Isaiah Cano

Writing 37
Professor Haas
February 22, 2015
Blackfish Rhetorical Analysis (First Draft)

Blackfish is a psychological thriller that shows how nature can

get revenge when nature is pushed to its limits. It is a video with
eyewitness accounts and comments from trainers on the care, treatment,
and psychological states of the whales that are held captive at parks such as
Sea World and Sea Land. Blackfish effectively appeals to pathos by using
emotionally charged words and scenes of the orcas in captivity in order to
persuade viewers to stop visiting marine zoos because it supports the
wrongful captivity of orcas and use of them for mere entertainment.
During the film, there is a part where John Crowe talks about having to
capture the Orcas. In this scene, the appeal to pathos is effective and is
focused on the emotional response of John Crowe. He said that once he
started capturing the whales, he understood what he was doing,
and then he began to cry. () This is followed by a scene of John Crowe
being shown as emotional in response to describing the events that took
place. This scene effectively appeals to pathos because what he said made
the viewers feel sympathetic towards him, and shows that the act of
capturing the whales is an emotional one. Also, the outward emotional
response helps get the idea across that he is emotionally effected from the
past events.

Isaiah Cano
Writing 37
Professor Haas
February 22, 2015

In Blackfish, there are different parts where there are clips of the
whales with evident injuries, to appeal to the emotions of the viewer. There
is an explanation of the training methods used to train the whales, and a
short series of clips are shown where whales have injuries from being raked,
because if Tilikum didnt perform a desired task, then both animals would
be punished. These clips appeal to the emotions of the people because in
the clips it is evident that the whale is hurt and not healthy. This persuades
the people viewing to not support Sea World because it is obvious that the
whales are not happy, so it will make them not want to visit Sea World.
There are also clips of an injured whale that was attacked by other whales
due to the increased aggression that the whales in captivity display. These
clips make the viewers feel sympathetic towards the animals, and question
whether or not they should visit the parks because the whales do not look
healthy, nor do they look happy. Another example of whale aggression is
shown in the film. This example is the clip of the whale Corky, bleeding out
because Corky was attacked by another whale. People feel sorry for the
whale bleeding out, and the clip of the whale bleeding out is aimed at
evoking an emotional response because the whale ends up dying. This is
used to show that the aggression between the whales is not normal, or safe
for the whales in captivity. This appeal to pathos persuades the viewer to

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Writing 37
Professor Haas
February 22, 2015

not support the way that the Orcas are kept at Sea World and want to
change, or at least stop supporting the handling methods of the whales.
Another part of blackfish that effectively appeals to pathos is the part
where Kelty Burns death is discussed. Kelty Burn was a trainer at SeaLand
who was killed by a whale during a public show. A whale grabbed her and
began to drag her underwater preventing her from breathing. Witnesses
recall Burn yelling, I dont want to die . This eyewitness account shows
the distress that the trainer was in while being attacked. This evokes an
emotional response from the viewer because it was evident that she did not
want to die, and that the whale was being hostile. It also makes the viewer
think about the chance of seeing something like this if they were to visit
park, and if they would want to see it, or if they would want their kids to see
it. This makes people not want to visit parks where whales are held captive,
effectively persuading viewers with the use of pathos. The witnesses,
Corrine Cowelll and Nadine Kallen also show outward emotional reactions
while telling the story. This appeals to pathos because the viewers can tell
that they are emotionally affected by the event, and viewers soon begin to
feel the same emotions.
Blackfish uses stories of whales being separated from their mothers to
appeal to pathos to show that the animals are put through emotional distress
by being separated from their families. At around 36 minutes the trainers

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Writing 37
Professor Haas
February 22, 2015

begin to talk about the whales and certain events when the mothers had
been separated from their babies. Carol Ray, who was a formal Sea World
Trainer, recalls when Katina, who was not a very vocal whale, was
separated from her child, stayed in the corner of the pool literally
shaking, screaming, screeching, crying.

This quote is followed by

clips of the whale crying, with the whale looking noticeably sad and
distressed. Also, sad music is played in the background while showing the
clips of the sad, crying whale. This scene of Blackfish makes the viewers feel
sorry for the whale, and the clips show the sadness of the whale, making the
viewer connect with the whale in distress, and feel an emotional connection
to the whale because of how much pain it is shown to be in. The music helps
set the mood of the scene, by using sad slow songs that fi what was being
shown in the clips. Similar clips are shown of a different whale, Kasatka.
Trainer, Josh Horgrove, said that when Kasatka was separated from her child,
she continued to make vocals that had never been heard before.
This was also followed by scenes of a whale crying, calling for her child. This
appeals to the viewers emotions because it makes them feel sorry for the
whale who as separated from her child. It also appeals to the pathos
because it was said that the whale was making sounds that had never been
heard before, which ended up being long distance calls to its offspring. This
appeals to the emotions of the viewers because it shows how confused and

Isaiah Cano
Writing 37
Professor Haas
February 22, 2015

desperate the animal is. This helps persuade the viewer to not visit Sea
World because it shows the type of emotional stress that Sea World puts
their animals through and that what they are being put through isnt right.
One of the last scenes that is aimed at an appeal to the viewers
emotions is the part of blackfish about Alexis Martinezs death. Alexis
Martinez was a whale trainer at Loro Parque who was killed because of the
aggression of a whale. First, clips of Martinez happily interacting with the
whales are shown, then Alexis mother and Fiance begin to cry when talking
about seeing his body for the last time. This is a direct appeal to the
emotions of the viewers because the crying of the mother and Fiance is
aimed at showing the viewers their pain and what they went through. While
they cry, sad music is played in the background that fits the sad tone of the
film at that point. The sad music helps get the emotions of the audience to
more effectively appeal to the pathos of the viewer.
The appeal to pathos is very evident in the film blackfish.

The

director effectively uses emotionally charged clips, scenes, and music to

appeal to pathos in the film and persuade the viewer to stop the support of
Sea World and the capturing and captivity of whales and other animals.
Although many of the scenes were very similar to each other, the effective
appeal to pathos in the film made it a powerful and moving piece that

Isaiah Cano
Writing 37
Professor Haas
February 22, 2015

changed the opinion of many regarding Sea World and its treatment of
animals.

Works Cited
"Blackfish Official Film Site." Blackfish Official Film Site. Dogwoof, n.d. Web.
22 Feb. 2015. <http://blackfishmovie.com/>.

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Writing 37
Professor Haas
February 22, 2015

Cowperthwaite, Gabriela. "Why I Made 'Blackfish.'" CNN. Cable News

Network, 28 Oct. 2013. Web. 15 May 2014.
<http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/23/opinion/blackfish-filmmaker-statement/>.
"Full Cast & Crew." IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 23 Feb. 2015.
<http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2545118/fullcredits>.