Monday, January 20, 2014

So I was recently flipping through Netflix and found a documentary called "Blackfish" that sounded pretty interesting. I hadn't heard anything about it, but I have always been fascinated by killer whales so I decided to watch it. I thought it would be about killer whales in general and how it is dangerous to train them. What I didn't realize, however, is that the people who created it had an agenda. The documentary was basically about how orcas are unpredictable and sometimes ferocious, and injuries and even death can occur from training them (at Sea World, in particular) so they should not be trained and kept in such places. The people they interviewed were all former employees of Sea World and they talked about their experience working there. Towards the middle-end of the documentary, I just felt like all the information they gave was extremely biased. They were of the opinion that all whales should be freed and that to keep animals like that out of their natural habitat is wrong. Although I do not completely disagree with their ideas, I dislike the feeling of others opinions being shoved down my throat. Had the documentary been less biased and more like "here are the facts, you decide", I feel that I would have been far more interested. Nonetheless, after watching the documentary, I did feel that I needed to create an opinion of my own. I've since talked with my husband, brother, and sister-in-law about the film and we've had some very stimulating conversations. With such a controversial topic, it's nice to feel more educated and hear what others have to say. That often helps me form my own opinions.

2 comments:

  1. I think it is so interesting how media can push us to decide on our own opinion on controversial issues. I have never seen the documentary you were talking about, but I, like you, do not like having biased opinions pushed on me. I do think however, it would be interesting to watch the Blackfish documentary and form some opinions of my own.

    ReplyDelete
  2. It's a rare documentary that doesn't have an agenda or bias, but it's great that you're aware of that sort of thing and looking for it when you're watching them, especially in getting the viewpoints of other people.

    ReplyDelete