tag:theconversation.com,2011:/ca/topics/spectacle-34631/articlesSpectacle – The Conversation2023-10-05T12:34:58Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2135342023-10-05T12:34:58Z2023-10-05T12:34:58ZWhat live theater can learn from Branson, Missouri<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551211/original/file-20230929-29-joncoy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=8%2C17%2C2986%2C1980&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">'The Shepherd of the Hills' has been running for 63 years and is the most performed outdoor drama in the U.S.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/staff-and-visitors-to-the-theatre-for-the-shepherd-of-the-news-photo/1244096062?adppopup=true">Terra Fondriest/The Washington Post via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In summer 2023, the publication American Theatre declared unequivocally that live theater was “<a href="https://www.americantheatre.org/2023/07/24/theatre-in-crisis-what-were-losing-and-what-comes-next/">in crisis</a>” – particularly regional, nonprofit theaters. Writing for The New York Times, Isaac Butler preferred the phrase “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/19/opinion/theater-collapse-bailout.html">on the verge of collapse</a>.”</p>
<p>The numbers are stark. Not only have dozens of theaters across the country <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/23/theater/regional-theater-crisis.html">closed their doors</a> since the COVID-19 pandemic hit in March 2020, but those that are still open have also contracted their seasons massively, <a href="https://www.americantheatre.org/2023/07/24/theatre-in-crisis-what-were-losing-and-what-comes-next/">producing 40% fewer shows than in 2019</a>.</p>
<p>What can regional, nonprofit theaters do to survive?</p>
<p>One place to look for ideas is the tourist town of Branson, Missouri. Scholars and theater critics have ignored this mecca of live entertainment that attracts <a href="https://www.bransontrilakesnews.com/news/local/article_0091efaa-ba7b-11ec-a579-4f4da3995178.html">millions of people a year</a>, largely because of its reputation for cheesy performances and political conservatism.</p>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=XdEcpDYAAAAJ&hl=en">I’m a theater and dance historian</a> at Washington University, a liberal arts institution in a city. My politics differ from that of most Branson residents. But that’s precisely why I am in the process of writing a book about the town’s entertainment industry. In an age of polarization, could I challenge myself to approach the place with an open mind? I expected to feel discomfort; I did not expect to feel envy. In Branson, people really seemed to believe in theater’s power. </p>
<p>And nowhere more so than at <a href="https://www.sight-sound.com/">Sight & Sound</a>, a for-profit Christian theater. On a Wednesday afternoon in May 2023, I joined 2,000 other patrons to watch their performance of “<a href="https://www.sight-sound.com/shows/branson/queen-esther/2023">Queen Esther</a>,” a musical retelling of the biblical story of Hadassah. </p>
<p>In “Queen Esther,” Hadassah adopts the name Esther and conceals her Jewish identity in order to marry the Persian emperor Xerxes. She faces challenges in the royal court and doubts herself. Eventually, she learns to trust in God that she was “<a href="https://www.sight-sound.com/shows/branson/queen-esther/2023">made for such a time as this</a>” and bravely saves the Jewish people from annihilation.</p>
<p>The Old Testament story is not as well known as those of Noah or Moses, nor does the musical feature any celebrity performers. Yet approximately eight times a week, 40 weeks a year, Broadway-sized crowds watch “Queen Esther” in a town of 12,000 people in the Ozark Mountains.</p>
<h2>Embracing the spectacle</h2>
<p>Sight & Sound’s formula is seemingly simple: “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqpDd5EveRo&t=3s.%5D">spectacle meets story</a>.”</p>
<p>In one scene of “Queen Esther,” over a dozen women in bejeweled gowns twirl with lengthy scarves, turning the stage into a hypnotic, swirling sea of color. In another scene, 45 cast members sing from windows and doorways across a 300-foot-wide set that wraps around three sides to immerse the audience in live surround sound. At several points in the show, Xerxes and his men gallop up the aisles on real horses. Members of the royal court also ride a mechanical, full-sized elephant across the stage.</p>
<p>Nonprofit theater has long resisted the siren call of spectacle. For artists who have adopted the theories of cultural critics <a href="https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/adorno/1944/culture-industry.htm">Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer</a>, outlandish, flashy performances reflect cynical pandering to the sensory pleasures of the masses to make money. </p>
<p>But spectacle creates an experience that only live performance can offer: a visual, auditory and even – in the case of the horses in “Queen Esther” – olfactory. The effect transports an audience to another world, drawing people off their couches with the promise that they, too, <a href="https://theconversation.com/whats-behind-the-magic-of-live-music-169343">can become part of an experience to remember</a>.</p>
