"One World-One Ocean": The Sea World Perspective on Conserving the Oceans

A trip to Seaworld is not complete without seeing the killer whale Shamu. This amazing creature and his cohort are part of a 25 minute show called "one world-one ocean." The show begins with one of the Sea World trainers giving a salute to the personnel in the army and thanking them. While thoughtful, I could not quite place the connection to Shamu. Before these majestic creatures even come out and perform their tricks to the "oohs" and "aahs" of an impressionable audience, water fountains dance to inspirational, emotive music with images on gigantic screens that tell the story of kids who come to (presumably) Sea World, interact with a marine animal, and grow up to be great stewards of the oceans. These images in the video are trying to persuade us that we are all part of one world, sharing one ocean.

Here is a brief synopsis of the video. The first image is of a innocent young Caucasian girl with her dad. She and her dad have hiked up to the top of a pristine trail and they are watching an Humpback whale. This scene seamlessly moves into the next, which is  of this girl becoming a guide for whale watching. It focuses on her explaining something about whales to a young Asian girl. In another scene a young Caucasian boy is a Sea World looking at turtles and that leads to him becoming someone that works on rescuing turtles and other marine animals. In another scene, there is a young Caucasian girl looking at Shamu and she does a twirly dance and in the next scene becomes a Sea World trainer. And finally, in another scene a Caucasian man, woman and child, implying notions of family, are enjoying the beach. While these images move from one to the next the song being played has the lyrics " we are one people, one planet, one ocean" in some format over an over.

I have given you a general gist of the scene. So now let me give you my thoughts. I think that the desire and the intent to inspire people to act is welcomed. But a closer look at the people in story line begs the question of whose world, whose ocean and who holds the knowledge when it comes to conservation? It also leaves out the story of who are the people that are responsible for largely destroying the oceans. Unfortunately, this slickly edited video perpetuates privilege in terms of race, class, sexuality. Do people who live in areas with access to pristine landscapes, like the father and daughter story line, get to be the ones who go on to be guides to whales? Is this what we are teaching our children? To be conservation minded is a luxury awarded to the privileged? Why is that none of children who grow up to be "experts" were of color? Why is it that a family is defined as a man, woman and child?

To me, the most irritating part of the show was the song and the implication of it all. We are all  not one people. We are all people but we have differences and those differences help us understand the world and how to conserve the natural resources of our world.  Sea World is attempting to eliminate or homogenize those differences and try to write a narrative that overrides the ways in which people look at the oceans. Single narratives make me nervous.

It is easy and as some might argue preferable to go to these parks with your kids and just sit back relax and be of those that ooh, aah, eat some churros and come back. Trust me the weight of your backpack is lighter. As an anthropologist, my training is to read between the lines. As an activist, my training is to speak up for what I read between the lines. The challenge is finding the medium, the audience, and the timing to be most effective and productive.