Blackfish
Sea World: The Good vs The Bad
Thesis
In her documentary, Gabriela Cowperthwaite is successful in illustrating the potentially dangerous environment that orcas create for humans by involving interviews with professionals and stock footage of orca interaction with trainers.
Purpose
Blackfish is centered around the multiple deaths of professional trainers by killer whales. The story of Dawn Brancheau, a trainer who was killed by a whale named Tilikum, was one of the main subjects. The purpose of this documentary is to show the dangerous environment that orcas create for everyone around them.
Interview with trainers
The image above shows the damage that was done to a former trainer at Sea World after a killer whale attack. The picture shows blood coming down his face after the attack. This was unexpected because he interacted with the orca very well.
Interview with family
Alexis was a former male trainer at Sea World, who was killed by an Orca. His family was interviewed after his death. His family talked about how unexpected his death was because he was one of the best trainers there. His death was blamed on his inexperience, but it was really the orca's fault.
Interview with witness
An interview was done with 2 people who witnessed an attack by an whale. They talked about how they saw the whale swimming after the trainer, but they weren't expecting him to attack her. Again, because of the killer whales, another trainer lost their life.
Stock Footage
This image shows stock footage of Dawn before her death. It portrays an interview with a news anchor. They were having a conversation about how good of a trainer Dawn was. This shows how unexpected her death was.
Stock Footage
In the documentary, there was stock footage of a trainer who was attacked by a killer whale. He got his foot and his body pulled water by the orca and was continuously pulled by the whale. Because of the orca, the trainer had serious injuries to his foot.
Stock Footage
In the documentary, the producer uses stock footage of an orca throwing himself at his trainer. This shows how the orca creates an unsafe environment for his trainer. Luckily, the trainer didn't lose his life.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the orcas were never blamed for the deaths of the many trainers. Because of the environment that they created, many trainers lost their life or were seriously injured because of the killer whales. Sea World needs to take some responsibilities for their aquatic animals.