3 Complexly-Biased-Arguments out of 4
The sign of a strong documentary is more than the mark it leaves on its audience. The ability to convey a meaningful argument in a way that compels, intrigues, and convinces a group of people is paramount to putting on a good show. However, by virtue of being entertainment, documentaries are expected to be entertaining. For would-be filmmakers hoping to broach important events and cover life-changing circumstances, documentaries can walk a fine line between unbiased journalism and pure sensationalism.
Blackfish, directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite and edited by Eli Despres, is a compelling and moving film featuring the captive orca Tilikum and the controversy surrounding captive killer whales. As a work of pure entertainment Cowperthwaite and Despres, with a script jointly written by Tim Zimmerman, put on a great show. Utilizing a cast of former and current SeaWorld employees and experts from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), combined with newsreels, old SeaWorld commercials, and a score that tells its audience exactly what to feel, Cowperthwaite’s film is supremely entertaining.
Tilikum, an orca originally part of the Vancouver-based sealand of the Pacific aquarium, is notorious for his killing of three separate humans over the course of his captivity. Keltie Byrne, Daniel P. Dukes, and Dawn Brancheau (whose death is the film’s catalyzing motivator) were killed in 1991, 1999, and 2010 respectively. The film uses the deaths of these three individuals, in addition to damning facts implicating SeaWorld aquariums of misconduct and animal abuse, to sway the audience’s opinion in favour of ending killer whale captivity.
Captivity, the film’s makers argue, causes killer whales to suffer from depression, and mind-numbing anomie. In the case of Tilikum, and in many other similar cases seen around the world, this anomie leads to violent tendencies that endanger the lives of the humans who work with the creatures – as well as the animals themselves. Depressed orcas require a very soft touch and the right application of force to be handled.
Interesting to note is the film’s clear statements regarding emotions and language within animals. Enough time is spent on the topic of orca intelligence to warrant further investigation into whether or not animals in general experience emotion. Moreso than captivity, I believe that animal intelligence is an issue that is often neglected within the scientific community.
In recent memory, there has been a significant amount of controversy regarding the film’s topic. Critics of Blackfish argue that it misconstrues the truth and wrongfully condemns SeaWorld for past actions that have led to more stringent policy that serves to protect the trainers who love working with animals like Tilikum. Despres’ editing, which argues that mistakes from the past have yet to be rectified, calls the legitimacy of Cowperthwaite’s information into question.
Due to the nature of Blackfish, condemnation and judgment have been irrationally levied against SeaWorld and its employees. The misdirection portrayed in the film is the fault of Cowperthwaite and her team, whose argument strongly favours a single viewpoint.
Animals should not be held in captivity. Killer whales should be allowed to roam free, without the burdening fear of capture or death. There are few people who believe that animals should be held in captivity. These same people would also agree that animals should not be hunted, ecosystems should not be destroyed, and the planet should not suffer due to the greed and selfishness of a single species. Cowperthwaite and her team merely argue that every killer whale in captivity should be released, without framing the implications of such an argument.
An important point on freeing currently captive animals: there is no circumstance in which a creature that lives a sheltered life protected from disease, contagion, starvation, or harm would ever survive as an apex predator after any time spent in captivity.
It isn’t enough for a good documentary to convey a strong argument. A documentary should convince its audience to search for more information on a subject matter while making the case that there is more to a subject than a single set of circumstances. As a documentary filmmaker, Cowperthwaite ignores the most important rule of journalism: always frame both sides of the argument. However, it cannot be argued that Cowperthwaite’s film is lacking in substance or intrigue. Blackfish is an amazing movie, but a remarkably weak documentary.