If there is any evidence that education is effective, Blackfish is it. Blackfish shows us how important that education is in changing things for the better, in this case, for animal rights.
Educating people about animal abuse and about the erosion of the natural world, is the only way to stop these injustices. The documentary Blackfish shows us just how powerful a good documentary can be. It offers hope fornewer documentaries such as Cowspiracy. Documentaries can be very powerful ways to change things for animals. To raise awareness about animal rights issues. Animal abuse. People often want to look the other way. They don't want to look at the animals in kill shelters. They don't want to see animals being slaughtered for 'food.' And, they don't want to know what cruelty goes on behind the scenes at places such as zoos and circuses. While doing this, we may be sheltering ourselves from these cruelties, but, turning a blind eye does not stop it. By raising awareness about the cruelties and injustices towards animals, we can make lasting and powerful improvements in the animal rights movement. The only way to stop animal cruelty is by looking at it. Reading about it. Watching documentaries. And taking action. The documentary Blackfish has raised a lot of awareness about Orcas. And by raising awareness about Orcas, it has helped close down Seaworlds Orca breeding program. If we were to sit down and feel uncomfortable and sad for an hour or two at documentaries like Blackfish, the change would be enormous. If sitting for an hour is upsetting, but life changing for animals, we have to do more of it. We have to have more documentaries like Blackfish, like Blood Lions and like Earthlings. It's not only good enough that we have these documentaries out there. That's part of the effort. The main effort is to get as many people to watch them as possible. Through things like TV, cinema, Netflix and Amazon Prime. The reason for Blackfishes success is through its wide circulation. It has been on TV, it's available on Netflix. |
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Where Blood Lions, Earthlings and Speciesim really have to appeal and become accessible to, is people who are not in the animal rights circle. That's why these three documentaries should be more accessible. Played on TV stations and online streams such as Netflix and Amazon Prime.
Now, Specisim the movie is on Amazon, but it's not on prime. Specisim should become available on Prime, because people have already paid and they are often reluctant to pay more. It also makes sense financially, as more people will watch it, and therefore more publicity and revenue.
Earlings is available to buy online, but it does not seem to be on Prime or Netflix. Meanwhile you can't buy Blood Lions online, and it doesn't seem to be on Prime or Netflix.
If these three documentaries became as accessible as Blackfish, if they played on TV and through Netflix and Prime (with no extra cost) they could have the same enormous effect that Blackfish has had.
Blackfish teaches us how powerful educating the public can be. How dramatic and quick change can be with a documentary and the accessibility to the wider public of such documentaries. We have to have more of them, as it can change things faster. Much faster.