The words “job interview” tend to a cause great deal of stress for the majority of people. What do I wear? What do I say? Am I allowed to smile?

Employers may interview a ton of candidates for one particular position — which is why it is so important that you nail it and make a positive impression on your potential boss.

You’ve heard the saying “dress for success.” They’re not kidding. Of course, physical appearance isn’t everything. But it does say something about you when you arrive at an interview in presentable and ironed clothing. Wearing wrinkled or ill fitting clothing could send the message that you just threw something on without much thought. If hired, you would be a direct reflection of the company and an employer probably wants someone who doesn’t look like he or she just rolled out of bed 15 minutes before they arrived.

In the days leading up to the interview, familiarize yourself with the company and its history. An interviewer will ask if you are familiar with some of the work the company has done. If you’re not, it gives the employer the impression that you don’t care.

“Do your homework. Research the organization you’re interviewing with before the interview and come prepared with questions to ask them,” said Tina Haynes, campus recruiting coordinator at the University of Oregon Career Center. “Speak knowledgeably about the organization and how you personally can contribute to their success. This demonstrates that you’ve done your homework and have a vested interest in an interviewer’s organization. Interviews are two-way dialogues in which candidates and employers learn about each other.”

Prior to your interview, think about the questions that may come your way. A common one: “What would you consider to be your strengths?” Try to think of how these strengths could add to the success of the company and in what capacity.

Thinking on your feet is always difficult, no matter the situation. Truthfully, you can never be sure of what the interviewer might ask. To be safe, make sure that you know yourself and your strengths.

“It is important that you ask questions at some point during the interview,” said Joe McDermott, CEO of Anson Reed, on the company’s website. “This will show your interest in the role and your commitment to the interview process. Be aware that questions about salary, working hours, holidays, etc., should not be asked during the interview.”

Asking questions as the interview progresses shows the employer that you have been engaged throughout the meeting.

The University of Oregon Career Center offers many resources to help you walk into an interview with confidence and walk out feeling positive. The Career Center offers a Practice Interview Program, in which volunteer employers conduct an interview with you and offer immediate feedback prior to the mock-interview.

If you are interested in the program, the list of spring 2014 guest employers can be found on their website as well. The UO Career Center webpage also hosts a variety of useful tips for going in to an interview. Meeting with one of their career advisors wouldn’t hurt.

“Always send a follow-up thank you note after your interview thanking them for their time and to reinforce your interest in the position,” Haynes said.

Don’t stress out about it either. In a way, a job interview is similar to an exam in school. As long as you prepare in advance and know your stuff, the rest will take care of itself.

Most importantly, be yourself.

Disney has been a household name for years and its animated movies are what most of us grew up watching as children. Who didn’t want to be a Disney Princess or the valiant prince that saved the day?

Disney’s movies have been heavily analyzed and have proven to reveal many subliminal messages in its story lines. Along with these subliminal messages, come hidden messages and images that add an intriguing element to the movies. (For example, Mrs. Potts and Chip from Beauty and the Beast appear in Tarzan.)

“The so-called ‘subliminal messages’ in Disney movies are less important than the explicit messages,” said Janet Wasko, a professor at the University of Oregon and author of Understanding Disney: The Manufacture of Fantasy. “Which affect far more people than the relatively few hidden images.”

In this ever-progressive time period that we’re in, there has been a good amount of speculation around the historical inaccuracies and misrepresentation of social groups in the Disney classics.

The Disney Princess movies were my favorite growing up. Recently, I have noticed the real message that they send audiences.

The stories of the princesses are all one in the same. The ladies play the coy role of the “damsels in distress” and wait for their prince to come and save them, and live “happily ever after.” To the young children watching these movies, Disney is sending the message that if you’re ever in a bad situation, just wait for your prince to come along and whisk you away.

Life is not about waiting for your prince to come to your rescue. Life is about making things happen for yourself and being happy with your own accomplishments, not relying on others to create your own happiness.

In the movie Brave, the main character Merida seemed to go against the Disney Princess mold with her untamed curls and rebellious attitude. However, when Disney celebrated her coronation, making her an official Disney Princess, it released a completely revamped and sexualized version of the cartoon princess. Now, Merida is curvier, more voluptuous and appears to be wearing makeup.

“The bow-wielding Merida of Brave — a character who explicitly fought against the princess world her mother tried to push her into in the film — was becoming what she hated, and inadvertently revealing the enormously problematic nature of Disney’s Princess line,” Monika Bartyzel said in an article on theweek.com.

