BLACKFISH
"You have rarely seen footage this tense." -Village Voice
"Unfolds like a thriller." - Vulture
"Impressive, often gripping documentary." -The Observer
"One of the best films of 2013 so far." -Awards Daily
"Expertly crafted, a must-see." -Daily Mirror
"A fascinating piece of documentary film-making." -FEARnet
"A mesmerizing psychological thriller." -Variety
"Unfolds like a thriller." - Vulture
"Impressive, often gripping documentary." -The Observer
"One of the best films of 2013 so far." -Awards Daily
"Expertly crafted, a must-see." -Daily Mirror
"A fascinating piece of documentary film-making." -FEARnet
"A mesmerizing psychological thriller." -Variety
Directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite, Blackfish is a fiery, impassioned documentary that covertly releases the ugly truths that lie behind the tanks of Sea World. A growing controversy, Sea World was directly criticized and its ethics questioned in Cowperthwaite's award-winning documentary. Blackfish contains interviews, secret video clips, and innumerable rhetorical devices to convince the public of the attraction park's immoral wrongdoings. The creators of Blackfish make the claim that killer whales should not be living in captivity, especially the suffocating and binding walls of Sea World's minuscule tanks. The gargantuan marine predators bring harm to their trainers as well as themselves due to the inappropriate living conditions that they suffer from. Mainly targeting Sea World's customers, Blackfish also targets the general public in order to promote awareness of Sea World's unfit conditions. After the viewers absorb the hideous truth, the creators of Blackfish hope that previous customers of Sea World will no longer support the attraction park. Focusing on the killer whale named Tilikum, Blackfish reveals how the Sea World CEO/employees surreptitiously manipulate the problems the killer whale faced on the other side of the tank. Cowperthwaite's captivating documentary is the epitome of all things rhetoric and it effectively blends the raw facts with the elements of persuasion to make a convincing argument. Rhetorical devices such as the appeal to pathos, the appeal to logos, the appeal to ethos, slippery slope, scare tactics, and a concerned/alarmed tone are used to achieve the ultimate goal.
APPEAL TO PATHOS:
Blackfish engages the imagination and feelings through vivid scenes and graphic images. As a result, the audience is moved to a deeper appreciation of the argument's significance. Appealing to pathos is extremely important in arguments, since humans have emotions that tend to be manipulated quite easily. Additionally, pathos is used frequently in animal rights protests because the concept of precious, abused animals tears at the heart strings of most Americans. Through the use of pathos, Blackfish demonstrates effectively the means by which Sea World tortures orcas, how Sea World refuses to acknowledge numerous trainer injuries/deaths, and how Sea World keeps these horrors out of the way of mainstream media in order to continue to attract tourists and keep the money flowing. The documentary is inundated with pathos from the moment the death of Dawn Brancheau appears to the moment the audience is aware of the tiny, dark confinements the whales are squeezed into at
night. The audience's emotions are toggled with in order to effectively deliver the desired message.
APPEAL TO LOGOS:
Throughout the documentary, there are many Sea World employees who claim that the killer whales are happy mammals and all marine life living in the attraction park are affectionately cared for and supervised. With these fabrications come immediate rebuttals from the Blackfish team. Unlike the Sea World employees, all claims made by the Blackfish team are heavily supported with sufficient logic that aids the goal to turn customers away from the atrocity that lies within the park. After listening to Blackfish's strong argument and Sea World's weak one, the audience is automatically compelled to agree with Blackfish's accurately supported claims. For instance, Sea World employees joyously rehearse the life span of orcas in captivity; stating that it is 25-35 years which is much longer than they would ever live in the wild! To that, the Blackfish team just shakes their heads. Orcas in captivity live a much shorter life than orcas in the wild. While the average lifespan of a wild orca is about 80 years, the average lifespan of an orca in captivity is only 9 (Sea World of Hurt, 2015). Another Sea World cover up includes the mysterious collapsed dorsal fin. While this is a sign of a very unhealthy orca, Sea World employees deem a collapsed dorsal fin to be an innocuous sign of the aging process. Collapsed dorsal fins are actually due to the unnatural environment of captivity, therefore they are rarely seen in the wild. In fact, only 1-5% of orcas in the wild experience a collapsed dorsal fin (Sea World of Hurt, 2015). Also, Blackfish consistently reinforces the idea of the barbarity of captivity; including the logic behind orca dynamics. Blackfish claims that the "separation of orca families and the living conditions they are put into away from their sea-home result in mental stress and aggravation," which leads to much of the accidents previously concealed by Sea World employees (Rhetoric of Blackfish, 2014). Blackfish states that orcas have human-like brain function and emotion, therefore they become depressed when they are isolated from their families. Using crisp, undeniable data to support broad observations supplements Blackfish's attempt to persuade the audience of Sea World's horrors.
