Analyzing The Film 'Blackfish'

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

and department that the ‘employees’ worked for SeaWorld, the mental and physical well-being of Tilikum, and that the trainers directly involved with Tilikum were fully aware of his past at Sealand and otherwise.

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

killer whales at this time. Kim Ashdown was introduced on camera and talks throughout the film about Tilikum and various killer whale practices at SeaWorld despite working primarily with dolphins, beluga whales and sea lions during the time of her employment. Ms. Ashdown worked with killer whales for approximately 4 months and was not assigned to Tilikum’s team and did not work directly with Tilikum. Ms. Ashdown never performed waterwork with any of SeaWorld Orlando’s killer whales. Samantha Berg was another former SeaWorld who spoke out about her ‘experience’ at Shamu Stadium. Ms. Berg only worked for SeaWorld for 3 years. Of those 3 years, only 1 of them was spent in Shamu Stadium and she was not directly involved with Tilikum despite talking about him throughout the film. As she talks about her experience with the company and the whales, the film overlays a video of a female trainer riding a killer whale. This implies that the trainer in the video is Ms. Berg, but the reality of the situation is that the footage was filmed 10 years after Ms. Berg’s departure from the company and is actually a current employee. John Jett, Dean Gomersall, Jeff Ventre
In 1987, a trainer named John Sillick was seriously injured when a killer whale jumped out of the water and landed on him while he was riding another whale during a show.

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

incident.
SeaWorld deprived Tilikum of food or otherwise used a deprivation type of training technique. Tilly was psycho. A whole bunch of bullshit, tbh. This implication is false. Tilikum arrived at SeaWorld weighing 7,700 pounds, and currently weighs 12,000 pounds. SeaWorld has never deprived Tilikum of food for any reason, training or otherwise. Prior to Tilikum’s arrival at SeaWorld and continuing to this day, SeaWorld has only utilized operant conditioning, a scientific method that professional animal trainers have used for decades. Through rigorous efforts, trainers gradually increase the frequency of desired animal behavior, and minimize the occurrence of undesirable behavior, by encouraging the former with “positive reinforcement” and ignoring (and thereby discouraging) the latter. Punishment is never part of operant conditioning, and punishment is never employed at SeaWorld. SeaWorld pioneered and is the recognized world’s leader in the use of operant conditioning principles for the training of killer whales.