In the company’s latest animated film, Frozen, there are seemingly more progressive messages and views. One of the main characters, Elsa, shows that she is going to do what makes her happy at the end of the day and doesn’t need anyone to do it for her. She says it herself in the hit song, Let It Go, “I don’t care/ What they’re going to say/ Let the storm rage on/ The cold never bothered me anyway.”

This newest Disney movie empowers women for once, rather than portray them as dependent people searching for their man.

“Disney’s Frozen has unleashed a new breed of princess that is adorably awkward and incredibly relatable,” Courtney Willett, assistant variety director for The Red & Black, said in an article. “Princess Anna represents a more realistic standard for young girls to emulate. Her overall goofy persona is both humorous and refreshing in comparison to the demure and impossibly perfect princesses of the past.”

There is a good amount of value in Disney’s movies. However, it is important to take the messages in them with a grain of salt.

As spring term starts up, it seems that summer is finally within reach. College students across the country are trying to get their summer plans in line, including everything from vacations to jobs.

A conflict that many students encounter is whether they should apply for paid jobs over the summer or pursue an internship. In a lot of cases, internships are unpaid. However there are plenty that provide wages. If you’re lucky, an internship may offer college credit upon completion as well.

As “starving college students,” earning money over the summer is essential for school year survival. Often students are torn between the desire to gain experience in their career field and the reality of their financial situations. Earning money over the summer is something that, for some people is not a question.

Internships can be the connections that get your foot in the door for your career later on down the road. A summer job can help with yearly expenses and tuition.

So what is better? Should students pursue internships or jobs over the summer? Well, it is different for every situation.

“Carefully consider your ultimate goals before accepting a position, paid or unpaid,” Vice President of Ameriprise Financial Suzanna de Baca said in an article on huffingtonpost.com. “A paid internship may be your goal but if jobs are few and far between in the industry you want to enter or if you’re looking for a job at a specific company, an unpaid internship may be one of the best ways to network into the business.”

There are many factors that come into play when weighing the situation. A large factor that one must consider is their financial situation. If you know that you need to have an income over the summer to help with tuition or other expenses, then it would be best to consider either a paid job or a paid internship. An unpaid internship that counted towards college credit also has its financial benefits. When you think about it, the credits that one would earn could save them hundreds of dollars of tuition fees that they would have spent to earn those credits at their university.

“Internships can often provide excellent work experience in a field or with an organization that is hard to break in to,” Karen Chopra said in an article on washingtonpost.com. “They can facilitate networking by exposing you to a new group of people, but only if you actually take advantage of the exposure to make connections.”

The connections and networking opportunities that sometimes can come with an internship are priceless.

“Sometimes students have to take on a part time job not related to their career while doing an unpaid internship,” Mandy Devereux said, Associate Director at the UO Career Center. “We advise students to spend even a few hours a week volunteering for someone at an internship because you want to get the experience in the area you want to grow in. Sometimes you have to get creative.”

When weighing your options, think about what is most beneficial to you in the long run. Whether that is contributing to tuition with the money you make at your summer job, or laying the groundwork for your future career path at an internship, do only what is best for your situation. Remember there are ways to pursue both, and the UO Career Center has many career specialists on hand to help students put together the pieces of their puzzle.

The Career Center phone number is (541) 346-3235 or they may be contacted at career@uoregon.edu.

This Creative Commons photo was provided by Cara, a Flikr user.

A number cannot define a person’s worth. We are more than a test grade and sometimes society seems to forget that.

“Your college GPA is a combination of several factors but isn’t really the best indicator of how you’ll perform in the working world,” Becky Johns of PR Daily said in an article. “We all know that person with perfect grades who struggles socially or that person who couldn’t care less about school, but seems to have no trouble making great things happen in their life. Book smarts and street smarts are very different things.”

College comes with a lot of opportunities outside of an academic setting. Students that are involved in numerous extracurricular activities and internships run the risk of having lower grade point averages due to their other commitments. Fraternity and Sorority Life has grade requirements that its members must meet in order for them to uphold good standing.

To make the assumption that people are less intelligent because they have a lower GPA is unfair.

Numbers defined us when we were applying for college. On a college application, we were represented by test scores and cumulative GPA, and in some cases, there was no personal essay or opportunity to list extra curricular activities we were involved in.

I didn’t have an outstanding grade point average from my college prep high school, but I was extremely involved in activities outside of the classroom and worked as well. During the application process, I was upset by the fact that some universities did not give me the chance to share my involvement. I took away more from the activities and real world experiences than I did from most of the classroom work. While overextending myself outside of the classroom did make it harder for me to keep my grades up, I would not change a single thing looking back on my past.

