The Complex Issue of Whales in Captivity in Blackfish by David Kirby

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David Kirby’s book describes the complex issues of whales in captivity. The death of a SeaWorld trainer brought up many objective reasons of the training practices of this business were not effective at keeping trainers safe in the water. Currently this debate is still being tested in a court of law. OSHA claims that even with the precautions that SeaWorld tries to use, it still cannot guarantee the safety of trainers in the water. This cultural topic has been gaining ground, and recently prompted a movie based off this book titled, Blackfish. The audience of this book includes animal activists, followers of David Kirby, and people that are interested in the topic of killer whales in captivity. Rob Grom was contracted to create a book jacket that would visually depict the context of the David Kirby’s book. The photographer uses his work to persuade people to look into the claims of the book and see another side of the animal park. Grom’s Photograph image uses the picture, the words of the title, and the subtitle to create a twist of the logos, and uses David Kirby’s ethos to create an appeal to the book.
The media was flooded with news articles following the death of Dawn Brancheau, in February of 2010. The title of the book, Death at SeaWorld is in white, then darkening to grey lettered font. “Death” in white font shows to the logic of death being pure, and the greying of SeaWorld is a statement of SeaWorld’s image fading. Most people assume that color black is associated with death. With respect for Dawn Brancheau and her life, I believe white font was a tribute to her life. She was respected in her field and was adored by all who knew her. A killer whale that she had worked with for a number of years killed her in front of a l...

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...ith the cover to persuade a reader through logic, and the credibility of David Kirby. A whale that appears to be swimming captures a reader to his or her own memories of SeaWorld. Through color, and vivid font colors, his tactic is effective at capturing the controversy behind the scenes of the theme park. He then uses logos to appeal to a reader’s on this controversial cultural debate. “Shamu” is a symbol of the park, and represents the joy of watching such a beautiful animal perform jumps with their human trainers, and looking at the darker side of the reality that this may not be the logical desire for the whales and their human trainers. Lastly, he used the ethos of the well renowned writer of the book to complete his work. Even if the potential reader walks away from the book, they are going to be left wondering what the mystery is behind the gates of SeaWorld.

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