Blackfish (2013) - The Documentary that changed the themepark industry forever

Blackfish (2013) is a documentary film by Gabriela Cowperthwaite made in 2013 that has had a rippling impact throughout the theme park and entertainment industry. The film paved the way for documentaries in the years to come due to the social issues the film sheds light on, along with the moral dilemmas it faces. The film became monumental, albeit infamous, in the theme park industry for its stark reveal of the inhumane treatment of marine life, in particular the orcas, in their parks. It garnered so much attention that it had a profound effect on SeaWorld itself and similar parks (such as Loro Parque), across the world. With a film such as Blackfish, there is much to discuss, however I shall be focussing on taking a more in depth look at both impact and ethics.

Cowperthwaite began the concept of the film in 2010 after the death of Seaworld employee Dawn Brancheau who was one of the trainers for Tilikum or more widely known as Shamu. At the time of the incident it was stated that ‘...Dawn had very long hair in a ponytail. That ponytail had swung in front of him. He grabbed her by the hair and pulled her underwater and held her underwater (Ferran and Goldman, 2010), meaning that Dawn was essentially blamed for her own death. This sparked Cowperthwaite to research into Orcas in captivity after realising that​​ ‘...most don’t realize that a lot of the reports...like that the trainer died because she was wearing a ponytail... were actually conjecture’ (Kohn, 2013). The filmmaker soon realised that there was a lot to uncover, not only in this story, but in the entire industry.

The film pulls the curtain back on the gross negligence that Seaworld and similar parks have been a part of. Cowperthwaite also challenges the audience, without explicitly stating who the audience is, but it is clear that she challenges all of those adults who have been to a Seaworld park or somewhere similar. Author Clare Zeller (2014) supports this by writing, ‘The target audience in Blackfish is the general public as well as people who have been to or are thinking of going to Seaworld or a similar park’. Cowperthwaite presents the audience with the question of ‘Why do you visit Seaworld?’, by physically showing the public exactly what mistreatment the animals that they watch for entertainment, have suffered through.This remains the ultimate message from the documentary, as all throughout Cowperthwaite continues to expose the insidious underbelly to this particular part of the entertainment industry.

In order to make the most impact, Cowperthwaite employs several documentary filmmaking techniques. Throughout the film, you never actually hear the voice of Cowperthwaite, she instead relies on the likes of direct interviews, actuality and archival footage and animated reenactments to tell the story for her. The main cast of the film are previous employees of Seaworld parks who knew Dawn, marine life professionals and family members of those who have been injured or died as a result of the lack of proper care of the orcas in captivity. Cowperthwaite does not explicitly state their intentions with the film, as it does not rely on a clear narrative voice. However, the intentions of the film unravels, the longer the audience watches- that it was not Dawn’s fault that she died and it is rather the institution that had hired her, they were at fault.

The main documentary filmmaking technique that Cowperthwaite employs is the use of off-camera direct interviews, meaning that ‘The interviewer is never revealed and, only when absolutely necessary, will you hear his or her voice ask a question. Instead, the burden is on the participant to provide responses with full context’ (Katz, n.d.), therefore the question is never definitively heard throughout the film but fully relies on the answers given by the interviewees to drive the narrative along. In turn the answers given by the contributor can be very expositional, this aids with conveying Blackfish’s narrative. A veteran author, director and producer Anthony Friedmann (2010), further elucidated by saying ‘...You film a person illuminating what points you are trying to make’ which ultimately means that ‘...It is by nature manipulative. When the camera observes someone speaking to an off-camera interlocutor, the statements come across as more authoritative and more objective’. These statements present truthful to Blackfish as a documentary as there are several experts shown throughout, such as: Ken Balcolm, Director for the Center for Whale Research, Neuroscientist Lori Morino and Orca Researcher Howard Garrett. This heightens the impact of the film as the audience views the cast as credible and reliable sources of information. Although, in turn, the film can be read as being quite manipulative due to these filmmaking techniques and thus, further questions are posed of whether the film is ethical or not.

When analysing the ethics of a film such as Blackfish, there are immediately obvious ethical concerns. The scope of the film is large and ambitious and covers a wide range of issues whilst maintaining a relevance to the overarching topic of the treatment of marine animals in the entertainment industry. Firstly, the viewpoint of the auteur should be considered and whether they are presenting a completely unbiased perspective. As earlier alluded to, Cowperthwaites actual voice is exempt from the film but that does not mean that her intended message is, also. There is no voiceover that can present itself as immediately biased which inadvertently supports documentary writer Stella Bruzzi (2011) who comments that ‘A documentary may present the filmmaker's point of view through such overt means as a biased voiceover without forfeiting the claim to be a documentary…’. They also comment that ‘...The extent to which material has been assimilated, concentrated and selected in traditional expository documentaries makes theorists uneasy, as does the domination of commentary and a single perspective’ and they allude to the fact that documentary films are often one sided. Blackfish seemingly fits this mold as the film predominantly focuses on one perspective throughout the film. Only for a brief sequence during the film (43:24) do the audience see footage from actual employees of SeaWorld, as they talk about their Orca’s behaviour and treatment. The filmmaker only uses this as a device to discredit SeaWorld, rather than offer counter arguments to the points made in the film. By excluding both sides of the debate, of whether Orcas should be kept in captivity, this ultimately validates the agenda set out by the film and thereby makes for a biased and one sided piece.