<p>While some theater owners are beginning to recognize the <a href="https://www.americantheatre.org/2023/07/24/theatre-in-crisis-what-were-losing-and-what-comes-next">value of spectacle</a>, there’s another lesson from Sight & Sound: the value of offering hope that seemingly insurmountable obstacles can be overcome.</p>
<h2>What do audiences really want?</h2>
<p>In the wake of the commingled disasters of recent years – the COVID-19 pandemic, George Floyd’s murder, climate change and an insurrection at the nation’s capitol – university dance and theater departments, as well as nonprofit theaters, have changed their mission statements <a href="https://issuu.com/setc.org/docs/2020_convention_program_-_compressed/18">to include social justice as an explicit aim of their programs</a>. They promise productions that confront racism, homophobia and authoritarianism head-on.</p>
<p>Musicologist Jake Johnson has written about today’s dominant impulse toward “<a href="https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/?id=98wxb9ky9780252043925">theater to make the present dystopia even more real</a>.”</p>
<p>But theatergoers have not necessarily responded positively. Since 2020, some audiences and critics have complained that theater is <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/05/opinion/saving-american-theater.html">tilting too far toward preachy messages</a>. And when staring out at empty seats, practitioners cannot help but question their faith in theater’s power to effect social change.</p>
<p>Sight & Sound’s success suggests that the problem is less with the message of social justice and more with the approach. </p>
<p>“Queen Esther” is an ancient story of antisemitism, after all. But as Sight & Sound Chief Creative Officer Josh Enck <a href="https://bible2school.podbean.com/e/bringing-the-bible-to-life-through-storytelling-with-josh-enck-episode-34/">explained in a 2022 podcast</a>, the shows seek “not just to inform or educate” but “to inspire” – particularly since “inspiration is at the core of who God is.”</p>
<p>The animatronic elephant lumbering across the stage with a jeweled headdress is not a distraction from the serious business of salvation, but rather a way of unlocking an audience member’s sense of awe and wonder.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/1ain6Ehbe9Q?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">‘Queen Esther’ doesn’t shy away from spectacle.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>People flock to Branson</h2>
<p>Sight & Sound is also earnest, a feature that fell out of favor with high-art theater at the dawn of the 21st century, when the sense that <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1997/03/30/arts/living-with-the-fake-and-liking-it.html?searchResultPosition=1">everything was fake</a> led to productions that dripped with <a href="https://www.proquest.com/docview/221355858?pq-origsite=gscholar&fromopenview=true">irony and cynicism</a>. </p>
<p>Today’s compounding sociopolitical crises have shaken the theater world out of complacency. But in the fierce urgency to confront the world’s myriad problems, earnestness is still seen as simplistic, naïve or even duplicitous. </p>
<p>Sight & Sound expanded to Branson in 2008 because its earnest approach fit with the town’s long-standing entertainment industry, which began back in 1907 with the publication of Harold Bell Wright’s wildly popular novel “<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/4735">The Shepherd of the Hills</a>.” </p>
<p>Tourists flocked to see the real-life inspirations for the characters, and local residents often obliged by performing versions of themselves. In 1959, the Mabe family began performing the <a href="https://www.ebay.com/itm/275645520703">Baldknobbers Hillbilly Jamboree</a> to provide nighttime entertainment to tourists who had come to boat and fish during the day. The following year, an outdoor drama based on Wright’s novel opened, as did a theme park called <a href="https://www.ksmu.org/local-history/2012-06-05/silver-dollar-city-the-cavernous-past-of-a-modern-theme-park#stream/0">Silver Dollar City</a> that recreated an 1880s Ozark village.</p>
<p>Over time, dozens of theaters were built, featuring variety shows that combined country, gospel, Broadway tunes, comedy, magic tricks, dance numbers, acrobatics and even animal acts. Musicals that fit Branson’s brand of family-friendly, Christian entertainment also popped up along its strip. Many shows featured singers such as <a href="https://andywilliams.com/">Andy Williams</a>, whose greatest hits had been released decades earlier. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Man wearing purple shirt holding microphone singles out an elderly woman in the crowd." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551235/original/file-20230929-23-vvw3up.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551235/original/file-20230929-23-vvw3up.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551235/original/file-20230929-23-vvw3up.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551235/original/file-20230929-23-vvw3up.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551235/original/file-20230929-23-vvw3up.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551235/original/file-20230929-23-vvw3up.