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Danae Roberts

Professor Moore

English 1301 Honors

9 November 2019

Evidence That Blackfish May Not Be So Black and White

Blackfish is a documentary directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite that is distributed by

CNN Films. It focuses on SeaWorld's famous male orca, Tilikum, and follows his life from the

time that he was captured in 1983 to his current situation when the documentary was made in

2013. It stresses the inhumane captivity of killer whales and aims to show how captivity has

adverse effects on the whales, particularly focusing on how it can cause them to become

aggressive towards humans and towards each other. There are a number of experts interviewed

in this documentary, including former SeaWorld trainers, a neurologist, and orca researchers;

which give the viewer the idea that the facts presented in the documentary are reliable because of

its credible sources. While this is indeed an insightful documentary that sheds light on facts that

the majority of viewers would not have known prior to watching it, there is considerable bias in

it. The documentary paints SeaWorld in a particularly unflattering light, portraying it as an

organization that cares little for its animals or employees and focuses solely on making a profit.

Blackfish dives deep into the various accidents that have occurred between orcas and their

trainers, especially the ones that involved Tilikum. They reveal how SeaWorld has tried to cover

up some of the incidents, as well as how they have attempted to disguise some of the violence of

the incidents that were publicized. While it presents the negative aspects of the organization, the

documentary makes no mention of any of the positive impacts that SeaWorld has on the field of
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marine biology. Blackfish's goal is to end whale captivity and to do everything they can to shut

down SeaWorld's orca program, as Washington Post's Michael O'Sullivan expresses:

'Blackfish' strongly suggests that the animal is not wholly to blame. SeaWorld is

portrayed as one obvious villain, but the film can’t do much to stop it. Heck, even OSHA

may ultimately not be able to. The other guilty party, the film suggests, is the people who

pay to see marine-animal acts and who keep the parks in business.

The way that the film presents facts can sometimes be misleading to the viewer, causing them to

believe that something is considered to be the standard when in fact it is the exception. It omits

the potential good that can come from visitors and researchers being able to see killer whales up

close, and it only presents one view of how to make the captive whales' lives better. While

Blackfish is an extremely enlightening documentary, it does contain bias because it presents only

the filmmaker's side of the argument.

In the Blackfish documentary, Orca researcher Howard Garrett discusses the life span of

killer whales in the wild, and in response to footage of SeaWorld staff saying that killer whales

in the wild live to be on average around thirty to thirty-five years, he says, "… That's false. We

knew by 1980, after a dozen years of research, that they live equivalent to human life spans."

From his choice of words and voice tone, it gives the impression to the viewer that the majority

of the killer whales that live in the wild consistently live to be around eighty, when in fact it is

just a handful of orcas that have reached that maximum age. In an article titled "Environmental

enrichment for Killer whales Orcinus orca at zoological institutions: untried and untested", the

authors state that, "Killer whales are long lived in the wild; 29 years on average for males up to a

maximum of 50-60 years, and an average of 50 years for females up to a maximum of around

80-90 years" (Law and Kitchener 233). The filmmakers include this interview because they want
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the reader to believe that the whales in SeaWorld's care all die much younger than they should.

This view about the difference in lifespans would generally lead the viewer to be further

disgusted at SeaWorld's whale captivity program—precisely the point of the documentary. They

include footage that cuts between different instances that SeaWorld staff members claim that the

whales at SeaWorld live longer than those in the wild. The staff state that those in the wild live

thirty to thirty-five years while those at their parks live longer because of the veterinary care

that's available to them. They position this footage right after the expert references the "average"

lifespan in the wild, causing the viewer to be further disgusted because it appears that the staff

members are being untruthful about known facts in order to protect SeaWorld's public image and

business. While what they state in the documentary is not necessarily false, the way that they

present it leads the viewer to the wrong conclusion, and therefore the information is biased.

Blackfish wholly omits any of the potential benefits that can come from the ability to see

killer whales up close; benefits to both tourists and scientists alike. They present all of the

negative effects that come from whale captivity and explain in detail the adverse effects that it

has on both the whales and trainers, but nowhere in the documentary do they present the other

side of the equation. The opportunity for young children and their parents to go see a majestic

creature like the killer whale in person, to be able get close and see how they interact with each

other and with humans, is a particularly beneficial experience. More often than not it gives

everyone who experiences such an event a profound sense of awe and respect for the incredible

marine mammals. An encounter like this could potentially inspire a young child to care about

and respect their environment more and could instill in them a desire to make a difference in the

world of marine science. It offers the opportunity to researchers to be able to see killer whales up

close and study and analyze the data that they collect from those studies. It could potentially help
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them learn more about those particular orcas, but possibly even learn something new about killer

whales in general, or it could provide a "compare and contrast" with the orcas in the wild,

thereby providing even more valuable knowledge on both captive and wild orcas. Instead of

presenting all sides of the facts clearly, the makers of Blackfish decide to focus only on the

negative aspects of whale captivity and SeaWorld. What Blackfish leaves out about SeaWorld is

its numerous contributions to the field of biology including rescuing "537 cetaceans, 8,192

pinnipeds, 2,741 reptiles, 23,515 birds, 722 manatees, 369 other mammals" (A Park with a

