Blackfish Film Analysis

569 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Blackfish documentary essay

‘Blackfish’ is a forcible documentary that’s directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite in 2013. This documentary has demonstrate the passive plight of those domesticated killer whale in SeaWorld. It analyses the tragic plight of killer whales and the director has used her particular way to position the audience to feel sympathy for those killer whale and she also implores us to view SeaWorld management with anger and disgusted, by their irresponsible manner and their endless desire. In addition, this documentary has represented those hard working trainers as passionate and respectable as well as victims. The director cautiously selects image, sound, structure and language to achieve those outcomes.
To begin with, this film has represented the killer whale as gorgeously as well as pitiable and the audience are positioned to view them with sympathy. …show more content…

Closing that door on him and knowing that he's locked in there for the whole night is like... it's a stab, it's a "whoa.”
The lifetime of Tilikum is actually an epitome of most of the domesticated grampus in SeaWorld.
The director has also used sound and image to explore her opinion for those domesticated whales. There’s a scene in the film is about SeaWorld separated a young killer whale, Takara from her mother, Kasatka. After Takara had already been stretchered out of the pool, Kasatka tried everything to find her daughter.
“Kasatka continued to make vocals that had never been heard before. Looking for Takara. That's heartbreaking. How can anyone look at that and think that that is morally acceptable? It's not.” It is heart wrenching to hear how a mother… the audience are strongly affected here to feel sympathy and sad for the whales and furthermore it effected the viewer position to the SeaWorld.
Nest, the viewer are positioned to feel outraged and nausea to the SeaWorld management, for what they did to those whale and also, the

Show More
Related

  • A Rhetorical Analysis Of Blackfish By Gabriela Cowperthwaite

    969 Words  | 2 Pages

    While this footage plays, the former trainers discuss the alarmingly low amount of information they, as employees who worked with these orcas on a daily basis, were given. Footage of Tamaree being pulled into the water by Orkid and the resulting compound fracture in her arm exemplifies a situation that could have ended in a fatality. Cowperthwaite also includes several minutes of footage of the Ken Peters attack, as well as footage of him receiving medical attention in the aftermath. A multitude of shorter clips of trainer accidents surround these longer clips. The interviewees comment on the culture at SeaWorld where they were expected to get right back out there after an injury and that SeaWorld ignored risks to trainer safety. The interviews about the danger the trainer’s were unknowingly placed under are disturbing on their own, however without the footage of bloody and injured trainers, there is less of an impact. By including the gory footage, Cowperthwaite forces the viewer to acknowledge how dangerous working with orcas is. In turn, the interviews contrast this evident danger with SeaWorld’s repeated claim that working with orcas is not particularly dangerous, thus showing that SeaWorld knowingly misinforms their

    Read More

  • Seaworld Research Paper

    610 Words  | 2 Pages

    Seaworld is a giant marine life theme park. The greatest attraction to these many theme park would be those killer whales. In fact, these killer whales are the face of the park. As gigant as these mammals are, seaworld is keeping them in some pretty tight quarters. Mr. Jett and Mr.Ventre says “Wild killer whales can swim a hundred miles daily as they socialize, forage, communicate, and breed. In stark contrast, with little horizontal or vertical space in their enclosures, captive orcas swim only limited distances, with most spending many hours surface resting.” The animals don't have the freedom they need. Also when taking the whales out of their natural habit the whales tend to be depressed and not as heath in that situation. They need their freedom in the big ocean blue. Bring them into the small living units, breeding whales in captivity all for the entertainment of humans. At young ages the calves are taken away from their mothers on to a new seaworld park. Mothers of the calves have even been seen denying their offspring.

    Read More

  • Sea World Rhetorical Analysis

    1408 Words  | 3 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Blackfish Essay

    942 Words  | 2 Pages

    The documentary Blackfish by Gabriela Cowperthwaite is a gripping documentary about orca whales in captivity at SeaWorld and other sea parks around the world that shows the disturbing effects that can be caused from having these animals in a place where they shouldn’t be.

