Documentary Project

Blackfish 

     Blackfish is a documentary that was released in July of 2013. The documentary is about a killer whale that has killed many people because of the fact it was kept in captivity. Along the way, director-producer Gabriela Cowperthwaite compiles shocking footage and emotional interviews to explore the creature’s extraordinary nature, the species’ cruel treatment in captivity, the lives and losses of the trainers and the pressures brought to bear by the multi-billion dollar sea-park industry. The documentary also interviews former trainers and they explain how they feel about the situation with the killer whales being kept in captivity. Blackfish also received the award for ' Satellite Award for Best Documentary Film'.  
     When the documentary starts off, I have strong hatred feelings toward Seaworld and what they were doing to the killer whales by keeping them in small modules for long periods of time. When it shows the rakeing to the male whale caused by two other female kill whales it was kept with, it was disturbing. The reason this whale was being injured was because they were starving them for the behaviour. In my opinion, I think Seaworld should have been shut down after they started keeping the large whales in twenty by thirty foot modules for two thirds of their life. Keeping the whales in captivity is one of the main reason they became aggressive towards the trainers.
     The filmmakers editorial piece in the documentary tries to get the viewers to feel bad for the way they are keeping these large mammals. They try to put the clips of Seaworlds commercials in the film to manipulate the feelings of the viewers. When they show the commercial clips, as a viewer it makes you have stronger hate towards Seaworld, only because you know how the killer whales are actually being treated
     I think the filmmaker of this documentary was trying to show their viewers what Seaworld is actually like. When they showed clips of their commercials there was happy music, children smiling as the whales go past, and clips of the trainers speaking highly of Seaworld. As a viewer of the commercials you would think Seaworld is a great place where they are keeping killer whales safe and claiming they will live longer in pools compared to the smaller lifespan the would have in the wild. After watching Blackfish, I do not think I can look at Seaworld the same. I know when I was a child my family went to Marineland, thinking back I thought the whales and other sea animals were happy and that being kept in places like they were, were the best thing for them. But after watching this documentary I know it is wrong for them to be kept like that. I would never go back to Marineland and I can guarantee I will never go to SeaWorld.





Rough Notes: 

• tilkum... trained with other killer whale, whales would be sent off to do the same routine, if tilkum didn't get the routine both animals would be punished such as no food. 
• the older whale would rake tilkum, which is biting him and leaving teeth marks, this was caused because both older and younger whale were starved for not doing something correct.
• ilikum was a trusted whale
• stored in a 20 by 30 foot metal pool for two thirds of their lives, had difficulties storing them in these modules
• inhumane keeping them locked up like that
• part time trainer was killed along with many others