Is BlackFish Propaganda

Is Blackfish a film advocating for change, or is it manipulative propaganda? If you haven't heard of Blackfish the documentary is about SeaWorld and how Seaworld treated the orcas they had and how the trainers were not properly told about the danger they could be in with the orcas overall leading to a massive debate with SeaWorld and other news reporters. The big question is, Is Blackfish a form of propaganda or a genuine call for ethical reflection?

Now what is propaganda and how do we know when something is trying to be propaganda well, for something to be considered propaganda it has to have a couple of things. Firstly we have to have an explicit bias, in an explicit bias, we are aware of the attitudes and beliefs we have towards others showing them in some sort of film picture or painting out loud. We also have to have a call to action to have it considered as propaganda for example with the military needed soldiers for the army we used the image of the guy pointing toward you saying we need you. The last thing to confirm is propaganda would be some sort of manipulation in a way. Now what exactly is a documentary? A documentary is a film or a non-fictional motion picture intended to “document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a historical record.” Now knowing each of these we can now determine if Blackfish is a documentary or propaganda.

Ok, let's start with how Blackfish can be propaganda. Firstly watching the film I noticed a lot of use of emotional storytelling and how they focused on a lot of tragic incidents and suffering animals, which can be seen as manipulating the viewer's emotions on how they think and feel about the sea world showing one of the three things we talked about that goes along with propaganda. They also our very one-sided mainly the perspective of former trainers and activists without fully considering seaworlds perspective they also showed at the very end of the documentary people standing outside holding up signs saying stop SeaWorld way with the orcas etc. They might not have said protest but showing it inferences it. The film also uses dramatic music, editing, and imagery to sensationalize the issues at hand. They do add at the end of the documentary that they asked Seaworld a couple of times to add their side of the story but were declined showing that SeaWorld doesn't want anything to do with this.

Now on the other hand Blackfish does use lots of facts throughout this film including testimonies from experts, and real footage to build its case, which aligns more with a real documentary standard. This film also led to real-world changes being picked up and all sorts of new stations and programs on the air which in the end did cause Seaworld to end its orca breeding program, suggesting that the film’s message had substance, not just sensationalism. At the end of the day, the film's main goal was just to raise awareness about animal welfare issues, which is a valid aim for a documentary, even if it has a clear stance.

Blackfish was it propaganda or a documentary, it has takeaways from both sides leading it sorta in the middle for anyone's interpretation on where they want to put it. I feel that it wasn't propaganda because it wasn't too far out there, there was a valid reason for this to be made and it did make great changes in the world for the better highlighting animals' rights and how they should be treated, Seaworld even made changes later on after this film indicating this film was right about some things. Overall this film did have a major impact on the way people view animals in captivity.