Exposing the Whale's Feeling in Blackfish: The Documentary

Blackfish: The Documentary

Entertainment is a word that invokes feelings of fun and pleasure. It is an exciting time with family and friends filled with joy and laughter, especially at amusement parks. However, what about the whales entrapped at amusement water parks? How do they feel? Are they content with their environment? Perhaps once you view Blackfish by Gabriela Cowperthwaithe, you will begin to have an understanding of how the whales feel.

The documentary follows an Orca by the name of Tilikum. Tilikum had been involved in three deaths, including a Marine Biologist named Dawn Brancheau, who was killed by Tilikum while performing with him. The film also highlights why keeping whales in captivity is dangerous and also touches on the death of Dawn Brancheau who was faulted for her own death due to her ponytail hanging low.

After watching the documentary, I began to analyze Gabriela Cowperwaithes claim; essentially, she doesn’t feel it is right to have whales in captivity because it makes them aggressive and perhaps insane after being held in captivity for so long. For example, she showed old footage of baby Orcas being captured and taken from their mothers. Then, she moved on to them being trained, specifically Tillicum, who later became aggressive and killed three people. By showing us that footage she is igniting feelings understanding and sadness. A human that is being taken from their mother would be in distress also. I interpreted that footage as her saying it is wrong to take whales from their natural environment.

Her claim in my opinion is logical. Wouldn’t we as humans began to lose our minds if we are locked up all day long everyday. She infers that whales need to be free and should not be used for our pleasure.

Gabriela also shows the deceitfulness of the entertainment industry. She shows how they love to cover their tracks to keep from being exposed. For example, the company that owned Tilikum was called SeaWorld. SeaWorld had previously known that Tilikum had killed twice before, yet they failed to tell their employees about his past behavior. One of their employees named Dawn Brancheau was killed while performing with Tilikum. He even swallowed her whole arm up. People that were watching were mortified. However, to keep from admitting fault, the Public Relations personnel claimed Dawn died because her ponytail was too low and that it as her own fault.