The documentary Blackfish is very bias considering it mostly shows the negative effect that SeaLand and SeaWorld has had on killer whales, especially Tilikum. Firstly, the film shows how the killer whales end up at SeaLand. In the film, there was a team of whale hunters who hunted Tilikum and his family by herding the female whales and their babies using a large sane net and by throwing bombs in the water. The hunters then pick out the baby whales from the herd using monkey belts and then they put the babies in a corral. The hunters then drop the sane nets to release the adult orcas. They then put the baby whales in stretchers and sedate them to transport them to marine parks. In this process, the hunters found three dead whales in the corral. They took these whales and cut them open so they could fill them with rocks to sink them. These hunters were then ejected from Washington State since it is illegal to hunt them. By showing the process of how they caught the whales to bring them to SeaLand, it shows the negative effect that SeaLand has had on the orcas, showing that the film is bias.
In Blackfish, they used old clips showing the viewers the inside of SeaLand in Victoria, British Columbia. When watching this part of the movie, you could tell that the pool that the whales trained and performed in was quite small. It seemed like a normal sized pool. In the film, they also show interviews of people who went to see shows at SeaLand and they commented on the size of the pool as well. The movie also shows us interviews of ex-employees of SeaLand who tell us about the poor living conditions of the killer whales at SeaLand. The employee who was interviewed said that the whales spend two-thirds of their life stored in dark 20 by 30 feet modules. This is small considering Tilikum is 22.5 feet long from head to tail, his pectoral fins are 7 feet long and his dorsal fin is 6.5 feet long. When SeaLand was still open, they used cruel training techniques for the orcas, especially Tilikum. When Tilikum first got to SeaLand, the trainers paired him up with experienced female whales. When Tilikum didn’t do the tricks right, the trainers would deprive him of food along with the experienced whales. The experienced whales were not happy with this so they began to rake Tilikum, causing him to have multiple scars all over his body. This is the beginning of Tilikum’s decent into savagery. While Tilikum was at SeaLand, he killed a trainer named Keltie Byrne who was a student and a competitive swimmer. Keltie slipped and her foot landed in the pool. As she was getting up, Tilikum grabbed her foot and drowned her. She was the first trainer he killed. After this incident, SeaLand closed and Tilikum was sold to SeaWorld in Orland, Florida. By showing the poor training conditions at SeaLand, interviews telling the viewers about the poor living conditions, video clips of the cruel training techniques the trainers used and the murder of Keltie Byrne, it shows the negative effects that SeaLand had on Tilikum, further enforcing the idea of the film being biased.
SeaWorld is also mentioned a lot throughout Blackfish but whenever ex-employees talk about it in interviews, they would always have negative comments about the marine park. In the interviews, the ex-employees would say that SeaWorld kept information from them regarding the killing at SeaLand. The managers at SeaWorld told the employees at the time that Tilikum was not the one who killed Keltie Byrne, it was the two female whales who were in the water at the same time. But, the people who were apart of the audience that day new that it was Tilikum since the whale who killed Keltie had a dorsal fin that was collapsed, which Tilikum has. SeaWorld would also feed their employees false facts about killer whales, which was admitted during interviews with the ex-employees of SeaWorld. The employees at the time and now, have to tell the public that an orcas lifespan is around 25-35 years, killer whales live longer in captivity since they have the veterinary care needed to look after the whales, 25% of killer whales have a collapsed dorsal fin and when they organize the orcas, they are kept in their families. None of these facts are true. In the film, they interviewed a specialist on killer whales who said that orcas have the same lifespan as humans. Since they live at around 25-35 years in captivity, SeaWorld says that that is their lifespan. The specialist also says that orcas only get a collapsed dorsal fin because of their age, but even then it only happens to less than 1% of orcas. He also says that almost all male orcas in captivity have collapsed dorsal fins. In interviews with the ex-employees of SeaWorld, they admitted that SeaWorld doesn’t actually keep the orcas in their families; they organize them as to how management agrees to mix them. Since the employees are fed false facts about killer whales, they feed the public false facts as well. SeaWorld is known for whale attacks as well. An attack that was well known at SeaWorld was when Tilikum killed Dawn Brancheau during a performance. Tilikum killed her by grabbing her arm and pulling her under water, ripping her arm off. SeaWorld said that is was her fault that this happened but due to Tilikum’s past, everybody knew that it was the whale’s fault. After this incident, Tilikum does not participate in the shows like he use to. He only comes out now to bow in the shows and then goes back into his “jail cell”, isolated from the other whales. At the end of the documentary, it says that SeaWorld refused to participate in the documentary, which shows that they are embarrassed about all of the stuff that happened at their park in Orlando. By showing interviews of ex-employees admitting to SeaWorld feeding them false information about the whale attack at SeaLand and about orcas, the killer whale attacks at SeaWorld and how SeaWorld refused to be apart of the film, it shows the negative effects that SeaWorld has had on the employees, public and the whales, which again shows that this film is bias.
