The movie Blackfish is an epitome of whales in captivity . It illumined viewers of the documentary film of the plight of whales, particularly orcas or killer whales, which are captured for the sole purpose of providing aquatic entertainment through famous marine mammal parks, like SeaWorld. Statistics provided by the Whale and Dolphin Conservation (WDC) revealed that there are 54 orcas currently in captivity in a global scale . Viewers are given the opportunity to see the perspective from the view point of these whales in captivity through asserting the traumatic isolation, restrictions, and impositions inflicted on them as trainers worked tediously to coerce them into actions and behavior that serve the best interests of the promoters of shows.
Viewers who get to be immersed on the plight of these whales make further research to verify and validate their conditions, while in captivity. As asserted by the WDC, whales in captivity generally manifest increased tendencies to shorter life spans. While male orcas in the wild could live for as long as 30 years (with maximum years to be extended to as much as 50 to 60 years) and females live for as long as 46 years (with reported maximum years of 80 to 90 years), the whales in captivity only live to a maximum of 4 and a half years . The facts evidently prove that captivity is detrimental to the whales; in conjunction with all the pressures, pain, penalties imposed (withholding of food, confining in cramped and dark receptacles), and being isolated from their families were shown to be excruciating. The documentary film should be an eye-opening medium to ultimately stop putting whales in captivity that only serve the
selfish interests of a limited few.
Works Cited
Blackfish. Dir. G. Cowperthwaite. 2013. Film.
WDC. "The Fate of Captive Orcas in 2013." 2013. us.whales.org. http://us.whales.org/issues/fate-of-captive-orcas-in-2013. 15 December 2013.