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551235/original/file-20230929-23-vvw3up.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Singer Tony Orlando serenades a fan in the audience during a 1994 performance in Branson, Mo.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/tony-orlando-singles-out-a-fan-in-the-audience-while-news-photo/612579126?adppopup=true">Shepard Sherbell/Corbis via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Some of Branson’s performers didn’t qualify as stars at all. “<a href="https://bransonregister.com/the-journey-of-the-incredible-shoji-tabuchi-in-his-own-words/">The Shoji Tabuchi Show</a>,” arguably the most popular in town during the 1990s, was headlined by a fiddler who had never produced an original hit song or been featured on the radio. </p>
<p>Branson performers – whether acrobats or singers or comedians – shared something in common: earnest messages of appreciation for their audiences, whom they greeted in person during intermissions and after shows.</p>
<h2>Ignoring the sneers</h2>
<p>In 1991, the Ozark Mountain tourist destination burst onto the national scene when it was featured on “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qac5fPGgemY&t=14s">60 Minutes</a>.”</p>
<p>Reporters from the coasts flocked to the Ozarks in disbelief after the segment aired. Wasn’t America supposed to be obsessed with youth and celebrity, not aging or unknown singers? And wasn’t earnestness merely hucksterism in disguise to dupe audiences into parting with their hard-earned money?</p>
<p>The coastal critics scrambled to come up with the wittiest insults. One called Branson a “<a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/oa_monograph/chapter/71692/pdf">cultural penal colony</a>.” Another preferred the term “<a href="https://www.proquest.com/docview/232143243/AA935A7F9CBA4905PQ/1?accountid=15159">Town of the Living Dead</a>.” Even “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2El5ttjM9I">The Simpsons</a>” couldn’t resist piling on.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Z2El5ttjM9I?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">‘My dad says it’s like Vegas – if it were run by Ned Flanders.’</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The show went on, undeterred: In 2021, <a href="https://www.bransontrilakesnews.com/news/local/article_0091efaa-ba7b-11ec-a579-4f4da3995178.html">a record-breaking 10 million people</a> came to visit.</p>
<p>While not every show has survived the COVID-19 pandemic, clearly some performers are doing something right. Comedians like Stephen Colbert have continued <a href="https://youtu.be/IM4Qy1dkAVo?feature=shared&t=152">to mock Branson</a>, but live theater is in too much of a crisis to dismiss the town’s approach. </p>
<p>The town demonstrates that theater can return to the mission of imagining new, better worlds onstage and inviting audiences to join in that mission with them. It can be the stuff of spiritual transcendence – even if it grabs your attention by galloping down the aisle on a horse.</p>
<p><em>This article was updated to clarify that Shoji Tabuchi never produced a record featuring songs that he had written.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213534/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joanna Dee Das does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Comedians like Stephen Colbert might mock the entertainment mecca, but live theater is in too much of a crisis to dismiss the town’s formula of spectacle meets story.Joanna Dee Das, Associate Professor of Dance, Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. LouisLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1533762021-01-25T13:30:41Z2021-01-25T13:30:41ZStrange costumes of Capitol rioters echo the early days of the Ku Klux Klan - before the white sheets<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/380221/original/file-20210122-13-1bfdan7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=6%2C20%2C4537%2C2984&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Fringe groups have long understood that capturing the public's attention is the best way to spread their views.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/piece-of-graffiti-art-depicting-the-washington-capitol-news-photo/1295805725?adppopup=true">Karwai Tang/WireImage via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>After the riots at the Capitol, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/capitol-rioter-horned-hat-gloats-feds-work-identify-suspects-n1253392">images</a> of Jacob Chansley, who’s been dubbed the “QAnon Shaman,” were <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/07/us/insurrection-capitol-extremist-groups-invs/index.html">splashed across news</a> outlets.</p>
<p>Chansley’s outlandish costume – consisting of American flag-themed face paint, a hat made of bison horns and coyote skins, a shirtless, tattooed torso and brown pants – was met with fascination and ridicule. </p>
<p>Given the outrageous nature of his garb, it might be easy to dismiss Chansley and the others wearing costumes or uniforms at the Capitol as silly or unhinged outliers. </p>
