Extrinsic Ethos |
Intrinsic Ethos |
The extrinsic ethos is presented by many of the film crew having a very extensive and solid background in their field to show that they have the right experience and credentials. According to, Gabrielacowperthwaite.com, the director of the film Gabriela Cowperthwaite has 12 years of experience working and creating films for ESPN, Discovery, History Channel, and National Geographic. The producer Manuel V. Oteyza is also established. He has produced films for over 11 years according to IMDb and has worked as a producer on Bill Nye's show, K:2 Surviving The Mountain, Wayne Quinton and Engineering life, and many more. The writers Eli Despres and Tim Zimmerman also have similar extensive backgrounds on IMDb.
Although the film crew have a good background they do not seem to be well known nor do they seem to be famous even after the creation of this documentary. None of the film crew have an extensive wiki page and IMDb is the only site that shows what they have accomplished. This might dissuade some viewers or raise some questions on why their work has not gained enough individual recognition. |
Throughout the film there are numerous examples of intrinsic ethos. Many of the statements and conclusions that are drawn are backed by using media reports, actual video footage of whale attacks, Court cases, and medical reports of the victims. The documentary states many facts that disprove Sea World's statements about whale life, behavior, and health which are backed by the scientists and trainers being interviewed. Many highlights of whale aggression are shown and backed with both paper and footage evidence to bolster their claims.
Many individuals of different occupations in the film were interviewed to gain different perspectives and different reasons to fight against whale captivity. The people ranged from Sea World trainers, whale hunters, and scientists. Having different perspectives that agree on a similar argument creates credibility in that there are more reasons to believe the argument. Cowperthwaite the director only interviewed Mark Simmons on opposing viewpoint against whale captivity. It is not known whether he argued for whale captivity so he wouldn't discredit "Ocean Embassy," a company he co-founded that captures dolphins. The film however argues that Sea World refused to express their opinions about whale captivity as an apparent excuse for not investigating an opposing viewpoint. It does affect the credibility of the argument in some way because the audience is not able to draw a connection to why people argue for animal captivity. Also the film avoids countering and mentioning the arguments about the benefits of whale captivity. A strong pathetic appeal is used to push the audience from raising any questions. |