Beyond SeaWorld

Blackfish’s impact goes far beyond SeaWorld. After the release of the film, the, at the time upcoming, film, Finding Dory, went through some changes. Pixar’s Chief Creative Officer John Lasseter and Dory director Andrew Stanton sat down with Blackfish director Gabriela Cowperthwaite in April after the release of the documentary. The plot of the film was changed, and at the end, the animals had the choice to leave the marine park. Pixar did not comment on this but Cowperthwaite confirmed screening the film. Also, the film Paper Towns had tweaks after Blackfish’s release. In the book, written by John Green, the characters break into SeaWorld Orlando as it was the only theme park she had yet to break into. But, in the film version, they never go to SeaWorld, instead, they complete their night with a trip to Orlando’s SunTrust building.

Who Rallied Behind the movement

Perhaps the biggest group to rally behind is People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA. We found that they were actually involved in a court case involving the treatment of orcas in 2011, two years before Blackfish was released. PETA got together with marine-mammal experts and two former orca trainers to file a lawsuit claiming that these orcas that were captured from wildlife and required to perform for shows were being held as slaves, which is unconstitutional according to the 13th Amendment. Although they did not win this case, it was a big deal because this was the first time anyone had filed a lawsuit using the 13th amendment to defend the freedom of nonhuman animals. This case got more attention since Blackfish came out because people, like us, decided to do some more research on this subject after watching the documentary. PETA used this attention to their advantage and created the website “SeaWorldOfHurt” where they explain how SeaWorld treats their orcas and encourages people to boycott SeaWorld in every way possible.

Impacts on SeaWorld

As we looked more into how SeaWorld was being struck by this outrage, we found that Blackfish was released on July 19, 2013 and very soon after people could start to see how it was affecting SeaWorld, the formerly-loved amusement park that is known for its sea creatures, and more specifically, its orca shows. They were then seen in a completely different light and it started to hurt their image, reputation, and profit. As if the documentary wasn’t heartbreaking enough, a year after it aired, a video of a pregnant orca that was caught in a gate and struggling to get out was found and shared. What might even be worse is that SeaWorld shook it off as “gate play” that occurs pretty frequently. SeaWorld defended itself in every way possible and that outraged people even more. Even big artists such as Willie Nelson, Trisha Yearwood, Martina McBride, and many others that were scheduled to perform at the park canceled their gig to join the protest against SeaWorld and show their support in protecting and saving the beautiful sea creatures. This also empowered the ordinary people to join the protest and stay away from SeaWorld. According to dailymail.com, within only one year, attendance dropped from 2.2% and SeaWorld lost $25.4 million. By August of 2014, their stock was greatly affected. It plunged down more than 30% after they released their second quarter earnings. By December of 2014, Jim Atchison, CEO of SeaWorld stepped down from his position because of all the negativity he was facing. Shortly after his resignation, 300 people were laid off of their staff. At around the same time as all of this was going on, many people started petitions against the park, asking its biggest partners to stop working with them, knowing that SeaWorld relies heavily on them to have the money to continue their orca programs. These petitions reached some of their partners, and some of them even caused real change. Major airlines such as Virgin America Inc, Southwest Airlines, and British Airways all ended their partnership with SeaWorld. There are even cases of kids who petitioned in their classes to cancel their field trip and high school students who petitioned against having their prom at SeaWorld. With everyone talking about Blackfish, and these poor, detained orcas, SeaWorld was hit heavily and very quickly after the documentary was released.

The "Blackfish Effect" Part 7: Specific Goal

The final element of the Blackfish Effect is the ability to determine the effects of a movement (or film, speech, demonstration, etc) upon the intended issue. In the case of Blackfish and SeaWorld, it was very easy to measure the overwhelming negativity flowing towards the park. Stock value plummeted, attendance dropped, and revenue teetered. And although the documentary by itself cannot be credited as “the cause” of the change in society’s view toward captivated Orcas, the film was certainly the catalyst for the success of the movement. If it weren’t for such objective data, however, it would be very difficult to determine the documentary actual impact on SeaWorld’s later decision to begin plans to shut down the Killer Whale portion of its entertainment. By suggesting a specific goal (change in the treatment of Orcas in SeaWorld), Blackfish made it very easy to see whether or not the animal rights movement was succeeding in its desire to shut down the gross abuse of Killer Whales. Biggest take? Missions must have clearly communicated objectives; otherwise the movement becomes disjointed and incohesive. Blackfish provides a beautiful example of clear and highly effective communication, as we can see by its impact upon the study of social movements and the widespread recognition of the Blackfish Effect.

The "Blackfish Effect" Part 6: Emotional Appeal

Undoubtedly one of the most powerful drivers of human action and change is an effective pathos argument. You and I are emotional creatures, and when presented with a deeply moving story of suffering and pain, we are immediately inclined to do something to fix the problem. The Huff Post article quotes psycologist Paul Slovic: “When it comes to eliciting compassion, the identified individual victim, with a face and a name, has no peer...But the face need not even be human to motivate powerful intervention.” And so Blackfish presents us with the tragic story of one particular Orca, Tilikum. As the documentary unveils the sometimes unbelievably heartbreaking tale of gross mistreatment, the audience is struck with empathy and anger at the deepest part of their being. Instead of merely quotes facts and statistics about poor treatment in the hands of SeaWorld, Blackfish walks us through the shocking reality of pain that is the life of so many Orca Whales. The passions that stir within us upon watching the documentary are natural and good, and judging by the tremendous outcry raised against the theme park after the film aired, the appeal was successful. Our takeaway? Emotions are powerful; if you want an injustice to be remedied, the most efficient way to spur change is often to begin with a direct message to people's’ emotions.

The "Blackfish Effect" Part 5: Call to Action

Another important feature of Blackfish that became fundamental to the Blackfish Effect was the compelling urge for change that the film pushed. Although it can be extraordinarily difficult for a 90 minute documentary to both accurately relate the details of a problem and present a clear solution and call to action, Blackfish did a masterful job of accomplishing both objectives. As Huffington Post’s Caty Chattoos writes, “the audience understood SeaWorld’s role, and the film’s story about orcas in captivity issued a clarion call.” Not only did the video sound the alarm about the numerous, insidious problems with SeaWorld, but it also managed to convince thousands and thousands of people to take positive action. Even though the documentary did not outline a detailed “plan of attack” to follow, the producers did an excellent job clearly communicating the issue in such a way as to encourage the audience members to stop what they were doing and jump into the fray. Takeaway? Blackfish’s effective call to specific, and relatively easy, action proved transformative; because of the public outcry and subsequent action, SeaWorld was forced to enact policies that treated Orcas with much better care.

The "Blackfish Effect" Part 4: Extensive Media Attention

The third component of the Blackfish Effect is the maximization of the news and social media. As the old saying goes, “any publicity is good publicity,” and this was evident around the release of the revealing documentary. Even before it was presented to the public, SeaWorld was denouncing the film as inaccurate and misleading. The theme park launched a ferocious PR campaign in a desperate attempt to mitigate the immediate downpour of criticism that commenced post-film. And as the attitude-war raged, more and more news articles poured into the public sphere, continually expanding awareness of the issue. Because of such in-depth reporting, people who had previously held no interest in the matter became interested and then infuriated by SeaWorld’s actions. Our take: a successful activist movement greatly benefits from  exhaustive and in-depth media coverage; and the more controversy created, the more powerful position the activists possess.