At the Blackfish: Live Premiere

(This blog was originally posted on July 5, 2016)

After the screening I got to meet several of the former SeaWorld trainers featured

in Blackfish: Dean Gomersall (left), me, Samantha Berg and Carol Ray

Photo by Lisa McDougald

Many people who know me are aware that I am passionate about animal conservation--especially ending captivity of orcas (killer whales). On Friday, July 1, 2016 I enjoyed the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to attend the premiere screening of Blackfish Live at the Montalbán theater in Hollywood. I had already seen the film several times, including once in the cinema and many viewings on CNN and DVD. However, this event was extra-special because Jeff Beal, who composed the movie’s fabulous score, conducted the Hollywood Chamber Orchestra as they played the soundtrack to accompany the film. In addition, four of the former SeaWorld trainers featured in Blackfish attended the screening and were on-hand to discuss the film’s impact since its debut at the Sundance Film Festival in 2013.

I didn’t even expect to be able to attend the event when I first heard about it a couple weeks ago. While I always wanted to go, by the time I got around to investigating availability of a ticket I doubted there would be any seats left. Then Dean Gomersall posted a cheery “Hope to see you all there tomorrow evening” comment with the event’s link on Facebook. Of course, I “liked” the post. I knew it was now or never to get a seat, so I asked if he knew whether any tickets were still available. Long story short, Mr. Gomersall sent me a message and comped two tickets to the event for me. You could have blown me over with a feather at his generosity. We had never even met before, beyond Facebook!

The next afternoon, one of my dear friends and I braved the pre-holiday traffic on the 405 and 101 freeways driving to Hollywood to attend the screening. In addition to being excited about finally being able to meet him and several of the other SeaWorld trainers featured in the movie, we were thrilled to be able to see and hear the Blackfish score performed live. I had bought and downloaded the soundtrack off iTunes as soon as it was available last year, and I often listen to it driving in my car or participating in social media in the evenings. Two of the pieces—“Orca in the Wild” and “Blackfish”—always give me goose-bumps, and I couldn’t wait to hear the music played live. (Needless to say, I have also had the soundtrack booming out of my iPod a lot since last weekend.)

Lisa and I were happy to see that the theater was packed. Before the movie, concertmaster Mark Robertson asked the audience who had seen Blackfish before that night. Many people, including my friend, had never seen the movie before. The rest of the audience (including me) had watched it many times. This dichotomy said a lot about the staying power and enduring influence that Blackfish has had on the public. When the film came out, director/writer/producer Gabriela Cowperthwaite said her original intention in making the movie was to explore why Tilikum, a SeaWorld orca, killed trainer Dawn Brancheau during a show. The rest is history, as marine biologists and former orca and marine mammal trainers stepped forward to provide a darker picture about what captive cetaceans endure at marine parks. 

As evidenced last Friday evening, the power of the movie’s message of compassion for the plight of these magnificent mammals continues to move people. It has even inspired a worldwide, popular anti-captivity movement dubbed “The Blackfish Effect.” According to the post-movie video featuring personal testimonials from several of the former trainers featured in the movie and live commentary from Samantha Berg, Mr. Gomersall, Carol Ray and Dr. Jeff Ventre, this phenomenon shows no sign of fading away anytime soon. Without the courage of these and other trainers and marine-mammal experts who daily share their experiences and observations to raise awareness about the plight of captive orcas, these animals would probably continue to suffer in silence and darkness.

Thank you so much, Mr. Gommersal, for inviting us to experience Blackfish: Live!

 Sara R. Fogan, C.Ht. is a certified hypnotherapist based in Southern California. She graduated with honors from the Hypnosis Motivation Institute in 2005. For more information about Calminsense Hypnotherapy®, please visit http://www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com/

(c) 2017

Watching Blackfish, Part 2

(This blog was originally posted on April 28, 2014)

As a practicing hypnotherapist, I spend a lot of time wondering, exploring and analyzing facets of behavior so I can create an effective hypnotic script that will help my clients to achieve their vocational and avocational self-improvement goals. I admit that this has become a subconscious, occupational behavior for me in a lot of non-clinical contexts, too. No matter where I am or what I am doing, I automatically contextualize every behavior and emotional reaction in terms of Hypnosis Motivation Institute founder John Kappas, Ph.D.’s models of suggestibility and sexual personality. Yesterday was no different. As I settled into my seat on the sofa to watch Blackfish with my mother, sister and her two sons, I was as riveted by my family’s responses to what they were watching as I was by the content of the documentary. I described their responses to the film in yesterday’s blog (Watching Blackfish, Part 1; 4/27/14). Today, I will explain the “hows” and “whys” behind my and my family’s behaviors and reactions to Blackfish as well as those of people who were interviewed for the film in the context of Dr. Kappas’ model of suggestibility and hypnotic modalities.

Suggestibility: Suggestibility (how we learn) is established by the age of 14. The primary caretaker—typically, mom—influences what type of suggestibility the youngster develops. (For more information, see my blog titled “Where Does Suggestibility Come From?” blog on 12/28/13). My sister, mother and I tried very hard to not reveal our emotions or thoughts about the film to the boys so they could to come to their own conclusions about Blackfish’s Big Question: Do orca belong in captivity? At age 10, the youngest was still very “physical” (direct and literal) in his interpretations of what he was watching. The orca trainers were shown smiling, nodding and enthusing about the information they were providing during a SeaWorld performance. The orcas’ mouths were open as if they were smiling, too. My nephew perceived that everyone was having a great time and he asked his mother to take him to the park one day. The picture of smiling people saying that they and the animals were having fun was consistent with what he knows (a known) as being happy or having fun.

 A little and while later in the film, a former trainer described the day a three-year-old orca calf was separated from its mother. The baby was being shipped to another park, and its mother was inconsolable with what the trainer and other marine biologists interpreted to be grief. How did we, the audience, trainers and the biologists know that the mother was experiencing grief? The orca was making a plaintive, screeching noise over and over again, which the scientists identified as calls of distress and even long-distance location calls previously heard when wild orca are looking for a lost member of the pod. The trainer who witnessed the separation and just about everyone who knew that a child had just been forever separated from its mother (and vice versa) only needed to watch and listen to her to understand what was going on. This was a great example of emotional suggestibility (audience and observers), who saw the emotional pain in one creature and then interpreted and internalized this distress as if it were our own. My youngest nephew was visibly distressed to see and learn that the baby would never see its mother again. Could this happen to me?

A little later in the documentary, a list of human/animal “accidents” recorded at the park flashes on the screen, interspersed with video clips of a few of these incidents. As he watched, my older nephew asked why no one had stopped the interactions if this kind of thing kept happening. He pointed out that it probably wasn’t a good idea to put humans in a tank with predators like killer whales. This observation would also be consistent with that of an emotional suggestible: captive orca + human has resulted in human injury or death several times, so why wouldn’t it happen again?

I will address how hypnotic modalities likely influenced our emotional reactions to the documentary—and visitors’ responses to their experiences at ocean-theme parks—in my next blog.

Sara R. Fogan, C.Ht. is a certified hypnotherapist based in Southern California. She graduated with honors from the Hypnosis Motivation Institute in 2005. For more information about Calminsense Hypnotherapy® and to set up an appointment, please visit http://www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com/.

© 2015