    Read More

  • Movie Review: The Blackfish Effect

    1308 Words  | 3 Pages

    The captivity of large, wild animals is accepted for theme parks all around the world. Tickets are sold for people to come and watch these animals live and even preform in an exhibit that almost resembles their natural environment. It is impossible for parks and zoos that use animals as attractions to provide the same resources and space they would have in the habitat they are usually found in. They can, however, help injured or ill animals that cannot survive in the wild. This is where I believe they should draw the line for keeping animals in captivity. SeaWorld has gotten a lot of attention in the last few years, especially since the Netflix documentary, Blackfish, was released. This film targets the company for the mistreatment of their orca whales. In particular, it told the story of one named Tilikum and shows the problems he and the other orca whales face while living under the care of SeaWorld. Gabriela Cowperthwaite, the director

    Read More

  • Seaworld Persuasive Speech

    1468 Words  | 3 Pages

    Out of the 156 whales they have taken into captivity from the wild, 129 are dead. Including orcas bred within SeaWorld, at least 165 have died in their facilities (Schelling). Another falsehood SeaWorld claims is that collapsed dorsal fins are completely normal and common of all male orcas. It is actually quite rare to find in the wild, while every single one of their male whales has a collapsed dorsal fin (“8 Shocking Facts…”). SeaWorld also guarantees that they never separate a calf from its mother and even have posted a picture of a baby and its mother as proof. What they didn’t tell the public was that soon after that picture was posted they shipped the calf off to Spain alone to a different park. A past trainer even said that there had been at least 19 separations of mother and calf that he knew of at his location. All of these factors previously stated added up have a large influence on the whales mentally. Many whales are afflicted by psychosis and anxiety and in turn are given drugs such as Valium to keep them performing in shows. There have been various occasions, often swept under the rug by SeaWorld and away from the public eye, where the drugs didn’t work enough (Schelling). There

    Read More

  • Ethos In Blackfish

    699 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Blackfish Analysis

    1600 Words  | 4 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Film Techniques In Blackfish

    1315 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Blackfish, Director, Gabriela Cowperthwaite, addresses the accidents that occurred at SeaWorld involving trainers and whales. Cowperthwaite’s purpose is to educate the audience on the cruel treatment and rough conditions of whales that occur in SeaWorld. The film maintains a shocking tone in order to persuade the audience and appeal to feelings of sadness and anger.

    Read More

  • Blackfish and Consider the Lobster Documentaries

    1111 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Ethical Issues In Blackfish

    681 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...mals. The filmmakers provided enough evidence to support their claims which asked the viewer to question the killer whale’s aggressive behavior when in captivity and then allowed the viewer the make their own judgments based on the facts being presented.

    Read More

  • SeaWorld: Behind the Scenes

    1561 Words  | 4 Pages

    For 50 years SeaWorld has entertained park guests with numerous stunts involving the majestic sea creature, the orca, also referred to as the killer whale, and their human trainers. What the on-lookers don’t see at these shows is what goes on behind the scenes: how the whales got there in the first place, and the conditions in which they are housed.

    Read More

  • Persuasive Essay On Orcas

    673 Words  | 2 Pages

    "Blackfish" might not make an airtight case against training wild animals for our enjoyment, but it very convincingly argues that those animals remain what they are, no matter how SeaWorld or any other corporation invested in presenting them as cuddly attractions tries to say otherwise.

    Read More

  • Killer Whales Should Not Be Allowed In Captivity Essay

    1977 Words  | 4 Pages

    As an act of frustration, they take their teeth and rake other whales’ bodies. They would be covered head to tail with rake marks. Park guests would sometimes recall that during shows they could see blood, due to severe rake marks

    Read More

  • Argumentative Essay On Orcas In Captivity

    899 Words  | 2 Pages

    An orca, more commonly known as a killer whale, is currently one of the largest marine animals held in captivity. Countless arguments are being made, supporting and opposing captivity of orcas to be exploited as circus animals in theme parks around the world. Throughout recent history, Sea World trainers have been injured and killed by the orcas and the whales, and the whales themselves have been observed as severely depressed. If Sea World releases the whales, they would undergo an immense economic downfall and the whales would be too weak to survive in the wild if they were freed. Since the first Sea World park opened in San Diego, California in 1964, common questions have arose concerning the well-being of orcas in captivity, the dangers of humans training them, the physical capability of whales theoretically being released, and the psychological differences between whales living in the wild versus whales living in Sea World's confinement.

    Read More

More about Blackfish Film Analysis

Open Document