity. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2012. Print.
“Overfishing occurs when more fish are caught than the population can replace through natural reproduction”. CITATION