Purpose). They focus on all of the mistakes that SeaWorld has made and they stress how it is

primarily an amusement park that does not care for its animals or staff; but Blackfish doesn't

mention the millions of dollars that SeaWorld donates to marine biology research funds:

SeaWorld has committed $1.5 million over three years as part of a partnership with The

National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) through the Killer Whale Research and

Conservation Program (KWRCP). Support of the KWRCP is part of SeaWorld’s $10

million pledge to fund research and conservation for Orcas in the wild – the largest

private commitment of its kind. (Orcas Education)

The documentary also does not mention the extensive research that SeaWorld performs:

Scientific research performed at SeaWorld is carried out by our own research staff, and

by scientists from national and internationally-renowned universities and research

organizations such as UCLA, the San Diego Zoo and the Hubbs-Sea World Research

Institute. We publish the results of our research in peer-reviewed journals, making it

available to scientists, those who manage animal populations, and other interested people

around the world. SeaWorld scientists have authored or co-authored hundreds of

published papers. (Orcas Education)

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Blackfish omitted these facts because the possible benefits of whale captivity or the substantial

contribution that SeaWorld has made to the marine biology field was information that would not

aid them in getting their point across. This form of bias causes the viewer to have an incomplete

picture of SeaWorld and the captivity of whales.

In addition, Blackfish presents just one idea for making the captive whales' lives better,

and that is to release them. The documentary stresses the intelligent and social nature of killer

whales and highlights the failures of captivity to provide the stimulating life that they deserve. It

describes how killer whales in the wild swim up to hundreds of kilometers a day, and that causes

the viewer to believe that is simply how all orcas live. That opinion allows the viewer to consider

it even more inhumane to place killer whales in a "small" tank. The reality is, the orcas who

swim such great distances do so because they are pursuing food (Law and Kitchener, 235). There

are multiple ways that we could improve the environment that the whales live in and adjust them

so that they're closer to the living conditions that the whales would experience in the wild. In

their article Law and Kitchener present several ways to provide significantly more stimulation

for orcas in captivity, including ideas to make their environment closer to that of the ocean by

changing the make-up of their tanks to contain more natural substrate, adding some boulders or

kelp, altering feeding routines so that there are self-activating feeders that the orcas have to work

together on in order to obtain the food, and installing some sensory-enhancing technology that

would allow them to use their echolocation. Blackfish allows the viewer to believe that either the

whales stay in captivity and live the same horrible lives as they have for the past years, or they

could be released into an open ocean pen and finally be free. They do not include the information

that there are several ways to improve the whales' lives in captivity, potentially to the point

where the whales are truly happy. Releasing captive-born orcas into the ocean is not a feasible
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idea because they have lived in captivity for all of their life; they have not developed the traits

and sense that they would need in order to thrive in the wild. What the article seems to

understand better than the creators of Blackfish is that "killer whales will be in zoological

institutions for decades to come and it is important their husbandry is continually improved to

benefit their welfare" (Law and Kitchener, 234). Blackfish does not make any mention of the

highly possible improvements that Law and Kitchener postulated, but only presents their own

opinion that captivity of orcas is evil and nothing good can be salvaged from it.

Blackfish truly does shed light on several facts that might shock the viewer, especially

about how SeaWorld has tried to cover up orca-trainer accidents. From the above examples it is

clear that where Blackfish is at fault, however, is that it does not present all of the facts, only the

ones that support its agenda. Because of the way that the documentary is made the viewer is

meant to be incensed at SeaWorld's treatment of its orcas and trainers are meant to be inspired to

do something about it. From the evidence provided, however, it is easy to see that Blackfish is

not so black and white. Whether by presenting facts in a misleading way, omitting the positive

impacts of SeaWorld and whale captivity, or limiting the solution to the whale's unstimulating

captive-life issue to a single thing, Blackfish is a biased documentary.

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Works Cited

Law, G., and A. C. Kitchener. “Environmental Enrichment for Killer Whales Orcinus Orca at

Zoological Institutions: Untried and Untested.” International Zoo Yearbook, vol. 51, no. 1,

2017, pp. 232–247., doi:10.1111/izy.12152. Accessed 28 Oct. 2019.

“Orcas Education & Conservation.” SeaWorld, seaworld.com/san-antonio/commitment/killer-

whales/. Accessed 24 Oct. 2019.

O'Sullivan, Michael. “'Blackfish' Movie Review.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 25 July

2013, www.washingtonpost.com/goingoutguide/movies/blackfish-movie-

review/2013/07/24/63e20c48-f0b8-11e2-a1f9-ea873b7e0424_story.html. Accessed 7 Nov.

2019

“A Park with a Purpose.” SeaWorld, seaworld.com/park-to-planet/. Accessed 24 Oct. 2019.