APPEAL TO ETHOS:
In the creation of this award-winning documentary, director Gabriela Cowperwaithe knew that it was imperative to establish a credible, motivated team in order to make the movie a success. Cowperthwaite, herself, adds an ample amount of ethos to the film due to her experience in directing, producing, and writing for over 12 years for mainstream companies such as ESPN, National Geographic, Animal Planet, Discovery, and the History Channel (Maxiego Films, 2015). The amount of Cowperwaithe's experience demonstrates her ethos because of her extensive expertise in the field of documentation. She is skillful and talented at what she does, which makes her a credible filmmaker that the public is interested in. Associate producer, Tim Zimmerman, has written an article about Dawn Brancheau, a Sea World trainer who was killed by one of the largest orcas living in captivity at Sea World named Tilikum. (Rhetoric of Blackfish, 2014). His educational background provides sufficient ethos to the film; convincing the audience that the producer is an expert on the topic that sparked the idea for the film in the first place. Lastly, Cowperthwaite and Zimmerman incorporate previous Sea World employees to speak out about their distrust in Sea World's ability to properly care for the orcas. Many of the employees worked alongside Dawn Brancheau and the orcas who have exhibited violent behavior. These trainers know firsthand the secrets that are kept behind Sea World walls and this disturbing aspect alone is enough to convince the audience.
SLIPPERY SLOPE:
A slippery slope is a fallacy in which "a person asserts that some event must inevitably follow from another without any argument for the inevitability of the event in question." A slippery slope tends to follow a precise structure: 1. Event X has occurred. 2. Therefore event Y will inevitably happen (The Nizkor Project, 2012). The "Event X" of Blackfish is keeping all of the orcas in captivity, therefore "Event Y" will be all of the gruesome injuries, accidents, and deaths that follow due to their inhumane captivity. Blackfish reinforces this fallacy throughout the film to bring maximum attention to this pervasive issue. Since this rudimentary claim avoids engaging with the issue at hand, it shifts the attention to extreme hypotheticals. Unlike other slippery slopes, the claim that Blackfish is making is backed up with sufficient data. Nevertheless, the fallacy takes the form of an appeal to emotion by leveraging the audience's fear. The audience will be so fearful of the occurrence of "Event Y" that they will inherently try to halt the progression of Event X altogether. This is a strategic aspect of rhetoric utilized in the film in order to combat Sea World's immoral behavior.
OTHER FALLACIES:
Hasty generalization: Tilikum, the killer whale, was in captivity and killed his trainers; therefore all whales in captivity will kill their trainers.
False Dichotomy: We can either stop putting whales in captivity or have more people get killed by them.
SCARE TACTICS:
Scare tactics are infused throughout the film, and they are even prevalent in the trailer itself. After displaying orcas swimming peacefully, the trailer jumps to a black screen and the audience hears a muffled 9-1-1 call. We hear the sounds of someone saying, "….." and we can't help but think of a plethora of questions like "What happened?! How could this happen at Sea World? Didn't they just say that orcas are a peaceful creature?" These reactions are exactly what Cowperthwaite wants from the audience. Scare tactics are used to toy with the audience's emotions the lure the audience in.
CONCERNED/ALARMED TONE:
The filmmaker's attitude toward the topic is consistently passionate. She reiterates the injustices that Sea World is committing and accuses Sea World of brainwashing its customers by infusing the false promise of being "one of the world's foremost zoological organizations and a worldwide leader in animal welfare, training, husbandry, and veterinary care" (Sea World, 2015). The concern in the filmmaker's voice makes an impact - viewers feel compassion towards the animals in captivity and want to make a change. The filmmaker's persistent and adamant tone provokes the audience in a way that a meek and submissive tone would not.
