Black Fish

Black Fish
Production Company: CNN Films
Release Year: 2013

Summary:
Many of us have experienced the awe and excitement at watching killer whales perform at such venues as Marine World and Sea World without ever thinking much about what the animal goes through. This documentary will make it impossible to ever do that again. This film is primarily about one whale named Tilikum, an Orca in captivity who was involved in the deaths of three individuals. The viewer learns in great detail about this whale and about what went wrong. Overall, this heart-breaking documentary focuses on the controversial captivity of killer whales and its dangers for both humans and whales alike.

Qualitative Analysis:
This documentary could be categorized as Moderately Complex. As far as organization, the documentary does have a few storylines although they are all connected by a common theme. The events are always clearly explained and the story lines are straight-forward. Its language features are largely explicit and easy to understand. All vocabulary is familiar and conversational and the scientific vocabulary used is always clearly explained. The meaning is definitely more complex as there are multiple levels of meaning and the viewer may have their original views challenged. The life experiences portrayed are moving and upsetting and uncommon to most viewers. The media-content is also fairly complex as the messages require deep analysis. The media-grammar is very important in this documentary as there is a strong message the film is trying to get across and it is important for the viewer to keep in mind how this film is being produced and structured.

Content Standards:
This film connects well with science and any study related to the environment and/or animals and animal rights.

CA Science Standards Grades 9-12
Ecology 6b. Students know how to analyze changes in an ecosystem resulting from changes in climate, human activity, introduction of nonnative species, or changes in population size.

Personal Response:
I believe this is an informative, eye-opening documentary. It is extremely sad and the viewer will remember it for a long time after watching. It is gripping and covers topics students would find very interesting and shocking. It is definitely appropriate only for older kids - I would recommend high school. The science teacher at my former school did show it to the 8th grade students and they definitely talked a lot about it - even in English class. It was a film that they really remembered. This movie would be a great classroom teaching tool.