I’m not saying GPAs aren’t important, or that maintaining good grades doesn’t matter in college. After all, academics are the main reason why you’re there.

A college GPA is usually most important for students wishing to continue on to graduate school after college.

Susan Adams of forbes.com says that some employers do, in fact, care about your grade history. The companies that would expect to see a GPA on a resume would be larger companies rather than smaller ones. (forbes.com).

However, employers may take your college GPA into account if you choose to pursue a career in the field of your major directly out of college. If you maintain a strong GPA, it might just be the thing that gives you the edge against other candidates.

According to an article on campusexplorer.com, “If you plan on entering the job market immediately after graduation, it is advisable to list your GPA on your resume – that is assuming it is a respectable number. Employers may take into consideration a student’s GPA as they are weeding through stacks of resumes.”

An article on youturn.com argues that previous experience in a work setting is almost necessary for a student to acquire a job right out of college. Blank resumes are more of a red flag than a low GPA.

So, what is more important: a high GPA or real world experience?

One is not more important than the other, in my mind. However, I think that it is important that we do not look at one as more useful or beneficial than the other.

Well it’s here.

Dead week is over and finals are upon us.

It’s too easy to let this time get the best of you, whether it’s the late nights, abnormal sleeping patterns, stress … the list goes on. Your body is a machine and needs all of its parts to work together in order to be successful. During this time of testing, it is important to make sure you maintain your health — both mentally and physically. If this is something you have a tendency to struggle with take this advice from the experts, as well as those who have been there before.

1. Put sleep first.

I know what you’re thinking: “Yeah, right…” But seriously, when you’re sleep deprived everything else tends to go downhill. Ask yourself: will staying up until 2 a.m. really give you that much of an advantage on your test the next day? Going through the day groggy due to lack of sleep will not allow you to perform to your full potential on the exam. We need six to eight hours of sleep. “Lack of sleep increases stress physically, emotionally and mentally,” Jude Kehoe, a meditation instructor at the University of Oregon Health Center, said in an email. “Research has shown that students who go to bed at the same time every night and wake up at the same time every morning do better academically. Your brain needs time to organize, sort and store information (among other things) from the day before.”

2. Eat balanced meals.

As cliché as it is, breakfast is the most important meal of the day. It’s that little kick  your body needs in the morning to get the wheels turning. Most days it is hard to set aside time to sit down and have breakfast, so have your protein bars on deck. In an article on campusexplorer.com, registered dietician Kristi King suggests students avoid caffeinated foods and beverages containing high amounts of sugar, as well as greasy or fried foods.

3. Exercise.

This may seem like the last thing on your to-do list for the week, but it is crucial for successful academic performance. Even something as little as a walk across the bridge to Autzen Stadium will work to your benefit. Kelci Lucier of usnews.com makes a good point: “You’re in college to learn how to live an educated, examined life, so start simply and realize how important physical health is to your academic success.”

4. Make a list.

During such a hectic time it is easy for things to get lost in the shuffle. Whether it’s an online homework assignment or writing a paper — anything can slip through the cracks. Another tip is to prioritize your tasks, which will make completing them a lot easier. Breaking larger projects down to a series of goals will also help (and make you feel like you’re getting more done).

5. Set aside time to do a non-school related activity.

Whether you’re listening to music, playing video games or surfing the Internet, taking some time for yourself to relax and do something you love will help take your mind off exams. The University of Oregon counseling center website suggests that you take a walk outside, read a book, watch a movie or even take a bubble bath.

The University of Oregon is filled with resources and people that want to help make your life easier during stressful times. The University Counseling and Testing Center has a great webpage to help students and faculty members cope with stress. You can also make appointments to meet with a counselor if needed.

“Why can’t I look like that?”

It’s a question we’ve all pondered from time to time. In a culture consumed by its media, the pressure to “look good” is something that is always hanging over our heads.

It is hard to remember that those perfectly bronzed and chiseled models are often photoshopped versions of the real thing. I challenge you to find a living and breathing human that doesn’t have blemishes on his or her face or who is perfectly toned and tan all year round.

Advertisements intentionally target the desires and insecurities of the consumers in their campaigns to suck the buyer into purchasing the product that will supposedly correct these natural human flaws. This is clearly an effective strategy, especially for cosmetic companies. You really can’t blame them, though. This is a great plan, but they should not feature photoshopped models in their ad campaigns if they are going to do this.