<p>However, after spending the last decade <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=vvv4XfkAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">studying the rhetoric</a> of organized racist groups in the United States, I know how outfits that look harmless and eccentric can actually have an insidious effect. In fact, costumes and uniforms have played a central role in the appeal of extremist groups throughout the history of the country.</p>
<h2>The triumph of the spectacle</h2>
<p>For many extremist groups, a primary goal is to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2885.2012.01415.x">spread their group’s ideology</a> to the mainstream public. In order to accomplish this, groups need to gain as much widespread recognition as they can. </p>
<p>Costumes and uniforms are a form of spectacle that attract attention.</p>
<p>While most people recognize the infamous hood and white robes of the 1920s Klan, early Klan costumes were homemade, individualized and much more bizarre. </p>
<p>In the Reconstruction-era Ku Klux Klan, “<a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Fiery_Cross.html?id=6O_XYBMhNYAC">imagination was encouraged</a>” in the creation of costumes by members, who competed to create the most “outrageous outfit.” </p>
<p>Historian Elaine Parsons notes that early Klan costumes <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Ku_Klux/Gl60CAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=the+birth+of+the+klan+during+reconstruction&printsec=frontcover">were composed of</a> animal skins, horns, conical hats and gowns featuring a range of colors and patterns. Modeled after garb from carnivals and Mardi Gras traditions, the spectacle and performance of early Klan costumes helped to spur the <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/3659969">swift growth of the group</a>, which an 1884 history of the Klan described as “<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/31819">a wave of excitement, spreading by contagions</a>.”</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="An 1871 engraving depicts a group of Klansmen surrounding a man on his knees with a rope around his neck." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/380219/original/file-20210122-19-19dy2i3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/380219/original/file-20210122-19-19dy2i3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380219/original/file-20210122-19-19dy2i3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380219/original/file-20210122-19-19dy2i3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380219/original/file-20210122-19-19dy2i3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=637&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380219/original/file-20210122-19-19dy2i3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=637&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380219/original/file-20210122-19-19dy2i3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=637&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Early Ku Klux Klan outfits had a carnival-like quality to them.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/political-cartoon-in-which-ku-klux-klansmen-threaten-to-news-photo/640486525?adppopup=true">Library of Congress</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>And it is no coincidence that the revival of the Klan in the 1920s <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2015/02/08/383279630/100-years-later-whats-the-legacy-of-birth-of-a-nation">was in part popularized</a> by the costumed Klansmen portrayed in the blockbuster film “Birth of a Nation.” </p>
<p>Like the early Ku Klux Klan, the <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2020/10/27/what-you-need-know-about-qanon">viral spread of the QAnon conspiracy theory</a> has been driven through spectacle. Chansley admitted as much. He has commented that his costume <a href="https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/arizona/2021/01/06/arizona-qanon-supporter-jake-angeli-joins-storming-u-s-capitol/6568513002/">gets people’s attention</a>, which then gives him the opportunity to spread the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/article/what-is-qanon.html">tenets of the conspiracy theory</a>: that the world’s governments and banks are run by secret rings of Satan-worshiping pedophiles that manage child sex-trafficking organizations. </p>
<p>Other members of the movement are keenly aware of how their clothing can work to influence others. </p>
<p>Doug Jensen, the man seen in <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/10/politics/doug-jensen-capitol-hill-police-officer/index.html">a viral video</a> at the head of a mob chasing a police officer through the Capitol building, <a href="https://cbs2iowa.com/news/local/iowa-man-charged-in-capitol-riot-says-he-chased-officer-so-qanon-would-get-the-credit">said in an interview</a> that he purposefully positioned himself leading the charge wearing a “Q” shirt so that “Q” could “get the credit.” </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Jensen in a black hat and black t-shirt leads a mob of riotors." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/380224/original/file-20210122-13-1drg3py.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/380224/original/file-20210122-13-1drg3py.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380224/original/file-20210122-13-1drg3py.