Rhetorical Analysis Of Sea World

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A rhetorical strategy that this documentary used in order to condemn animal entertainment facilities such as Sea World for their treatment of animals in captivity was pathos, which can be seen in many different ways. For example, the whales were being taken from their pods and being kept in confined, steel habitats. The babies were most often the ones to be taken so that they could be trained. This was intended to make the watcher feel empathy towards the whales because of their capture and being taken from their natural habitats. A second example would be the many deaths or accidents involving trainers and the whales. There would be times when whales would attack the trainers or even other whales; this could be because of anger, hunger, or playfulness, but was nonetheless dangerous. …show more content…
An aspect that can also be seen in the documentary is how aggressive these animals can really be. One incident was that of a girl named Dawn where a whale grabbed her arm and pulled her into the water and Sea World blamed it on her instead of the whale. Another is a man being dragged to the bottom of a tank repeatedly by a whale. Many workers that talked throughout the documentary did not know about many of the accidents or deaths that had occurred there when they started working at Sea World. What might start out as playful action can soon turn around to be aggression. The whales do not handle being confined, especially in small places, because they are wild animals that have been taken and put into captivity where they are forced to perform shows for entertainment. Unlike Dawn, this man survived this traumatic event, but the trainers are not