Animal captivity is not a particularly new issue in modern American society. In American culture, most people do not view animals captivity is an immoral issue because they grew up watching animals being caged. The creation of zoos and oceanariums rationalize animal captivity since they produce entertainment for the society and it is being argued that they are made for conservation and education purposes. However, it raises concern in society when the issue involves the threat to human. In 2010, a top female SeaWorld trainer Dawn Brancheau was killed by one of the oldest captive male orca named Tilikum at SeaWorld during a performance. The incident created a debate on whether SeaWorld trainers should go in the pool and swim with the orcas. The tragedy also triggered the production of a documentary in 2013 called “Blackfish” made by Gabriela Cowperthwaite to address orca captivity in SeaWorld (Cowperthwaite). The documentary criticizes and brings up its origin of orca captivity, the treatments of orcas, the history SeaWorld trainers attacked by the captive orcas, and the response and reaction of SeaWorld regarding the accusations.
In order to fully understand the media’s impact and place in society, a cultural theorist Stuart Hall suggests that we have to recognize and untangle the five essential interrelated areas of the framework of Circuit of Culture …show more content…
In “Blackfish”, the former trainers appear as the first person narration to the incidents at SeaWorld. Yet, SeaWorld states that some former trainers appear in the documentary have not worked at SeaWorld in almost 20 years and have little or no firsthand knowledge of the orca Tilikum and the incidents that they described (Truth about Blackfish). This implies that “Blackfish” creates false legitimized status for the former SeaWorld trainers and it relies on the artificial status to present the issue to
In order to fully understand the media’s impact and place in society, a cultural theorist Stuart Hall suggests that we have to recognize and untangle the five essential interrelated areas of the framework of Circuit of Culture …show more content…
In “Blackfish”, the former trainers appear as the first person narration to the incidents at SeaWorld. Yet, SeaWorld states that some former trainers appear in the documentary have not worked at SeaWorld in almost 20 years and have little or no firsthand knowledge of the orca Tilikum and the incidents that they described (Truth about Blackfish). This implies that “Blackfish” creates false legitimized status for the former SeaWorld trainers and it relies on the artificial status to present the issue to