A lot of buzz over the documentary Blackfish. What have I heard? So many people who have seen this documentary have swore off ever going to Sea World again for the rest of their life.

Shit, a film attacking Sea World? This might be interesting. Or sad. Crap, it is probably going to be sad.

Orcas
I don’t really know what to do for pictures here. Here is an Orca!

The TL;DR version, Blackfish looks at Sea World and two other sea themed areas, and their track records with the Killer Whale. They never really call them Orcas at all, always Killer Whale. Probably intentional.

Now, I figured this would clearly be about the mistreating of these Orcas in captivity, bad conditions, whatever. Turns out, no, it is about the Orcas hurting humans and Sea World not giving a shit. Oh okay, less powerful subject. After all, I am fairly confident I will go throughout my life without getting eaten by an Orca. I will just not try to train them or hang out with them in the wild. I ain’t trying to get fed to water mammals.

This is basically the story of Tilikum, a famous Sea World male Orca. He was captured young, went to a place called Sea Land with two bigger females who pushed him around when he was in shitty conditions at night. Cramped quarters. Eventually he lashed out at an employee, Sea Land was shut down, and he was sold to Sea World.

He then attacked more people, killing them, including a case in 2010 that is still being fought in the courts. The courts rules that Sea World can no longer let trainers play on or with Orcas, but must always be behind a barrier of some sort, which Sea World is trying to fight. They claim that it is all trailer error, not aggressive animals. This documentary claims otherwise.

They are not saying Orcas are normally aggressive, as no human has been a victim in the wild (probably because they live all fucking cold climates where no humans live), but they are only aggressive because of being trapped in tanks, and not getting rewards too often for good behavior.

Ah. So that is the documentary. Multiple trainers have lost their lives, and some have had close calls. The documentary also pointed out that over 50% of Orcas that Sea World currently own are the result of the spawn of Tilikum, and that is bad. I think that is most of the movie.

Two Orcas
Yep, still drawing a blank. TWO ORCAS.

You know what sucks? Dying to animal. We should be on top of the food chain. We lose it a bit when we enter the water though.

Know what sucks more? Your company then blaming you for your own death, and not the animal. Shit, if a dog bites someone, unfortunately, they might get put down. But if a whale does it, then it is apparently okay.

But do we need a whole documentary telling us the Sea World executives are assholes? Not really. This film is less than 90 minutes, with lots of testimonials from former employees, or people who were there when victims lost their lives, and that was disturbing to hear. But the movie just made me dislike Orcas more so than Sea World, really. Maybe we can give them bigger environments to live in?

I am definitely not anti-zoo, because the zoos where animals are in small cages really don’t exist anymore. They give them natural habitats and they increase public awareness of these animals, and are great educational tools. So is Sea World in that regard. I don’t think people should be dying if they get assigned Orca duty though. So the court made them stop, end of story, we should be good, right? Seems almost like it is unnecessary now, because the court already ruled against Sea World. This documentary literally brings up a problem, and also has it solved by the end, so I really don’t understand the point.

The point that they should be freed? Maybe. But I don’t trust you documentary. The fact that over half of the Orcas are now the spawn of Tilikum means jack shit. Aggression is not something attached to genes and passed on to children, so the point is really mute.

Hey Sea World. Don’t let your employees die. Treat your stuff a little better. No I am not boycotting. If I move to Texas, you know damn well I am going to get my seal on.

2 out of 4.