Whale Who’s?
Peter Watson is an extreme environmentalist that vehemently opposes Japanese whaling. There is no denying that whaling is atrocious and should be stopped. But is Watsons approach going to work? Are his violent acts of protests going to resolve violence? Or are there other genres, such as comedy, circulating in popular culture that can effectively bring light to such horrible issues in humanity.
The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is a non-profit marine organisation that uses direct action tactics to investigate, document and take action when necessary to expose and confront the Japanese’s illegal activities on the high seas. Watson is the founder of Sea Shepherd and relies heavily on public relations to circulate Sea Shepherds messages in the media. A documentary series called Whale Wars was produced based on the groups’ efforts to stop the Japanese whaling in the Southern Ocean. Some argue that it led to widespread publicity; others imply it never effectively reached the public at large. Watson’s persona is an impressive argumentative, aggressive and theatrical type. His ability to bend the truth and risk lives in the name of halting whaling has caught some of the publics’ attention. You may not have heard of Watson or his ‘pirates’ that rally on Sea Shepherd ships that go on sea voyages chasing Japanese whaling ships. But, if you were to watch South Park’s Whale Whores, this episode skillfully addresses Japanese whaling and condemns both the whalers and anti-whaling activists. The story line particularly focuses on Whale Wars and Watson. If you ever want to ‘indulge’ in the series of Whale Wars you would see the ‘pirates’ on their mission to stop the Japanese as they throw butyric acid at whalers, drop cables to foul their props, and threaten to ram them in freezing water in the Antarctic. This does constitute violence, but the fact that consequences are never actually realised has led to scrutiny by its critics. The South Park directors are obviously one of them. Whale Whores skillfully uses parody as an education tool humorously showing the ships throwing stinky butter at the whalers and is critical of Watson’s physical appearance.
If you had never heard of the series Whale Wars, South Parks 20 minute episode Whale Whores uses parody to educate the viewer in an entertaining way. This is an example of how parody can be more effective in engaging with an audience. Whaling activists are a niche group of individuals, but Sea Shepherd has increasingly become more recognised to the public and this may not be to their own violent efforts to halt whaling or Watsons relentless messages in the media- but in fact their critics efforts to ridicule their actions. Whale Whores shows the ability of satire and parody to bring an unrecognised issue into the mainstream arena of popular culture. Watson had commented on the series, stating it is a good thing because it brings the issue to a larger audience. Even though there was a remarkable magnitude of offensiveness projected at Watson in the episode. The ‘simple truth’ of comedy and parody is very powerful and respected by many people. This is because in popular culture jokes have the power to come in small packages and are easy to remember and travel well. Below are two clips from Whale Wars and Whale Whores. Which do you find most entertaining and informing?*
* Please note the differences in number of viewings while you are watching the you tube clips