Furthering this point, Cowperthwaite employs further filmmaking devices that cement this one sided narrative. The film has an abundance of actuality footage that often provides the visuals to the answers to the questions given by the interviewee, which ultimately work as a voice over. Actuality ‘A term, coined by film pioneers Auguste and Louis Lumière, denoting the short films showing real-life activities’ (Kuhn and Westwell, 2012).Blackfish relies on actuality to undeniably show the audience the Orca’s behaviour in captivity and the damage that was ultimately done to several employees of SeaWorld. These included instances of severely broken bones, sustained from an Orca attack on a trainer and also showing footage of a prolonged attack and near-drowning experience of another trainer. Journalist Meredith Lee (2014) similarly comments that ‘Blackfish clearly presents an objective to engage people in the ongoing animal rights discussion through shocking footage of the trainers’ death and emotional interviews from previous SeaWorld trainers’ . This solidifies the denotation that Cowperthwaite deliberately employs this device in order for the audience to get a clear and unadulterated view of how SeaWorlds malpractice has led to unusual and concerning behaviours in the orcas, which ultimately lead to serious injuries and near death experiences of those involved.

There is also the argument that using such images and videos is inherently unethical as it can be seen as exploitative of the pain and suffering of the families involved. Filmmaker and author, Agnieszka Piotrowska (2014) writes ‘Every journalist knows that the conflict between the public’s right to know and the individual’s right to privacy is irresolvable’. This would suggest that there may be an imbalance between what Cowperthwaite had the right to include in their documentary, in order to prove their point versus the public's need to know. Although, it could be argued that to make a documentary means that this is inevitable as Piotrowska continues to write ‘Equally a temporary love affair qua transference between documentary filmmaker and subject exists in a compromised space’. Meaning that to make a documentary, the auteur must reside in a grey ethical area whereby using a tragedy (such as the death of Dawn Brancheau) to push the agenda of the film is morally acceptable.

With this moral dilemma, Cowperthwaite has commented on the impact Blackfish has had by stating ‘I couldn't have imagined that Blackfish would strike such a national chord. As a result of the film, I know the trainers are safer and the animals stand a chance. But this also means Dawn's family had to revisit her death in the form of Blackfish … I underestimated that and I'm sorry’ (Family of Slain SeaWorld Trainer Denounces Documentary, 2014). With the auteur having acknowledged that there had been ethical implications of her work on Dawn’s family has not stopped the family from denouncing the film. In one of several public statements, denouncing the exploitative nature of the film, they stated that ‘Blackfish” is not Dawn’s story. Dawn Brancheau believed in the ethical treatment of animals’ and continued to say that ‘Dawn would not have remained a trainer at SeaWorld for 15 years if she felt that the whales were not well cared for.’(Mother Of Deceased Killer Whale Trainer Speaks Out, 2021). Dawn’s family and close friends were not included in the documentary, however the trainer Alexis Martinez had family appear in the documentary. Estefania Rodriguez (59:30) appears on film to give insight into her fiance’s life and his love for the marine animals he worked with. By having at least some of the family members and people who knew the deceased well, may have worked to Cowperthwaites advantage when trying to balance the ethics of creating a documentary such as Blackfish.

SeaWorld has since condemned the film as propaganda for its spread of misinformation and the misleading nature of the film. In a since deleted page on their website (although preserved through several books on the issue), SeaWorld goes into detail about the falsifications presented by Gabriela Cowperthwaite throughout the film. Part of the statement reads, ‘In its opening sequence, the film misleadingly cobbles together separate pieces of innocuous training and performance footage, synched with the actual 911 calls, to mislead the audience into believing it is the actual footage of ... the fatal incident’. SeaWorlds statement continues with slating claims that were made about Dawn’s injuries that were false as ‘...the facts readily available to the filmmaker in the documentation she obtained from the Secretary of Labour, yet was not included’ (Swann, 2019). SeaWorld has also since gone on to even ‘accuses the official examining an orca’s 2010 fatal attack on a SeaWorld trainer of ethical violations, including leaking confidential documents to the makers of “Blackfish.”’ (Cieply, 2014), although these statements have yet to be confirmed as true. If they were proven this would take away from the credibility of Blackfish and Cowperthwaite as a documentary filmmaker as the film would have been made through unethical methods.

