Blackfish Reflection
Shuhao Lai
Mrs. Nigro
Ap Language and Composition
22 May, 2017
Blackfish Reflection Questions
1. “Blackfish” is a documentary that exposes how seaWorld mistreats orcas and details the orcas’ violent response to being captives. The documentary criticizes seaWorld in order to deter seaWorld’s customers; ultimately, the film wants to put seaWorld out of business and end its exploitation of orcas. This film strongly believes that containing orcas in seaWorld is altering their behavior and possibly making them more aggressive towards humans. This belief is clearly supported by the narration “to this day, there is no evidence of any orca doing any harm to any human in the wild” (Blackfish) and “there are 70 plus instances where whales attack trainers” …show more content…
The documentary did not incorporate footage containing prominent metaphorical features; instead, it focused more on using scientific evidence, such as the brain scanning previously mentioned, testimonies provided by former associates of seaWorld, and videos of captive whale behavior and exploitation. The testimonies effectively support the film’s claim as they are delivered by people who have worked at seaWorld; thus, those testimonies contain secrets and insights about seaWorld that are unknown by outsiders (those who do not work there). In addition, the film’s video evidence is irrefutable proof that seaWorld allows orcas to be mistreated: for example, amidst the documentary, a video shows seaWorld workers surround a group of orcas in order to separate and take the babies -baby orcas are the target due to shipping costs (Blackfish); to sadden the mood, loud, irregular cries can be heard from the adult orcas as baby orcas are captured one by one. Although the film did not focus on metaphorical footage, it still is able to impress strong emotional responses into the viewers: the viewers will likely feel sympathy and pity towards the orcas and anger towards …show more content…
The film begins with an introduction to allow the viewers to understand that seaWorld mistreats orcas, and then it analyzes several well documented cases where orcas attack trainers, focusing especially on Tilikum the orca; the film does diverge from this organization to discuss how orcas are captured by seaWorld. The filmmakers hope that the sheer number of orca incidents will prove to the viewers that orcas should not be held captive at seaWorld. Overall, the filmmakers seem to strive to paint seaWorld as a sinister amusement park that is greedy and immoral. This desire is evident when the documentary includes the claim that seaWorld lies and distorts the truth to say that their orcas are innocent and happy. In reality, the orcas are distressed, aggressive, and sometimes bullied by other orcas (Blackfish); of course, allowing the public to know this truth would negatively impact seaWorld’s reputation and decrease the number of paying
Mrs. Nigro
Ap Language and Composition
22 May, 2017
Blackfish Reflection Questions
1. “Blackfish” is a documentary that exposes how seaWorld mistreats orcas and details the orcas’ violent response to being captives. The documentary criticizes seaWorld in order to deter seaWorld’s customers; ultimately, the film wants to put seaWorld out of business and end its exploitation of orcas. This film strongly believes that containing orcas in seaWorld is altering their behavior and possibly making them more aggressive towards humans. This belief is clearly supported by the narration “to this day, there is no evidence of any orca doing any harm to any human in the wild” (Blackfish) and “there are 70 plus instances where whales attack trainers” …show more content…
The documentary did not incorporate footage containing prominent metaphorical features; instead, it focused more on using scientific evidence, such as the brain scanning previously mentioned, testimonies provided by former associates of seaWorld, and videos of captive whale behavior and exploitation. The testimonies effectively support the film’s claim as they are delivered by people who have worked at seaWorld; thus, those testimonies contain secrets and insights about seaWorld that are unknown by outsiders (those who do not work there). In addition, the film’s video evidence is irrefutable proof that seaWorld allows orcas to be mistreated: for example, amidst the documentary, a video shows seaWorld workers surround a group of orcas in order to separate and take the babies -baby orcas are the target due to shipping costs (Blackfish); to sadden the mood, loud, irregular cries can be heard from the adult orcas as baby orcas are captured one by one. Although the film did not focus on metaphorical footage, it still is able to impress strong emotional responses into the viewers: the viewers will likely feel sympathy and pity towards the orcas and anger towards …show more content…
The film begins with an introduction to allow the viewers to understand that seaWorld mistreats orcas, and then it analyzes several well documented cases where orcas attack trainers, focusing especially on Tilikum the orca; the film does diverge from this organization to discuss how orcas are captured by seaWorld. The filmmakers hope that the sheer number of orca incidents will prove to the viewers that orcas should not be held captive at seaWorld. Overall, the filmmakers seem to strive to paint seaWorld as a sinister amusement park that is greedy and immoral. This desire is evident when the documentary includes the claim that seaWorld lies and distorts the truth to say that their orcas are innocent and happy. In reality, the orcas are distressed, aggressive, and sometimes bullied by other orcas (Blackfish); of course, allowing the public to know this truth would negatively impact seaWorld’s reputation and decrease the number of paying