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380224/original/file-20210122-13-1drg3py.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380224/original/file-20210122-13-1drg3py.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380224/original/file-20210122-13-1drg3py.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380224/original/file-20210122-13-1drg3py.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Douglas Jensen confronts police in the U.S. Capitol wearing a ‘Q’ shirt.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/PicturesoftheWeekPhotoGallery-NorthAmerica/5213ab83f87f407ca74c1c84500ad43b/photo?Query=capitol%20AND%20breach&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=1239&currentItemNo=95">Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP Photo</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Costumes and community</h2>
<p>Costumes and uniforms in extremist movements serve a second purpose: fostering community among members. </p>
<p>While Klan costumes became more homogeneous in the early 20th century, the white hood and robes did more than conceal the wearer’s identity. They also created a sense of “<a href="https://wwnorton.com/books/9781631493690">magnetism and prestige</a>” through group secrecy. One ritual of membership involved other members lifting their masks after new recruits joined.</p>
<p>In the era of the internet, costumes and uniforms help groups construct community in a different way. </p>
<p>Most organized extremist groups in the United States primarily communicate in anonymous online spaces, and members are often separated geographically. </p>
<p>For these reasons, costumes, uniforms and symbols on clothing can act as physical indicators of group unity. This can work to <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/2021/01/decoding-hate-symbols-seen-at-capitol-insurrection/">bring divergent groups together</a> – such as via a MAGA hat – or to denote a belief in a specific ideology, like patches with the QAnon motto “WWG1WGA,” an abbreviation for “Where We Go One, We Go All.”</p>
<p>To be sure, there are ways in which costumes and uniforms do more than simply operate as identifiers. </p>
<p>Hitler’s Nazi party believed that mass gatherings gave attendees a “<a href="https://search.proquest.com/docview/1291660995?fromopenview=true&pq-origsite=gscholar">sense of being protectively surrounded by a movement</a>,” with the uniformed guard creating “a tendency to place the center of authority in the Nazi party.” In other words, because people often associate uniforms with legitimacy or power, the use of uniforms can help extremist groups persuade people that they should be trusted. </p>
<h2>A higher cause</h2>
<p>With its costumes, the Reconstruction-era Klan liked to perpetuate the legend that its members were <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Fiery_Cross/6O_XYBMhNYAC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=the+fiery+cross&printsec=frontcover">the ghosts of Confederate soldiers</a>. However, the Klan of the 1920s drew heavily upon religion in framing its mission as a holy cause. </p>
<p>One of the most violent Mississippi chapters of the Ku Klux Klan believed their members were chosen by God to conduct a <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvs32rk6">holy war</a> against the civil rights movement. Psychologist Wyn Craig Wade has noted how the “<a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Fiery_Cross.html?id=6O_XYBMhNYAC">act of donning the costume was often recounted as ‘a holy experience’</a>” by members of the Ku Klux Klan.</p>
<p>It should be no surprise, then, that today’s racist and extremist groups have also used this tactic. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22d6tRXxVeg">In describing the meaning of his costume</a>, Chansley notes QAnon is engaged in a “war of a spiritual nature” and that his costume represents his status as a “light occultic force of the side of God” necessary to defeat an unseen, omnipotent force of evil. Some contemporary neo-Nazi and racist groups incorporate <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/17/world/europe/vikings-sweden-paganism-neonazis.html">Norse symbolism and mythology</a>, while others, following the Klan, use Christianity to frame their racist ideology as righteous or divine.</p>
<p>Although costumes cannot tell us the entire story of a group or movement, they can provide a window into understanding how the groups and movements form and how their ideologies are spread. </p>
