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David Zapata
Professor Haas
Writing 37
8 March 2015
Positive and Negative Forms of Ethos in Blackfish
According to Michael Cieply of the New York Times, killer whales have been kept in
captivity for the purpose of human entertainment since 1965. SeaWorld has kept these killer
whales in captivity for so long with much success and profit, but only recently has the company
received major criticism for their actions. Arguably the most well-known current source of these
criticisms is the 2013 documentary film Blackfish, directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite. The film
has received critical acclaim by various film critics, such as David Edelstein of Vulture who
praises its brutal, haunting, and necessary insight on the treatment of captive killer whales and
the resulting tragedies that come from their exploitation for entertainment. Sheila Roberts of
Collider praises the use of riveting interviews and never before seen footage in the film to
promote its message. The film focuses specifically on a killer whale named Tilikum, who was
involved in the deaths of three different people over the course of his captivity. The film is very
persuasive in getting its message across through the use of various rhetorical appeals. One of the
most prominent rhetorical appeals that Cowperthwaite uses to persuade the audience of the films
message is ethos. Blackfish uses the appeal to ethos in both positive and negative forms in order
to make its argument that humans do not have the right to capture whales and keep them
imprisoned for entertainment purposes.
Blackfish uses interviews with former killer whale trainers as a positive appeal to ethos
by appealing through their credibility. The credibility of the former trainers is established

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through their firsthand experiences with the killer whales and the inside knowledge of
SeaWorlds practices that was gained through those experiences. Early on, the film establishes
the credibility of the former trainers by showing many old clips of the trainers when they were
performing at SeaWorld. David Edelstein of the media reviewing website Vulture explains how
editor Eli Espres will cut back and forth from [the former trainers] tearful recollections to
footage of their younger selves, smiling and spouting their insipidly hearty SeaWorld spiels
(Edelstein). The clips of the trainers establish the credibility of the people being interviewed
through the firsthand experiences they have with the killer whales, as the personal connections
that were formed with the animals throughout their years working together show that the trainers
know firsthand the behaviors exhibited by the killer whales. For example, Mark Simmons states
that There's something absolutely amazing about working with an animal. You are a team. You
build a relationship together. You both understand the goal and you help each other. This
method is executed well because of the medium Blackfish is presented in. The old videos are
shown to the former trainers at the interviews, and the editing used in the film alternates the
young faces and the present day faces of the trainers, which has a further impact than if simply
stated in a text that the trainers are watching old videos of themselves. For example, there is one
particular scene in the film where right after a present day Simmons explains how his
relationship was like one hes never had, the film alternates to a clip of a young Simmons
embracing the orca. The editing of this particular scene emphasizes the relationship that
Simmons had with the orca, which adds to his credibility as he knows firsthand the behavior
exhibited by the animals. A positive appeal to ethos is used by establishing credibility to the
interviewed trainers, as the audience knows they can trust the information given by the trainers in
the interview.

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In contrast to the trust formed by the positive appeal to ethos given by the interviews,
Blackfish uses a negative appeal to ethos through the representation of SeaWorlds motives and
their questionable actions that put the company in an untrustworthy position. The film uses the
testaments of the former trainers to show that SeaWorld fabricates lies and creates cover ups in
an attempt to not drive away their customers. Fred Crawley of the business website
NewStatesmen states that Cowperthwaite accuses SeaWorld of covering up facts surrounding
the deaths, and propagating misinformation among visitors about the welfare of whales in
captivity (Crawley). Blackfish portrays SeaWorld as a company that only works for profit and
has no morality through the lies that the company makes to cover its reputation. For example, the
death of Dawn Brancheau is stated by SeaWorld to have been her fault because her ponytail was
hanging out when it should have been tied back. One of the former trainers, Samantha Berg,
states that there are photographs of plenty of other trainers doing exactly the same thing that she
was doing, so I knew that SeaWorld was lying about the fact that this was her fault. In this
particular scene, the film shows various pictures of other trainers who also had ponytails in
similar length to Brancheaus. The portrayal of these pictures further establishes the credibility of
Bergs testimony, which in turn damages the credibility of SeaWorld. Cowperthwaite is using the
credibility of the trainers, which was established earlier in a positive appeal of ethos, against the
credibility of SeaWorld. This turns the audience against SeaWorld, as they are shown to be
fabricating a story if the trainer is to be believed, which is most likely what the audience will do
because of the credibility these trainers have been established with earlier in the film.
Along with the damaged credibility of the company through the reveal of its lies by the
trainers, Blackfish further uses a negative appeal to ethos by explaining the reasons behind
morally wrong actions of the company: profit. Cowperthwaite portrays SeaWorld as a company

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that will fabricate lies and cover up the truth so that they can exploit the captive killer whales as
long as they can without the public viewing them as dangerous, killing machines. John Jett,
another former trainer participating in the film, states that the company is fabricating these lies
so that the animals continue to appear like cuddly teddy bears that are completely safe [] that
sells a lot of Shamu dolls, and it sells a lot of tickets at the gate. The film accompanies these
spoken lines by Jett with footage of various Shamu dolls and SeaWorld merchandise. The
accompanying footage further adds to the negative appeal to ethos because it portrays SeaWorld
as a money thirsty company that only works for profit and will do anything to obtain that profit.
The cute and cuddly Shamu dolls prove that the company wants the public to only view the killer
whales as lovable creatures, and will do anything to cover up the deaths involved with the killer
whales. Ethos is used by displaying the morality of SeaWorld in a negative manner with the
footage of cute dolls and the information provided by the former trainer.
Overall, the use of both positive and negative appeals to ethos in the film Blackfish are
combined in an effective manner to persuade the audience to not support the capture and
captivity of killer whales for entertainment purposes. In an interview by Sheila Roberts of
Collider, Jeffrey Ventre states that SeaWorld needs to change its business model. Killer whales
shouldnt be in captivity, nor should cetaceans in general or anything thats a free-ranging
animal. Number one, dont buy a ticket. It will force this big megalithic corporation to change
its ways (Roberts). The call to action that Blackfish asks to the audience is to stop giving
business to SeaWorld, which will make a huge step towards the end of killer whale captivity for
the purpose of entertainment.

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Works Cited
Blackfish. Dir. Gabriela Cowperthwaite. 2013. Film.
Cieply, Michael. "SeaWorlds Unusual Retort to a Critical Documentary." The New York Times.
The New York Times, 18 July 2013. Web. 22 Feb. 2015.

Edelstein, David. "Edelstein: The Killer Whales in Captivity Documentary Blackfish Is Brutal,
Haunting, and Necessary." Vulture. 19 July 2013. Web. 22 Feb. 2015.

Crawley, Fred. "Did a Killer Whale Doc Just Kill an Industry?" NewStatesman. 25 July 2013.
Web. 22 Feb. 2015.
Roberts, Sheila. "Gabriela Cowperthwaite and Jeffrey Ventre Talk BLACKFISH, Working
without SeaWorld's Participation, and More." Collider. 16 July 2013. Web. 22 Feb. 2015.