BASE Entertainment’s inelegantly titled “In Dreams – Roy Orbison In Concert: The Hologram Tour” – currently in the midst of 25 North American dates, starting at the Wiltern in Los Angeles on October 2 through November 19 in Clearwater, Fla. – is about to change that perception. The tour is being booked by Paradigm Talent Agency in the U.S. and internationally (ex-Europe) and by CODA in the U.K. and Europe.
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I really disagree with recreating actual human beings for our entertainment. When someone dies, they no longer have any input on whether their image is being used, or what it's being used for. We essentially take their autonomy away from them posthumously. By turning people into holograms, or using CGI images of them in movies, we are telling the world that it is okay to disrespect the dead. Grief is hard, and death is hard, but that does not give us the excuse to reanimate a corpse. These people made amazing music, or movies, or comedy, and they deserve the right to die in peace. Recently, I heard that Robin Williams included a clause in his will that his image could not be reproduced. The fact that he felt the need to specify this is horrifying. To have to doubt whether your estate will respect you and allow the art you made to speak for yourself is appalling to me. No matter how much I may miss these people, it is not fair to them to recreate their face and voices and redistribute the work they have done, or put words into their mouths. It was tragic when Robin Williams died, but if he had not specified what could be done with his image, he might have had a touring comedy show by now, regardless of whether he wanted one or not. To me, holograms should be used to enhance a performance, not create it, especially if the performer doesn't get a say.
This article is about the Roy Orbison hologram tour. I found this article to be a little off-putting. While I appreciated the intent of the creators of the tour—that is, to give people a chance to see Orbison live and have the experience of going to one of his concerts—I find it a little creepy the way they are going about it. Orbison’s children seem to be ignoring one of the basic facts of life, that time passes and things change. It is not possible to actually bring someone back to life no matter how convincing a hologram may be and I think it may do more harm than good to pretend that someone is there when they are, in fact, not. I think that, while he may have wanted to be remembered, there are better ways of keeping his memory alive without creating a full hologram of his form. I do think that the technology being used is incredibly impressive and it is amazing that such detailed and accurate holograms can be created but I think there are better uses of this technology.
I think the concept of a holographic projection of rockstars and other famous people is very interesting, but I’m not sure about the ethicality of it. There are multiple cases of movies where a recently deceased actor is added in via special effects, and this has largely caused outrage among those fanbases. I do not think that this is unjustified, however, I don’t agree with the outrage. I think to an extent, using a recreation of another person is acceptable, however, use for a large period of time without direct consent from a related party, is entering dangerous territory. This is a different case because of the fact that this is organized by Roy Orbison’s children directly. They are likely the best people alive to decide whether or not he would have consented to this. Personally, due to that fact, I would feel comfortable seeing this show, at least more comfortable than if it were organized by someone else.
This continues to remain a very strange concept to me. I don’t really understand what it is people would pay concert prices for, exactly. At that point it’s more about the experience, I guess, but even that is really only a small step up from watching a video of a live concert. I think that they might have put more thought into the concert, in that Roy Orbison was a mysterious figure to begin with and so this form of suedo-live concert suits his personality, but I still think it’s a little creepy and also a bit of a scam. The only thing that I find marvelous about this would be the technology that has allowed for this type of exacted portrayal of a dead person through overlapping, mapping, and projecting a 3D hologram onto a stage. I really think the revenue from the tickets would be to cover the cost of the technology, paying the backup band, and possibly the space rental, if anything, as you’re certainly not paying the headliner. I do wonder, however, if the projections are so good as to alter their portrayal based on the audience’s reactions, or not. To me, this is the best part of being in a concert audience: having a real, live connection with the musicians onstage.
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