Show us what the product really does, not how well your computer software can manipulate the model’s appearance.

This year lingerie brand Aerie released the “Aerie Real” campaign in which the company proudly chose not to retouch the models in its advertisements. What you see is what you get, and I love the idea of that. The photos in the ads show healthy looking girls (for once) with real blemishes, curves and tattoos.

“They’re still models, they’re still gorgeous, they just look a little more like the rest of us,” Juju Chang of Good Morning America said in an interview with the line’s style and fit expert Jenny Altman.

Women are constantly told that they should be skinny, voluptuous and curvy. The funny thing is that these expectations could not contradict themselves more if they tried. The latest thing that society seems to be obsessed with is the “thigh gap.” The theory is that the bigger the thigh gap, the skinnier you are. False. The size of the “gap” is determined by the width of your hips and the shape of your pelvis.

So sorry, ladies, but this one is seemingly out of our control.

Another negative aspect of media that tends to be overlooked is tabloids exploiting celebrities in unflattering swimsuit pictures. I’m sure people feel less than sympathetic for these public figures, but it is such a messed up concept when you really look at it.

The second a celebrity or model steps out of the advertisement or commercial and on to the beach, paparazzi swarm, trying to catch an unflattering glimpse of the star’s body.

When magazines publishing these “real” photos of the stars in a condescending manner, they are sending the message to Americans that if you aren’t toned and skinny, you shouldn’t hit the beach and you sure aren’t worthy of being in a swimsuit.

The reality of it all is that the majority of the images reflect the everyday person. So, according to these magazines, if you’re not retouched and superhuman, you’re just not good enough.

All of these societal pressures have nothing but negative effects on men and women, resulting in eating disorders, insecurities and more.

According to Sky News, in 2008, a group of doctors and psychologists petitioned that digital retouching be banned from advertisements aimed at the 16 years and under demographic due to the increase in eating disorders and dissatisfaction of appearance occurring in adolescents.

To be fair, I think that advertising firms should stop retouching their models and products to make them more appealing to the eye. Instead, they should follow in the footsteps of Aerie and celebrate natural beauty, not digitized beauty.

The Sochi Winter Olympic Games do not sound too inviting so far.

A lot of negative media has come out regarding many practices, policies and orders that have occurred in Sochi and have been brought to light due to the Games.

There were many orders issued by the Russian government, such as the order to kill any stray dogs that were seen on the streets of Sochi. The country had originally hired a company to exterminate all strays, but after multiple complaints from around the world, this plan was canceled and the dogs were collected from the streets and taken to various shelters.

Perhaps the most talked about conflict around the 2014 Sochi Olympic Games is Russia’s policies on the LGBT community.

Barack Obama and other world leaders chose not to attend the Games’ opening ceremony as a political statement. Instead of Barack Obama representing the U.S. as a delegate, he sent Billie Jean King and Caitlin Cahow, two former Olympic athletes who are openly gay.

There have been numerous organized protests taking place all over Russia during the Olympics and during the months leading up to the Games. According to CNN, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) released a statement that the 2014 Winter Olympics would feature designated zones where protesters may rally.

On the first day of the Olympic Games, Russian police arrested four gay rights activists in St. Petersburg.

Russian law prohibits any gay “propaganda” from reaching the hands of minors, which has been a worldwide controversy ever since the law was enacted.

So why does all this even matter?

Yes, equal human rights are extremely crucial around the world, but why is it even an issue at the Olympics? The athletes that attend the Games are there solely to compete, and that is it. There should not be any judgment of the athletes besides on the grounds of their athletic performances. We must ask if there would be so much attention being cast on Russia’s stance on gay rights if the Olympics weren’t taking place there.

After all, there is a time and a place for everything. I am in no way undermining the importance of gay rights, just their relevance to the Olympic Games.

“I’ve avoided most of these questions about it,” Brian Orser, U.S. skating coach, and a gay man, shared with the Washington Post in an interview. “I don’t want to come across as a hypocrite but I also just want to be here for my athletes, just be here doing my job.”

I think that it is hard for people from other countries, especially Americans, to see the intolerance toward the LGBT community in Russia. However, Americans should not be too quick to attack Russia. While many states have legalized gay marriage over the course of the past few years, there are still 33 states that haven’t done so. But, in the United States, intolerance is still not on the same level of that in Russia, regardless of whether same-sex marriage is legal or not.

