Breaking Down Blackfish
Jordan Hazen
Why was Blackfish so impactful?
The Blackfish documentary was extremely impactful and effective in documenting Sea Worlds dark hidden history. This movie shocked me when I first saw it and sparked my interest as well as many others. This film documents the tragedy of Dawn Brancheau and shows how this event was avoidable. The treatment of Orcas at Sea World had not been in much question until Dawn a Orca trainer was killed during a show. Her experience brought up tons of other issues regarding the parks ethics and Orca captivity. The treatment and breeding processes of these animals broke the hearts of many and stopped Sea Worlds breeding process within 3 years of the films release. Like many others, the treatment of these animals shocked me because of how successful Sea World had been before this. It is shocking that a company could exploit animals in such a way without repercussions until it is too late.
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But why was this film so successful? Many documentaries have been made to show the horrific devastation of animal cruelty yet have none have had nearly as much success. Blackfish made a strong connection between the audience and the Orcas that gained much momentum among environmentalist and more. In this blog we will discuss why blackfish was so successful and why other films regarding animal captivity and cruelty have not made the same impact.
Orca Intelligence
The movie Blackfish focuses on Orcas being “potentially enlightened” and “similar to humans”. This is why the Sea World experience is meant to leave audiences feeling connected to the animals. This connection between humans and Orcas gave Blackfish a large audience to connect to. One thing this film discusses is the separation of family units among the Orcas at Sea World and other parks. Family is something that means a lot to most of us, showing the grief of these Orcas makes an impact on the audience and create a sense of grief in the audience. Below is the scene from Blackfish that shows the separation of Orca mothers from their children. This scene shows a grieving mother Orca crying out for their Calf. This demonstration of grief strikes emotions in most viewers and creates a strong impact.
Another way this Documentary compares Orcas to humans is by discussing their intelligence compared to humans. This documentary explains how Orcas use languages and communicate to each other. They also address the Orcas brain and call it “intelligent” and “aware”. Awareness is something a lot us assume some animals don’t have. This creates a separation between us and the natural world, making animals seem less than human. Addressing the Orcas intelligence creates an impactful message for the audience to consider. Blackfish shows a scan of an Orcas brain that shows they have a part of the brain humans do not have. This puts even more emphasis on the Orcas intelligence and awareness and compares it to human traits. This is the scene from Blackfish where they discuss the intelligence of an Orca and what they found in their brain scan.
Blackfish created a connection to humans and Orcas that makes an impactful message to a wide audience. Other documentaries regarding animal cruelly issues usually involve agricultural animals or smaller captive animal zoos. Animals we eat are sometimes passed off as “unintelligent”. Humans sometimes use the intelligence of an animal the decide its value. This is concerning considering we should consider the instinctive value of every living thing no matter their intelligence. The connection to Orcas and intelligence gave Blackfish a powerful motive to attract audiences and impact a large variety of people.
Communication
The Movie Blackfish successfully established a connection between human and “other-than-human” communication. The tragic story of Dawn and Tilikum is a sad one however, this event did not go unnoticed. The messages sent by Tikikum and other captive whales through these attacks have finally made people question the idea of captive Orcas. A message from the documentary says these Orcas are not killing because they are crazy, they are not killing because they don’t know what they are doing. They are killing because they are frustrated, and have no outlet for it. The message from Tilikum was a powerful one, one that lead to the end of captive breeding of Orcas.
This documentary made huge impacts on Sea World and their breeding and separation processes. Unfortunately, equality for zooed and captive animals is still far away. I believe that one day we will look at the captive animal parks and view them as we see The World Fair today. Exploiting these animals for profit and for entertainment is unethical and barbaric. Nature is not something that can be kept in a pool or a cage. Nature needs to be free and experienced through natural experiences. These kinds of parks like Sea World further separate the divide between humans and nature by making nature seem like something separate from us we can contain and control.
Sources
Internatural Activists and the “Blackfish Effect”: Contemplating Captive Orcas’ Protest Rhetoric through a Coherence Frame Caitlyn Burford* and Julie “Madrone” Kalil Schutten*