Ethics aside, Cowperthwaites film succeeded in its intended purpose, which was to shed enlightenment on the treatment of marine life in Parks such as SeaWorld. The film was shown at Sundance Film Festival in 2013 and was met with such a positive response, from people and critics alike, that it was picked up by CNN Films and Magnolia Pictures. This meant that the film was able to become more mainstream, rather than the independent feature that it started as. Journalists at The Conversation write that ‘The high number of viewers, social media engagement and press coverage indicate the documentary had a wide reach’ which ultimately lead to the fact that In 2016, SeaWorld announced the immediate end of its orca breeding programme, and in the same year, California passed a ban on captive orca breeding . The journalists also accredited several different influential pieces of media on the ban of Orca breeding such as: The Cove (2009), Death at Seaworld (Kirby, 2013) and Free Willy (1993). But none had been as influential as Blackfish, as one SeaWorld employee commented that ‘Having that movie picked up by CNN gave it credence [and] made people think…this isn’t just a propaganda piece. This is news’ (Thomas-Walters and Veríssimo, 2021).

In summary, Cowperthwaite’s 2013 film Blackfish was a bigger success than the documentarian could have ever hoped for as it has had extreme longevity and wide reaching implications in the theme park industry. Although arguably exploitative of the trauma of the families of those who have been injured and lost their lives to Orcas bred in captivity, the film paints a stark picture through the use of actuality, archival footage and interviews. Through the documentary’s one hour and twenty-three minute run time, Cowperthwaite takes the audience on a compelling, albeit one-sided and conceivably biased journey. Cowperthwaite uses the documentary to challenge the audience on what we already know but have not chosen to reconcile with, that SeaWorld and the associated parks have been mistreating their animals. That the death of Dawn Brancheau could have been completely avoided if the audience was not so interested in SeaWorld and the industry that abused their orcas. Blackfish has been and will continue to be influential in the theme park and entertainment industry as it helped set the precedent of a standard of care of the marine life in these theme parks.

Bibliography:

ABC News. 2014. Family of Slain SeaWorld Trainer Denounces Documentary. [online] Available at: <https://abcnews.go.com/US/family-slain-seaworld-trainer-denounces-documentary/story?id=21618954> [Accessed 20 November 2021].

Bruzzi, S., 2011. New documentary. London: Routledge, p.49.

Cieply, M., 2014. SeaWorld Questions Ethics of ‘Blackfish’ Investigator (Published 2014). [online] Nytimes.com. Available at: <https://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/28/business/media/seaworld-questions-ethics-of-blackfish-investigator.html> [Accessed 20 November 2021].

Ferran, L. and Goldman, R., 2010. SeaWorld Curator: Ponytail Likely Caused Fatal Killer Whale Attack. [online] ABC News. Available at: <https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/AmazingAnimals/seaworld-curator-dawn-brancheau-ponytail-caused-fatal-killer-whale-attack/story?id=9934382> [Accessed 19 November 2021].

Fieldman, A., 2010. Writing For Visual Media. 3rd ed. Burlington, MA: Focal Press, p.130.

Katz, A., n.d. Blog: 4 Video Interview Styles | LAI Video. [online] Laivideo.com. Available at: <https://www.laivideo.com/blog/4-video-interview-styles> [Accessed 19 November 2021].

Kirby, D., 2013. Death at seaworld. New York: St. Martin's Press.

Kohn, E., 2013. Sundance Interview: ‘Blackfish’ Director Gabriela Cowperthwaite Discusses Suffering Orcas, Trainer Death, and Why SeaWorld Hasn’t Seen the Movie. [online] IndieWire. Available at: <https://www.indiewire.com/2013/01/sundance-interview-blackfish-director-gabriela-cowperthwaite-discusses-suffering-orcas-trainer-death-and-why-seaworld-hasnt-seen-the-movie-41676/> [Accessed 19 November 2021].

Kuhn, A. and Westwell, G., 2012. A Dictionary of Film Studies. 1st ed. United Kingdom: Oxford University Press, p.4.

Lee, M., 2014. blackfish. [online] Center for Journalism Ethics. Available at: <https://ethics.journalism.wisc.edu/tag/blackfish/> [Accessed 19 November 2021].

Awesome Ocean. 2021. Mother Of Deceased Killer Whale Trainer Speaks Out. [online] Available at: <http://awesomeocean.com/top-stories/mother-of-deceased-killer-whale-trainer-speaks-out/> [Accessed 20 November 2021].

Piotrowska, A., 2014. Psychoanalysis and ethics in documentary film. London: Routledge, p.XV.

Swann, P., 2019. Cases in public relations management. 3rd ed. New York: Taylor & Francis, p.No Pagination.

Thomas-Walters, L. and Veríssimo, D., 2021. Blackfish: how captive killer whale documentary ended SeaWorld's orca breeding programme. [online] The Conversation. Available at: <https://theconversation.com/blackfish-how-captive-killer-whale-documentary-ended-seaworlds-orca-breeding-programme-161775> [Accessed 20 November 2021].

Zeller, C., 2014. Formal Essay. [online] Rhetorical Analysis <br />Explained Through "Blackfish." Available at: <https://blackfishbl10.weebly.com/formal-essay.html> [Accessed 19 November 2021].

Filmography:

Blackfish. 2013. [film] Directed by G. Cowperthwaite. United States: Magnolia Pictures.

Free Willy. 1993. [film] Directed by S. Wincer. United States: Studio Canale.

The Cove. 2009. [film] Directed by L. Psihoyos. United States: Lionsgate.