APPEAL TO PATHOS:
Blackfish engages the imagination and feelings through vivid scenes and graphic images. As a result, the audience is moved to a deeper appreciation of the argument's significance. Appealing to pathos is extremely important in arguments, since humans have emotions that tend to be manipulated quite easily. Additionally, pathos is used frequently in animal rights protests because the concept of precious, abused animals tears at the heart strings of most Americans. Through the use of pathos, Blackfish demonstrates effectively the means by which Sea World tortures orcas, how Sea World refuses to acknowledge numerous trainer injuries/deaths, and how Sea World keeps these horrors out of the way of mainstream media in order to continue to attract tourists and keep the money flowing. The documentary is inundated with pathos from the moment the death of Dawn Brancheau appears to the moment the audience is aware of the tiny, dark confinements the whales are squeezed into at
night. The audience's emotions are toggled with in order to effectively deliver the desired message.
APPEAL TO LOGOS:
Throughout the documentary, there are many Sea World employees who claim that the killer whales are happy mammals and all marine life living in the attraction park are affectionately cared for and supervised. With these fabrications come immediate rebuttals from the Blackfish team. Unlike the Sea World employees, all claims made by the Blackfish team are heavily supported with sufficient logic that aids the goal to turn customers away from the atrocity that lies within the park. After listening to Blackfish's strong argument and Sea World's weak one, the audience is automatically compelled to agree with Blackfish's accurately supported claims. For instance, Sea World employees joyously rehearse the life span of orcas in captivity; stating that it is 25-35 years which is much longer than they would ever live in the wild! To that, the Blackfish team just shakes their heads. Orcas in captivity live a much shorter life than orcas in the wild. While the average lifespan of a wild orca is about 80 years, the average lifespan of an orca in captivity is only 9 (Sea World of Hurt, 2015). Another Sea World cover up includes the mysterious collapsed dorsal fin. While this is a sign of a very unhealthy orca, Sea World employees deem a collapsed dorsal fin to be an innocuous sign of the aging process. Collapsed dorsal fins are actually due to the unnatural environment of captivity, therefore they are rarely seen in the wild. In fact, only 1-5% of orcas in the wild experience a collapsed dorsal fin (Sea World of Hurt, 2015). Also, Blackfish consistently reinforces the idea of the barbarity of captivity; including the logic behind orca dynamics. Blackfish claims that the "separation of orca families and the living conditions they are put into away from their sea-home result in mental stress and aggravation," which leads to much of the accidents previously concealed by Sea World employees (Rhetoric of Blackfish, 2014). Blackfish states that orcas have human-like brain function and emotion, therefore they become depressed when they are isolated from their families. Using crisp, undeniable data to support broad observations supplements Blackfish's attempt to persuade the audience of Sea World's horrors.
APPEAL TO ETHOS:
In the creation of this award-winning documentary, director Gabriela Cowperwaithe knew that it was imperative to establish a credible, motivated team in order to make the movie a success. Cowperthwaite, herself, adds an ample amount of ethos to the film due to her experience in directing, producing, and writing for over 12 years for mainstream companies such as ESPN, National Geographic, Animal Planet, Discovery, and the History Channel (Maxiego Films, 2015). The amount of Cowperwaithe's experience demonstrates her ethos because of her extensive expertise in the field of documentation. She is skillful and talented at what she does, which makes her a credible filmmaker that the public is interested in. Associate producer, Tim Zimmerman, has written an article about Dawn Brancheau, a Sea World trainer who was killed by one of the largest orcas living in captivity at Sea World named Tilikum. (Rhetoric of Blackfish, 2014). His educational background provides sufficient ethos to the film; convincing the audience that the producer is an expert on the topic that sparked the idea for the film in the first place. Lastly, Cowperthwaite and Zimmerman incorporate previous Sea World employees to speak out about their distrust in Sea World's ability to properly care for the orcas. Many of the employees worked alongside Dawn Brancheau and the orcas who have exhibited violent behavior. These trainers know firsthand the secrets that are kept behind Sea World walls and this disturbing aspect alone is enough to convince the audience.
