Informative Essay On Blackfish

Blackfish

A documentary is an informative film that aims to position readers to accept one version of the events or topics expressed. All documentaries posses the ability biased and present an altered version of reality to persuade audience positioning. ‘Blackfish’ is a captivating and inspired documentary released in 2013 concerning the inhumane captivity and domestication of Orcas at SeaWorld for pecuniary advantage. The film, directed by Gabriella Cowperthwaite positions viewers to adopt a dominant reading position on the topic of whale subjugation. The documentary utilises techniques such as expert verification, emotive language and the humanisation of whales to position dominant viewers to accept the ideology that captivity is deleterious

to the mental state of whales.

Through the consolidation or former trainer interviews and expert opinion, the documentary supports the ideology that the captivity or Orcas leads to depleted mental health.

The verification of the information that is communicated through the documentary by the former trainers acts as expert opinion and persuades dominant viewers to connect with the films point of view. Jeffrey Ventre tells the audience “This is a multi-billion-dollar corporation that makes its money through the exploitation of Orcas and trainers” (Blackfish, 2013). To a dominant viewer, this quote signifies that the only justification for SeaWorld’s captivity of Orcas is for monetary purpose and that they have no compassion for the whales. This quote can be further verified by the John Hargrove novel, Beneath the Surface: Killer whales, SeaWorld and the truth behind Blackfish. Hargrove states ‘Since water work was now proscribed by OSHA, the company explained, trainers weren’t swimming with whales anymore and shouldn’t be paid extra.” This statement summarises to viewers of a dominant reading position that SeaWorld only paid their trainers ‘extra’ to perform water work and since that was now prohibited due to safety risks, the wages were dramatically decreased. If SeaWorld really cared about their staff, the wages wouldn’t be cut because of a small decrease in park revenue when the job still has

risk.

Emotive language is another key technique used to convince viewers to take a dominant viewpoint of the documentary.

Compelling language selection throughout the narrative pressures readers into believing phrases and comments made, presenting all information as the truth. Perhaps one of the most persuasive quotes in ‘Blackfish’, Lori Marino, the resident neuroscientist explains, “All whales in captivity have a bad life. They’re all emotionally destroyed, they’re all psychologically traumatised. So, they are all ticking time bombs.” This quote dynamically enforces readers to believe Lori’s ideology that all whales have the ability to take a life. Due to Marino’s title as neuroscientist, dominant viewers will credit the assertion and doctrine of the scientist. Another inflammatory phrase from the text that ensures dominant viewers to believe the philosophy that Orca captivity is psychologically scarring to Orcas is, “You’ve got animals from different cultural subsets that have been brought in from various parks. These are different nations. These aren’t just two different killer whales. These animals- they got different genes. They’ve got different languages.” (‘Blackfish’, 2013) This persuasive quote encourages a dominant audience to see that even though the whales are advertised as a family, they do not hold the same culture or languages and it isn’t okay for parks to mix the different breeds of Orcas when in the wild, the different regions don’t collide. The strong emotive

language connects dominant viewers to the text to believe in the ‘Blackfish’ philosophy.

A major aspect in connecting dominant viewers to the documentary is the humanisation of the Orcas. Throughout the entirety of the text, various quotations personify the killer whales to bring about a deeper understanding for dominant viewers. In the first part of the film, John Jett, former trainer at SeaWorld states, “When you look into their eyes you know someone is home.” This indicates that whales have a human like emotion system and that Orcas have a ‘soul’ that can be seen through their eyes. Dominant viewers accept that whales do have complex emotions and agree with John Jett’s ideas.

Through the use of expert opinion, emotive language and the humanisation of whales, the 2013 documentary ‘Blackish’ successfully informs viewers to take a dominant reading position and accept the ideology that whale captivity is inhumane and destructive to the psychological well-being of killer whales. For dominant viewers of ‘Blackfish’ the bias in the film leads to the accepting of the information set forth. This proves the statement that all documentaries have the potential to be biased and can represent one version of reality.