Analysis Of The Documentary 'Blackfish'

The documentary ‘Blackfish’ is produced by Gabriela Cowperthwaite and stars Tilikum the orca. It is based around two water parks in the United States of America – Seaworld and Sealand. ‘Blackfish’ is a documentary that tells the true story about an orca’s life in captivity. Several pieces of emotional footages give examples of how the whales are cruelly treated and kept in poor conditions. It asks the question ‘should whales be kept in captivity?’. ‘Blackfish’ works effectively to persuade audiences that keeping whales in captivity is cruel and inhumane.

Viewers of ‘Blackfish’ are positioned to be outraged and concerned about how the whales kept at Sealand and Seaworld are mistreated by humans. They are also positioned to see the truth by …show more content…
The owners would be made to feel angry and annoyed that their whole waterpark is put down and spoken negatively about throughout the whole film, which resulted in less people visiting their park. This also impacts the visitors of the waterparks, this documentary effects them for two reasons. One being the fact that they now know many ‘truths’ that they did not know before (realising they were lied to) about the whales and may no longer want to go see the shows that they would love for their own entertainment, the other reason being that because of this documentary, the trainers are no longer allowed in the water with the orcas (being stopped by a barrier) so the spectators can’t enjoy the interaction and relationship the whales had with the trainers.

In conclusion, ‘Blackfish’ is powerful documentary that makes a very strong case against whales being put in captivity. The ideology underpinning the documentary is that, putting orcas into captivity is cruel and that is does lead to such aggressive behaviour from such a loving animal. The producer wanted to get this message across to ensure something is done about this shocking case, which worked in the