SLIPPERY SLOPE:
A slippery slope is a fallacy in which "a person asserts that some event must inevitably follow from another without any argument for the inevitability of the event in question." A slippery slope tends to follow a precise structure: 1. Event X has occurred. 2. Therefore event Y will inevitably happen (The Nizkor Project, 2012). The "Event X" of Blackfish is keeping all of the orcas in captivity, therefore "Event Y" will be all of the gruesome injuries, accidents, and deaths that follow due to their inhumane captivity. Blackfish reinforces this fallacy throughout the film to bring maximum attention to this pervasive issue. Since this rudimentary claim avoids engaging with the issue at hand, it shifts the attention to extreme hypotheticals. Unlike other slippery slopes, the claim that Blackfish is making is backed up with sufficient data. Nevertheless, the fallacy takes the form of an appeal to emotion by leveraging the audience's fear. The audience will be so fearful of the occurrence of "Event Y" that they will inherently try to halt the progression of Event X altogether. This is a strategic aspect of rhetoric utilized in the film in order to combat Sea World's immoral behavior.
OTHER FALLACIES:
Hasty generalization: Tilikum, the killer whale, was in captivity and killed his trainers; therefore all whales in captivity will kill their trainers.
False Dichotomy: We can either stop putting whales in captivity or have more people get killed by them.
SCARE TACTICS:
Scare tactics are infused throughout the film, and they are even prevalent in the trailer itself. After displaying orcas swimming peacefully, the trailer jumps to a black screen and the audience hears a muffled 9-1-1 call. We hear the sounds of someone saying, "….." and we can't help but think of a plethora of questions like "What happened?! How could this happen at Sea World? Didn't they just say that orcas are a peaceful creature?" These reactions are exactly what Cowperthwaite wants from the audience. Scare tactics are used to toy with the audience's emotions the lure the audience in.
CONCERNED/ALARMED TONE:
The filmmaker's attitude toward the topic is consistently passionate. She reiterates the injustices that Sea World is committing and accuses Sea World of brainwashing its customers by infusing the false promise of being "one of the world's foremost zoological organizations and a worldwide leader in animal welfare, training, husbandry, and veterinary care" (Sea World, 2015). The concern in the filmmaker's voice makes an impact - viewers feel compassion towards the animals in captivity and want to make a change. The filmmaker's persistent and adamant tone provokes the audience in a way that a meek and submissive tone would not.
WHAT YOU DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT SEA WORLD
1. The Orcas' sunburns are covered in black Zinc Oxide
- orcas spend most of their time floating at the surface of the water with little to no shade
- deepest tank is 40 feet, not nearly enough protection from elements
- many sunburns that are shielded from the eye by zinc oxide to match their skin
2. Some Orcas were kidnapped and sent to Sea World.
- Tilikum, a 32-year-old orca, was kidnapped from his ocean home at 2 years old by a "marine cowboy"
- most captured orcas are torn away from their families
3. Orcas are killed if they are not captured.
- 1965: first ever Orca show at Sea World San Diego involved Shamu, whose mother was harpooned and killed before the orca's eyes
- marine cowboy Don Goldsberry slaughtered Orcas for Sea World and if they were stubborn, he would kill them, fill them with heavy stones, and let them sink so that no trace of the killings could be identified
4. Unsafe for Sea World's trainers.
- corporate incident log contains over 100 incidents of Orca aggression
5. Orcas in captivity have a shorter lifespan than wild Orcas.
- maximum lifespan of wild Orcas is 80 years, while captive Orcas is 9 years
6. Collapsed dorsal fins are not normal or healthy.
- collapsed dorsal fins are signs of an unhealthy Orca due to poor environments
- only 1-5% of wild Orcas experience collapsed dorsal fins; it is rare
7. Sea World trainers are performers, not biologists.
- trainers are not educated in marine biology, rather they are there to entertain
8. Sea World fails to care for animals.
- in 2012, USDA warned Sea World San Antonio for its repeated failure to provide drain covers that are securely fastened in order to minimize the potential risk of animal entrapment; violation that resulted in a death of a sea lion
- USDA confirmed that a dolphin tank and areas surrounding Orca performance center were severely in disrepair and crumbling that could create a health risk
9. Animals suffer in cramped, unnatural living conditions.
- Sea World confines animals, that are used to swim 100 miles a day, to a bath tub
- the park has the money to provide a safe reservation for Orcas, but continue to adopt inhumane practices that has been evident in the last 50 years