Tillikum is a huge killer whale, who is owned and lives at SeaWorld, the world-famous tourist attraction. This animal is a natural predator, but when he lost his life to this animal, director Gabriella Cowperthwatie blamed the people of SeaWorld for turning him into a killer and called for the release of all captive orcas. This is the premise of the movie Blackfish. He claims that because of the conditions that drive them to kill, SeaWorld should be boycotted and closed. What isn't taken into consideration, however, is that killer whales represent only a tiny percentage of the captive animals used for entertainment in America and the world at large. It seems that the problem seems much bigger than it is when viewed in the correct perspective. Blackfish is not an objective documentary, but rather a mere propaganda creation that emotionally manipulates viewers and relies on distorted cinematic techniques to create "facts" that support anti-captivity. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Gabriella Cowperthwaite is far from a household name. The reason for this is that he has directed few successful or influential films, other than Blackfish, the most popular film he has produced is a story about inner-city lacrosse. Even his most lauded production, Blackfish, was nominated for few distinguished or major awards, crowning it with a nomination from BAFTA, an organization for which you would be hard-pressed to find any large number of Americans who have even heard of Di. After many years spent in the film industry, she struggled to make a name for herself and consistently make films that would allow her to be mentioned in elite filmmaking circles, instead she spent much of her career producing television series documentaries. held in captivity since the early 1960s. As with many other things, in the early years the capture and containment of such animals was uneducated at best and barbaric at worst. The amount and magnitude of progress made since these first captive whales arrived in America is astonishing. The first whale held in captivity for entertainment was named Namu, who was captured in British Columbia and shipped to Seattle where he survived only 11 months. Whales in captivity at SeaWorld now live nearly the entire lifespan of wild orcas, over 30 years, demonstrating the progress made to care for orcas no longer living in the wild. As not mentioned in the documentary, SeaWorld has not captured orcas from the wild in over 35 years, and of the 160 cases of orcas dying in captivity, only a small percentage of those actually occurred at SeaWorld. Please note: this is just a sample. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay Blackfish loses its credibility in several crucial areas. First, Blackfish uses false, emotionally manipulative sequences that deal with the separation and takeover of orcas. The director uses videos that often do not correspond to the narrative. Different pieces of stock video are put together to give the impression of mothers being separated from their calves when in reality that is not what is happening. It is an attempt to emotionally stimulate the viewer's negative gaze towards SeaWorld. Likewise, when the film shows whales taken from the wild, the footage is not even of a real SeaWorld operation, this is something the casual viewer would never be aware of and is one of many tactics.