McKenzy Sayles Ms. Buneta Research Writing Someday in November The Three Pillars The movie that shocked thousands of Americans with the secrets of SeaWorld became one of the most talked about movies of its century. Blackfish came out in July of 2013 with shocking evidence of the mistreatment of Orcas, also known as killer whales, and the dangers imposed on the whale trainers. The movie had several strategies to appeal to its audience. These strategies included the three pillars of writing; logos, ethos, and pathos. Although the overall theme of Blackfish was to inform the viewers of the treatment Seaworld imposes on Orcas, the fundamentals of the movie actively used the three pillars; ethos, logos, and pathos to effectively catch the attention of the viewers and keep them drawn into the movie; the most prominent pillar was pathos followed …show more content…
Also known as the credibility pillar. The movie starts out with various interviews of former trainers at SeaWorld and other affiliated places with Orcas. The trainers of Blackfish who can be inferred as the stars of the movie are Samantha Berg, John Jett, Jeffrey Ventre, and Howard Garrett. These trainers testified against SeaWorld and made various claims. Ms. Berg mentions various times how SeaWorld failed to inform the new hired trainers about the deaths or injuries caused by Tilikum, the male Orca males. For instance, in 1991 when Tilikum was only 10 years old he and two other whales were located at SeaLand; the three whales attacked a young trainer named Keltie Byrne. The whales then attacked her and took her under water various times when she eventually drowned. After this incident SeaLand closed and sold Tilikum to SeaWorld where the trainers began working with the killer whale without being told of this attack. Not only does this appeal to the emotions but also the reader believes this story because the trainers are a credible source because they used to work
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.
Since whales are normally peaceful in the wild and they only seem to attack while in captivity, the argument is that captivity is wrong and dangerous for killer whales. This argument is supported by detailed facts about how the whales are tortured and agitated by other whales with no outlet. Both female and male whales are confined to a swimming pool where they are in a way being forced to try and mate. The female whales tend to abuse the male whales, which leads the whales to become mentally and physically unhealthy resulting in attacks on trainer. In the interviews with Corinne Cowell and Nadine Kallen, they mentioned that when they visited Sealand of the Pacific that three whales were confined to a “dingy pool”. Another appeal to pathos is when a neurologist that has studied killer whales mentions how the animals are very intelligent and are well-aware of what is going on around them. (SeaWorld) Killer whales have similar brains to humans, but have a bigger part of their brain where emotions are processed. With this, whales are more aware of their emotions and the bonds they make with humans and other animals. (SeaWorld) With the huge amount of raw footage, first-hand accounts, and true information, the film is able to grasp the attention of the viewers with the amount of emotion that is shown from the former trainers and the whales themselves. With these tactics, the film effectively appeals to the
Millions of people come from across the world to visit Seaworld every day without thinking about the lives of the animals behind the scenes. Why would they have concerns? From Seaworld’s commercials to the website, they convince the general public that Seaworld is the place to go to see the happy sea animals perform. If Seaworld is such an ecstatic place, what excuse does Tilikum, their greatest well known orca whale, have for the three attacks on trainers? The documentary “Blackfish” was created by the director Gabriela Cowperthwaite because she questioned herself after realizing Tilikum's odd behavior over time in captivity, and if there was any indisputable parts to animal captivity?
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.
“You hear her just scream out, ‘somebody help me!’ It was such a bloodcurdling scream. She knew she was going to die,” commented John Hargrove, a former SeaWorld trainer. There has been 21 attacks on humans by killer whales in the last 10 years. SeaWorld was associated with 12 of them. In 2013 SeaWorld was worth $2.5 billion, they would do anything to protect their business. They target adults and teenagers; or anyone who can pay. The purpose of the Blackfish documentary was made to inform people how wrong it is what SeaWorld is doing. Animals in captivity do not live as long and depending on the animal there is more complications. Seaworld is an unacceptable place to live, for orcas and any other animal. They do not have animals’ best interests in mind.
Blackfish is a 2013 documentary attempting to elevate public awareness regarding the orca that are being kept in maritime amusement parks, specifically SeaWorld, and the inherent danger of their captivity. The film is effective because it raises a set of important ethical questions for the viewer while presenting with a necessary fact-based style of documentation that does not evoke gratuitous scenes of abuse in order to inspire sympathy, unlike some of the other films that are intended to raise awareness about animal abuse. The film focuses on one orca, commonly referred to as a killer whale, in particular by the name of Tilikum. The documentary begins as a group of contract fishermen hunt a family of killer whales off the coast of Iceland.
