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
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by ethos and then Logos. One of the very first pillars used in the film is ethos.
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
there. Another pillar used in Blackfish is logos. Logos appeals to the viewer using logic and evidence. Although the movie did not use logos as much as ethos there are a view examples throughout. A few examples were the newscast clips of the attack on Dawn Brancheau by CNN and Florida's chief news station supplying their viewers with clips of the trails for SeaWorld. With one of these clips being Kelly Clarke states on oath that the man questioning her is capable or rape but no one should/is afraid of him. One who listens to her argument would think it's logical because the head trainer of Seaworld said it but her statement is actually a logical fallacy. Meaning that her argument truly had no meaning to it other than to degrade who was questioning her. One of SeaWorld's head veterinarians claimed that it's normal for male Orcas to have folded top fins and for each Orca to survive for 25-30 years old. A former trainer explains that only 1% of Orcas in the wild have folded fins and on the average females Orcas live for 100 years whereas males should live for 50-60 years. By using statistics and ranges of age the facts become examples of logos when used to suade an argument one way or another.
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.
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
SeaWorld also claims that the whales being kept there are treated humanely and are in no way unhappy. Although Cowperthwaite’s film clearly explains that that is a far cry from the truth with many trainers saying that the whales were often bullied by others which left them with painful rake marks that are created by teeth scraping against the whales skin. If whales did not perform a trick properly they would not be given food which left the whales hungry and extremely agitated. Behind the scenes footages shows whales being attacked by others with one whale even breaking its own jaw which led to an artery becoming severed and the bled out and died shortly after.
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
The film Blackfish, a documentary created by Gabriela Cowperthwaite, is a film about the cruel punishment of killer whales at SeaWorld. It suggests that killer whales should be set free from captivity in marine mammal parks because of the threat and danger towards humans and each other. Blackfish is an explicit example of how logos, ethos and pathos are used to create an argument that is impressive, valid and effective.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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
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 ... ...
"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.