<p>While they never need to be entertained, neither should they be ignored.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/153376/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kenneth Ladenburg does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>For many extremist groups, a primary goal is to spread their ideology. Costumes and uniforms – even ridiculous ones – are a form of spectacle that can garner attention and interest.Kenneth Ladenburg, Instructor of English, Arizona State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/743562017-03-30T02:16:28Z2017-03-30T02:16:28ZWill Trump continue to pull from a pro wrestling playbook?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/160354/original/image-20170310-19234-1p273ue.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Donald Trump and WWE wrestler Bobby Lashley shave the head of CEO Vince McMahon during Wrestlemania 23 in 2007.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Bellator-Lashley-Mixed-Martial-Arts/cf667102214b4d30ac34e8a6f6617359/9/0">Carlos Osorio/AP Photo</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>During a panel at Harvard on March 7 on press and the presidency, political journalist Jessica Yellin <a href="https://youtu.be/SccJSSLCU9w?t=20m59s">described</a> Donald Trump’s conflict with the press as “WWF, media edition: In one corner, Donald Trump, defending the anti-institutionalist position, fighting the elites. In the other corner, the media, defending their honor. We all know conflict does well with readers, with viewers.” </p>
<p>Yellin’s reference to World Wrestling Entertainment (the WWE, formerly known as the WWF) points to something deeper: the striking parallels between Trump’s political style and professional wrestling.</p>
<p>His connections to professional wrestling run deep, and, even if he isn’t consciously drawing from the professional wrestling playbook, at the very least he intuitively understands its performative power – its ability to enrapture audiences, tell a story and dominate headlines. </p>
<p>As a scholar who researched professional wrestling, I saw, in Trump the candidate – with his bombastic rhetoric and bravado – a distinctly pro-wrestling style. But now that he has transitioned from campaigning into an actual leadership role, can it translate into legislative action? Can he be a showman who also establishes legitimacy, builds alliances and delivers the goods? </p>
<h2>Trump’s wrestling ties</h2>
<p>In professional wrestling, two (or more) opponents stage a violent fight in front of paying spectators. Unlike competitive sports, pro wrestling is premised on telling the best story. As a performer it doesn’t matter if you win; what matters is the strength of the emotional response you generate from fans. </p>
<p>Matches are typically fought between a good guy (in wrestling parlance, a “baby-face” or “face”) and a bad guy (“heel”). Characters and storylines commonly revolve around age-old scripts about injustice, vengeance and good triumphing over evil – with violence always celebrated as a means to resolve conflict.</p>
<p>The American understanding of pro wrestling has come to be synonymous with the <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/chrissmith/2016/07/12/ufc-vs-wwe-how-much-more-is-real-fighting-worth/#3043d27e50f0">highly profitable</a> and powerful World Wrestling Entertainment Corporation. The publicly-traded business, <a href="https://sports.vice.com/en_us/article/jess-mcmahon-boxing-promoter-and-sire-of-the-wwe">founded by Jess McMahon</a> in the early 1950s, produces televised live events that are broadcast to millions of homes around the world year-round. </p>
<p>Trump doesn’t simply possess a performative style that resembles those of pro wrestlers. For years he’s been connected with WWE and has actually <a href="https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2669447-donald-trump-a-history-of-the-presidential-candidates-involvement-with-wwe">participated in several of their shows</a>. </p>
<p>Atlantic City’s <a href="http://www.wwe.com/shows/wrestlemania/4/venue">Trump Plaza</a> hosted WrestleMania IV and V. In 2007 he performed in WrestleMania 23, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NsrwH9I9vE">attacking WWE CEO Vince McMahon</a> in the “Battle of the Billionaires.” Two years later, he reemerged in a storyline in which <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgPD21FGdP8">he claimed to have bought Raw</a>, WWE’s Monday night program, from McMahon, setting off another “feud” between the two. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Stone Cold Steve Austin unleashes his signature ‘stone cold stunner’ on Trump in 2007.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>His close ties to pro wrestling are such that <a href="http://thehill.com/policy/finance/317149-senate-panel-approves-trump-pick-to-lead-sba">he picked Linda McMahon</a>, the wife of Vince McMahon and the former CEO of WWE, to lead his administration’s Small Business Administration. </p>
<h2>A WWE campaign</h2>
<p>Trump’s campaign kickoff certainly had a WWE feel to it. </p>
<p>On June 16, 2015, with Neil Young’s “Rockin in the Free World” blaring, he descended an escalator at Trump Tower before a crowd of onlookers – <a href="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/donald-trump-campaign-offered-actors-803161">some paid</a> – who flashed their cellphone cameras and waved signs. </p>