Tilikum is the name of the most notorious killer whale in Seaworld. He is responsible for three deaths in SeaWorld. The most recent case of the death of Dawn Brancheau in 2010 brought the world’s attention to the captivity of killer whales. Dawn Brancheau was one of the most senior whale trainer that is allowed to to work with Tilikum (Kirby 305). Despite that, many rounds of checks were carried out before the training starts. The incident occurred during a ‘Dine with Shamu’ experience where guest could eat while watching the killer whale interactions. Dawn fell in the pool and was taken down by Tilikum. Tilikum held her in his mouth, ramming her twice head on and dragging her to the bottom of the pool, holding her there for several seconds (Kirby 313). She tried to swim away but to no avail. Tilikum thrashed around violently, flailing her around. By the time the rescuers removed her from his mouth, Dawn’s left arm, ponytail and scalp was not attached to the body anymore (Kirby 313).
The controversial documentary named Blackfish was released on July 19, 2013. Gabriela Cowperthwaite, the producer and the director of the film shows the controversial lives of killer whales in captivity. Gabriela is trying to show us about how holding these wild animals in captivity, the way Seaworld did it, results in deaths and injuries to trainers over years of time. This really shows with Tilikum and the case of Dawn Brancheau which ended in a tragic death. The emotion and the tone of the film is trying to persuade the viewer to feel like having these whales in captivity is horrible for them, and they would have a much better life in the wild. Having killer whales in captivity has proven multiple times to be a mistake in the past and big corporate companies such as Seaworld, will do whatever it takes to be able to keep them there.
SeaWorld’s trainers are trained to perform with and feed the killer whales. Whales are rewarded for each “behavior” they do correctly (Kirby 9). When the amount of fish they are receiving starts to dwindle, they hear the trainers’ hands hitting the bottom of the bucket, and the quality of the orcas’ performance plummets.... ... middle of paper ... ...
And even a six year old wasn’t blind to that fact. The issue of keeping Orcas in captivity and under the care of man has been a controversial practice ever since the first dolphins and whales were taken into aquariums for the amusement of humans. In more recent times, the documentary Blackfish (which has been recently broadcast on popular TV stations such as CNN) that focuses on Tilikum, an orca held by SeaWorld, has brought to light the controversy over captive killer whales. Orcas are majestic, beautiful, and intelligent creatures that should not be kept in captivity for our entertainment because of the harm they cause. SeaWorld, a leader in the captivity and use of killer whales for entertainment, has counterattacked the points made by the documentary Blackfish, which brought many points to light.
Because orcas are such social animals, a whale being separated from its pod is emotionally and psychologically devastating for him/her and the rest of his/her pod. This mental damage is what causes orcas to become aggressive and hostile in captivity. Upon being moved to a different location, twelve-year-old Takara’s mother, Kasatka, shook, wailed, and used long distance sonar to try to find and communicate with her baby. SeaWorld trainers had never heard any sounds like Kasatka’s cries; especially not from Kasatka, whom is usually a subdued whale. SeaWorld denies ever separating any calves from their mothers. However, SeaWorld has torn a total of 19 calves away from the mothers, some while still
At first, the film is happy and the trainers talk about how much they loved working at SeaWorld and working with the animals. As the film goes on, you get to see the tragedies and heartbreak that goes on at these parks. The film talks a lot about the living conditions of the whales. Tilikum gets beat up by the female whales, which does not necessarily happen in the wild. The whales are used to swimming around one hundred miles a day, but in captivity, they are confined to a little swimming pool where they barely have any room to even breathe.
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
A killer whale is a large toothed whale with distinctive black and white markings and a large fin. Killer whales are marine mammals that have violent behavior that can be recognized when they are trapped in small pools. Having killer whales in captivity is harmful to not only them but to killer whale trainers.
Are the big companies like SeaWorld the only bad guys here? In this world things aren’t always black and white and sometimes you need to know when and when not to free Willy. Most people have seen the iconic movie “Free Willy” a 1993 American family drama directed by Simon Wincer and it heart warming tale about a delinquent boy who has a chance encounter with an orca whale named Willy. The boy bonds with the whale and eventually he manages to get Willy back to the ocean and free him from the horrible amusement park that he had spent most of his life in. everyone loves the movie and everyone loves Willy, who is played by Keiko the Orca a young whale who had lived most of his life in captivity, and after getting