The Olympics are one of the few instances where members of countries from all over the world are able to come together for an amicable reason. It is important that these Games stay pure of political differences and any other issues that a country might have with another.

Facebook is old news.

If life were a Facebook newsfeed, I’m not even confident that Facebook itself would be on it. Platforms such as Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr and Snapchat have taken the consumer’s interest and are quickly replacing Facebook.

Perhaps it became “uncool” the day that we got a friend request from our parents. I know that I for one vacillated back and forth between confirming and denying my parents’ requests.

Mary Erickson, adjunct instructor at the University of Oregon, asked her students in her Mass Media and Society class if they still participated in Facebook regularly.

“A lot of people are still on Facebook, but more people are dropping it because their parents are online,” Erickson said. “It is definitely on the decline with the younger age bracket.”

For some, Facebook might have been a secret world where your parents weren’t “all up in your business.” Now, they may be even going so far as to “liking” your “business.”

In a Mashable post titled “I’m 13 and None of My Friends Use Facebook,” Ruby Karp shares that having parents on the site can be invasive and ruin the fun.

“All of our parents and parents’ friends have Facebook. It’s not just the fact that I occasionally get wall posts like, ‘Hello sweetie pie!’ But my friends post photos that get me in trouble with those parents.”

Even the company’s CFO David Ebersman revealed that the usage among young teens is in the process of declining.

It’s not just your photos may get you in trouble with your parents. People are being stingier with what they post on their profiles because many employers will search a job candidate on Facebook prior to an interview. No one wants their potential bosses and coworkers catching a glimpse of photos from their college days.

It is important to try to keep a “clean” profile, especially when you’re friends with your grandparents, aunts, uncles and parents.

The social media site seems to be used often for business or school purposes. Its group feature is really helpful for coordinating large groups of people. Creating events on Facebook is helpful in that respect, too. Forgot to get your Spanish partner’s cell phone number before going home to work on a big project? Simply search them on the website and shoot them a message.

Facebook was such a big hit when it first launched because it was one of the first of its kind. The concept of being able to see what all of your friends were doing or what they were saying was a new one, and attracted just about everyone. The film “The Social Network” told the story of the company’s humble beginnings at Harvard University.

“Our society is so consumed by social media because it is an easier way to connect with people,” Erickson said. “I’m in a place in life where a lot of people in my age group are on Facebook because the nature of our schedules don’t always allow for socializing in person.”

Facebook is still alive and well. However, the plethora of social media outlets and devices are causing the younger age brackets to deviate from their once beloved Facebook.

Another reason why other social media platforms are seemingly more appealing is the ability to not be tied to their actual identity. Snapchat and Instagram, for example, do not require a person to reveal their true identity.

USC Annenberg Center for the Digital Future and Bovitz Inc. released a survey in February 2013 which concluded that about one-third of the site’s users will eventually stop using the service within five years.

Facebook is still the top social media site in the world, but it just has more competition and is less popular among the younger crowd.

American society is impressionable, to say the least. We often get caught up in the latest “thing,” whether it is the newest crash diet, popular band or reality television show.

I am not saying that I do not tune in to E! Network every Sunday night at 9 p.m. for the latest “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” episode. I do own the fact that it is my guilty pleasure and I cannot, for whatever reason, seem to lose interest. I do not know what aspect of the show retains my interest and keeps me coming back for more. Maybe it’s the fact that our society thrives and focuses on the daily lives of celebrities. Thousands of Americans every day check PerezHilton.com, or other celebrity gossip blogs, just as frequently as they check their own Facebook pages.

So why is it that we become so enthralled with the lifestyles of the rich and the famous?

Well, for starters, I think that a lot of people tend to live vicariously through these social icons. This doesn’t mean that people want to live the lives that the celebrities are living. Rather, because our lives are so drastically different from those of celebrities that they fascinate us to a heightened extent.

Everyone has a curiosity of how other people live their lives, and since celebrities’ and social figures’ lives are constantly out in the open, we are finally able to see how the other half lives.

Maybe it is the excessive number of tabloids that are produced. Whether they choose to admit it or not, no one can really avoid getting sucked in to the ridiculous headlines on the covers of gossip magazines while waiting in line at the grocery store.

When it comes to loving a celebrity, it is all about perception. In a lot of cases, celebrities tend to make some major mistakes that can lead to them setting bad examples for those who follow them (they are humans, after all), particularly the impressionable youth. A lot of times, people fall in love with the character or personality that the celebrity may play or portray in a role or public office. It is very important for people to remember that just because the person may play a “good girl” image on a television show, it does not mean that they always retain that image in his or her off-screen life.