In Blackfish, they used old clips showing the viewers the inside of SeaLand in Victoria, British Columbia. When watching this part of the movie, you could tell that the pool that the whales trained and performed in was quite small. It seemed like a normal sized pool. In the film, they also show interviews of people who went to see shows at SeaLand and they commented on the size of the pool as well. The movie also shows us interviews of ex-employees of SeaLand who tell us about the poor living conditions of the killer whales at SeaLand. The employee who was interviewed said that the whales spend two-thirds of their life stored in dark 20 by 30 feet modules. This is small considering Tilikum is 22.5 feet long from head to tail, his pectoral fins are 7 feet long and his dorsal fin is 6.5 feet long. When SeaLand was still open, they used cruel training techniques for the orcas, especially Tilikum. When Tilikum first got to SeaLand, the trainers paired him up with experienced female whales. When Tilikum didn’t do the tricks right, the trainers would deprive him of food along with the experienced whales. The experienced whales were not happy with this so they began to rake Tilikum, causing him to have multiple scars all over his body. This is the beginning of Tilikum’s decent into savagery. While Tilikum was at SeaLand, he killed a trainer named Keltie Byrne who was a student and a competitive swimmer. Keltie slipped and her foot landed in the pool. As she was getting up, Tilikum grabbed her foot and drowned her. She was the first trainer he killed. After this incident, SeaLand closed and Tilikum was sold to SeaWorld in Orland, Florida. By showing the poor training conditions at SeaLand, interviews telling the viewers about the poor living conditions, video clips of the cruel training techniques the trainers used and the murder of Keltie Byrne, it shows the negative effects that SeaLand had on Tilikum, further enforcing the idea of the film being biased.
SeaWorld is also mentioned a lot throughout Blackfish but whenever ex-employees talk about it in interviews, they would always have negative comments about the marine park. In the interviews, the ex-employees would say that SeaWorld kept information from them regarding the killing at SeaLand. The managers at SeaWorld told the employees at the time that Tilikum was not the one who killed Keltie Byrne, it was the two female whales who were in the water at the same time. But, the people who were apart of the audience that day new that it was Tilikum since the whale who killed Keltie had a dorsal fin that was collapsed, which Tilikum has. SeaWorld would also feed their employees false facts about killer whales, which was admitted during interviews with the ex-employees of SeaWorld. The employees at the time and now, have to tell the public that an orcas lifespan is around 25-35 years, killer whales live longer in captivity since they have the veterinary care needed to look after the whales, 25% of killer whales have a collapsed dorsal fin and when they organize the orcas, they are kept in their families. None of these facts are true. In the film, they interviewed a specialist on killer whales who said that orcas have the same lifespan as humans. Since they live at around 25-35 years in captivity, SeaWorld says that that is their lifespan. The specialist also says that orcas only get a collapsed dorsal fin because of their age, but even then it only happens to less than 1% of orcas. He also says that almost all male orcas in captivity have collapsed dorsal fins. In interviews with the ex-employees of SeaWorld, they admitted that SeaWorld doesn’t actually keep the orcas in their families; they organize them as to how management agrees to mix them. Since the employees are fed false facts about killer whales, they feed the public false facts as well. SeaWorld is known for whale attacks as well. An attack that was well known at SeaWorld was when Tilikum killed Dawn Brancheau during a performance. Tilikum killed her by grabbing her arm and pulling her under water, ripping her arm off. SeaWorld said that is was her fault that this happened but due to Tilikum’s past, everybody knew that it was the whale’s fault. After this incident, Tilikum does not participate in the shows like he use to. He only comes out now to bow in the shows and then goes back into his “jail cell”, isolated from the other whales. At the end of the documentary, it says that SeaWorld refused to participate in the documentary, which shows that they are embarrassed about all of the stuff that happened at their park in Orlando. By showing interviews of ex-employees admitting to SeaWorld feeding them false information about the whale attack at SeaLand and about orcas, the killer whale attacks at SeaWorld and how SeaWorld refused to be apart of the film, it shows the negative effects that SeaWorld has had on the employees, public and the whales, which again shows that this film is bias.