Nerdist: In 2019, Circus Roncalli out of Germany stopped using wild animals in its shows. They were just the latest of many troupes to make that decision. Even the now-defunct Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus began to phase elephants out of its own performances starting in 2015. But thanks to modern technology, you can still create an amazing spectacle even without mistreating innocent creatures.
3 comments:
I think this new take on the traditional animal circus is incredible for a number of reasons beyond just alleviating the inhumane treatment of animals. I have not been to many circus performances as is, but in those which I have seen, I often found that while the animal portions were fascinating and interesting, I was often more drawn to and impressed by the human feats. By replacing the real animals with holograms, the audience still gets to experience the spectacle of the usual animal performances, but they can also portray any animal performing any feats. The audience can still see lions and tigers and elephants, but the audience can also witness giant fish and whales and mythical creatures; all things that would otherwise be impossible to portray on stage. All of this, while also not directly harming any real, living animals. On top of all of this, this is also an excellent demonstration of the advancement of hologram technology. While we may not have interactive, tactile holograms any time in the near future, the use of these large scale holograms projecting these realistic animals is an excellent proof of concept for this advancing technology, and makes me very interested to see how this technology will further develop into the future!
While I am sure the technology is quite recent, this update to the circus world is long overdue. Human enjoyment is never justification to mistreat animals. I have thought for awhile that circuses needed an update, but I never even thought that live animal acts would be replaced with holograms. I think this is incredible and could be used in order to bring awareness to animal issues. I am really interested in how Bluebox and Circus Roncalli’s team created the graphics because they are very impressive. The comment that they almost never had giant fish in old circuses was a surprise in the sense that it used the word almost, it is hard to picture giant fish in a circus that is not employing holograms. Holograms offer opportunity for the fantastical beyond the possible. Circuses are an excellent medium of the fantastical and I am glad to see progress being made with animal rights and respect.
I had the unfortunate event of having to go to a circus when I was in Middle School it was definitely an experience I wish I had forgotten there were very many circus animals that seem to not want to be there at all it was very sad it's very interesting that this German circus used holograms, and very ingenious I think that this technology will be extremely helpful and not just this capacity but in others the lack of real elephants being adopted to a digital interface is genius especially if it looks just as realistic and is as spectacular as the original Act not to mention much more minutes good for the animals. “Circus Roncalli might very well be the way forward for all circuses, even though its really not a hard business decision. It’s far more cost-effective and safe to use holograms. You don’t have to feed animals nor pay for their veterinarian care. But most importantly, it allows the circus to continue to entertain people without mistreating innocent animals. And it’s a lot more fun to clown around when you know that’s not happening.”
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