Biases Present in Blackfish Essay Example

Blackfish is a documentary that tells the story of Tilikum, a "notoriously aggressive" orca who has been linked to the deaths of three individuals while being kept in captivity. The film, told largely by five former SeaWorld trainers, uses highly emotional footage to portray Tilikum as an animal that has been negatively impacted by his life at SeaWorld. Blackfish is advertised as a documentary but, in reality, is little more than propaganda, and rather than providing impartial and balanced information, the film uses inaccurate and deceptive facts in a clear example of how bias is used in the media to portray a certain view to the audience. The film misrepresents the orca species as a whole by saying that "they're amazingly friendly and understanding and intuitively want to be your companion." This implies that killer whales are naturally amicable and respectful to humans. Blackfish shows footage of an orca interacting with a dog to justify this statement, but does not explain that the orca shown in that video was an abandoned juvenile named Luna who had been living in Nootka Sound for five years, where he was constantly exposed to human presence and activity. The interactions with Luna that are shown in the film are not an accurate representation of the average, well-adjusted, pod-dwelling orca. This footage is shown out of context and makes the false claim that killer whales, as a whole, are more wary of human presence and generally keep to themselves in natural conditions to skew the viewer's opinion and understanding of normal orca behavior in the wild. Blackfish criticizes SeaWorld for lying to the general public and denying the animal's aggression when the attacks took place, supporting the image of a "cuddly toy." The film utilizes the same emotional manipulation it accuses SeaWorld of to make the viewer perceive the animals as normally friendly and inquisitive in order to enhance the horror and shock value of their killing humans while in captivity.