Free Willy I - Presentation and Treatment of a Wild Animal

University of Potsdam

Free Willy I - Presentation and Treatment of a Wild Animal

by

 Julia Hansens

Content

1. Introduction 1

2. Plan 1

3. Summary 2

4. Animals in "Free Willy I" 2
4.1. Willy the whale 2
4.2. The seals 3
4.3. A comparison 3

5. The whale Willy and the human beings - the different attitudes and relationships 4
5.1. Jesse and Willy - an unusual but real friendship 4
5.2. Randolph, Rae and Willy 6
5.3. Dial, Wade and the whale - use and abuse 8

6. Keiko′s (Willy′s) real life 9
6.1. Keiko′s life until 1993 9
6.2. Keiko′s life after the production of "Free Willy I 10
6.3. Keiko′s today′s situation - the latest news (5th of April 2002) 10
6.4. My opinion 10

7. A comparison of the posters 11

8. Conclusive remarks 12

9. Literary sources 13

1. Introduction

Traditionally, man′s best friend is supposed to be a domestic animal like a cat or a dog. People are convinced that these animals can understand their feelings and can support them whenever help is needed. But most of these people would deny that such a relationship is possible to an animal like a killer whale.

During the preparation of this seminar paper I have been asking some people what first comes to their minds when thinking of a whale. In general the answers can be summarised as follows: huge, dangerous, arouses fear, frightening and belong to a time that is long ago. But none of the people I have been speaking to so far could imagine that close contact to such a big mammal is possible. The film (and the book) Free Willy I ( in German: Free Willy: Ruf der Freiheit) describe(s) that the contrary can happen. In the story, the love and affection of a boy are won over by a killer whale, a fact of course, which does not happen too often but is worth being considered.

2. Plan

This paper is about the presentation of the whale Willy in "Free Willy I" and the different ways people treat him in the film and in real life.

First of all, I will give a summary of the film "Free Willy I". Then I will try to work out the presentation of the animals, especially of the whale in the film. My following task will be the examination of the different relationships between the characters, that is to say the relationship between the whale Willy and the human characters.

Afterwards, I will take a closer look at the end of the film and will compare this happy ending to reality. This means that I will give some background information about the whale′s situation from the day he was caught until today.

My final task will be to compare the cinema poster to the one I created.

3. Summary

Abandoned by his mother when he was little, 12 - year - old Jesse has spent nearly all his life with his friends on the streets. Like them he escaped from the children′s home. The youngsters spend most of their time begging to be able to afford something to eat.

When Jesse is caught spray painting graffiti in the Aquatic Theatre where Willy the whale lives in bad conditions, his probation is to clean the mess he has made. Otherwise he would be sent to baby jail. During the time that he is cleaning the observation windows of Willy’ s tank, Jesse makes friends with the huge killer whale. Very soon he gets closer to the whale than anybody else. Jesse is able to do tricks with Willy. The owner, seeing the opportunity to earn money with a “ Free Willy Show” gives the boy the chance to perform a show with the whale that is supposed to attract many people. But as the show is a failure – due to some children who annoy the whale – the owner wants to get rid of the whale. He damages the whale’ s holding tank, intending to kill the mammal and to get the insurance fee.

With the help of others, Jesse finally achieves to free the whale from the leaking tank and puts him back into the ocean. With this action he proves his friendship to the whale.
In the end Willy is back with his family and Jesse is with a nice foster family who cares for him.

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