Arguably, a person that gets so much public attention and is seen as a role model should be more cautious of his or her actions. One name that immediately comes to mind is Justin Bieber. The 19-year-old was recently arrested for a DUI and openly admitted to have smoked marijuana earlier in the day. It is unsettling to see the star do something like this, especially since his primary fan-base is composed of young children and teens.

Just as much as we love to obsess over their fame, we equally love to watch fame icons crash and burn. Take Amanda Bynes’ recent struggles, for instance. The once “it girl” had a tumultuous 2013, and it was all anyone could talk about on Twitter. Her own personal Twitter account was doing all the work, leaving no room for us to wonder if she was on a good path. She randomly lashed out at other celebs, like Drake, via the site. Her fall made her a relevant figure again after taking somewhat of a hiatus following her abrupt announcement in June 2010 that she was retiring from acting.

Celebrities have become a common topic of conversation among all types of people in the country, especially via social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. For example, on Jan. 29, Facebook’s “Trending” feature on its homepage showed that the two most talked about topics on the site were “Justin Bieber Turns Himself in to Toronto Police on Assault Charge” and “Miley Cyrus Teams Up With Madonna.” Facebook is supposed to be a reflection of our lives and friends’ lives, so it really says something when the two most trending topics in our society are celebrity-related.

It is truly strange, if you think about it, that we are so consumed with the lives of other human beings that often have no general relation to our own lives. We are all guilty of it in some respect from time to time. Whether we want to own up to it or not, we’re hooked.

As a child, I loved SeaWorld. But who wouldn’t love a theme park filled with performing dolphins, orcas and other various species of wild sea creatures?

Fast-forward about 10 years.

I am sitting here feeling incredibly guilty for ever paying the price of admission to the park after watching the recently-released documentary “Blackfish.” The film, released last July, documents the unfair and usually inhumane practices of SeaWorld. One does not need to pay incredibly close attention to the film to recognize the blatant disrespect and disregard the amusement park has for its many marine mammals that they hold in captivity.

You can hear the genuine sadness and regret in the voices of the many retired SeaWorld trainers and various staff members in their testimonials featured in the film.

“I guess I feel bad that it took me so long to see SeaWorld’s true colors. I look back and shake my head at how I took them at their word for everything,” former SeaWorld trainer Kimberly Ashdown said. “They have an answer for everything and those answers are a culmination of corporate PR, years of practice and learning how to answer the hard questions.”

Even after the death of a trainer, Dawn Brancheau, SeaWorld did not change its training methods or routines.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has asked that SeaWorld separate trainers from the animals during the live water performances.

Learning that the park would consciously put the animals and the trainers in numerous situations that they were not comfortable with is a chilling realization.

“Safety protocols were in place but we bent the rules constantly. What good are rules if you do not abide by them? The rules are just on paper. For example, they would ‘promote’ trainers to do certain behaviors before an important show just so that the show would be full of all behaviors possible,” Ashdown said. “Jozu (and other animals) would be used even if they were not feeling well … and if you complained about your own personal safety, you went on the sidelines … I went to Shamu — the place management knew I didn’t want to go.”

Naturally, these whales are not violent creatures in the wild. However, what SeaWorld is doing to them is making them violent, aggressive and in some cases deadly.

The truths that were uncovered stung the minds of the crew and viewers alike. Director Gabrielle Cowperthwaite accomplished exactly what she set out to do: raise awareness and spark activism about a topic that has been largely overlooked by the public until the release of this film.

“I think the most disturbing issue for me, that came forth during the first week of shooting the film, was when we learned of the family structure of the Orca, and of how SeaWorld would separate these truly sensitive creatures from their natural groups and force them into small tanks to create their own ‘SeaWorld families,’” “Blackfish“ cinematographer Chris Towey said. “This is devastating to the animals and puts so much undue stress upon them. How anyone, upon hearing this fact, could allow this to continue is beyond me.”

Celebrities have even taken action on the issue by taking to their Twitter accounts speaking out about the cruelties of the corporation.

“I highly recommend all of my fans watch ‪#Blackfish and never go to ‪@SeaWorld again. Used to love that place. Beyond heartbroken ‪#FreeTilly,” Ariana Grande tweeted.

I sincerely hope that the media firestorm that has risen around the documentary isn’t just some fad. Hopefully the pressure from the media and various activist groups around the world will be enough for SeaWorld to change their dangerous and unsafe practices.