<figure>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Trump announces his presidency in 2015 at a staged event at Trump Tower.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The stage was smaller, and there weren’t any pyrotechnics, but the parallels were unmistakable. And after the opening bell, it was one brash pugilistic move followed by another.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">WWE wrestler Kurt Angle enters the ring prior to a championship bout against The Undertaker.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>He dispatched soundbite slogans and 140-character tweets that reduced complex groups and issues into simplistic stereotypes and remedies (“Build That Wall,” “Lock Her Up,” “Drain the Swamp” and, most famously, “Make America Great Again!”). Like the catchy slogans of wrestling stars – “You’re fired!” (Vince McMahon), “Rest in Peace!” (The Undertaker), “Know Your Role and Shut Your Mouth!” (The Rock) – the phrases can be easily remembered, even emblazoned on <a href="https://www.lasatee.com/products/drain-the-swamps-t-shirt?utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=googlepla&gclid=CKm6-vaZ6NICFZaKswodCecFlA">T-shirts</a>, <a href="http://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1427/9954/products/H4-R_1024x1024.jpg?v=1486064096">hats</a> or <a href="http://static.politico.com/27/3d/18ff1c914adba433756f2038d6ff/lockherup-gty.jpg">signs</a>.</p>
<p>During a rally in New Hampshire, Trump took a page directly out of the pro-wrestling playbook, working the crowd with an interactive call-and-response. Feigning the constraints of political correctness, <a href="http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2016/02/08/donald_trump_ted_cruz_a_pussy.html">he got a supporter to call Ted Cruz a “pussy”</a> for not endorsing torture. </p>
<p>The in-ring action in pro wrestling is often a minor part of the drama. Behind the scenes, extensive backstaging, communications, and props – from in-ring whispers exchanged with opponents to colorful tales of infidelity made by commentators – enhance the drama and optics. A two-hour WWE show often displays less than 15 minutes of in-ring physicality.</p>
<p>Trump utilized similar tactics, like when <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/11/us/politics/bill-clinton-accusers-debate.html">he brought a group of women</a> who had accused Bill Clinton of infidelity to one of the debates.</p>
<p>His January press conference – which was supposed to allay concerns about his involvement in the family business – was another command performance. <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2017/01/trump-press-conference-paid-staffers-media-233496">He enlisted paid staffers</a> to applaud his answers, <a href="https://www.thehill.com/homenews/administration/313777-trump-berates-cnn-reporter-for-fake-news">attacked a CNN reporter</a> (calling the network’s coverage “fake news”) and covered a table with <a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/politics/2017/01/12/what-was-those-folders-donald-trump-press-conference/BVq5qgRjAKk2rpICgQEOTN/story.html">stacks of folders</a> that were purportedly brimming with important business documents. </p>
<p>Finally there’s the “us vs. them” dynamic – which Jessica Yellin alluded to – that became central to Trump’s style and appeal. He identified and tapped into a strand of voter malaise – <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/fixgov/2016/11/28/middle-americas-malaise/">especially among whites</a> – that few others saw, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vST61W4bGm8">formulating a basic storyline</a> that resonated: He was the underdog out to exact revenge on the powerful establishment – the political, business and media elites who had sold out the interests of the little guy in their embrace of trade deals, corruption and open borders.</p>
<p>Trump, on the other hand, would be their <a href="http://1v1d1e1lmiki1lgcvx32p49h8fe.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/GettyImages-632198430-960x540.jpg">fist-pumping</a> champion.</p>
<h2>What happens when the show’s over?</h2>
<p>Blurring the line between truth and fiction has always been at the heart of pro wrestling. Just like moviegoers, fans know that it’s an act. But for the sake of being entertained, they’re willing to suspend disbelief. </p>
<p>It worked in Trump’s campaign, but can this style succeed during a presidency? <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-presidents-credibility-1490138920">It’s difficult for a leader to maintain legitimacy</a> when he’s repeatedly caught in lies, whether it’s <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jan/22/trump-inauguration-crowd-sean-spicers-claims-versus-the-evidence">the size of his inauguration crowd</a> or <a href="http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2017/feb/08/donald-trump/donald-trump-wrong-murder-rate-highest-47-years/">the homicide rate being at an all-time high</a>. </p>
<p>Moreover, some early decisions have directly contradicted earlier rhetoric. With Cabinet picks that <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/donald-trumps-14-billion-cabinet/">have accumulated more than US$15 billion in wealth</a>, it’s difficult to see how Trump will “drain” the D.C. “swamp” of special interests. </p>
<p>In the end, actual policy will most likely make or break Trump’s presidency. He must be able to help voters and work with Congress to pass his agenda.</p>
<p>While wrestling stars usually appear invincible on screen, most of the work <a href="https://www.dukeupress.edu/fighting-for-recognition/?viewby=title">is bruising and far from glamorous</a>. Aside from a small cadre of top WWE performers, most pro wrestlers perform for little to no pay in local venues before small crowds of devoted fans. They destroy their bodies, receive little, if any, healthcare and endure grueling schedules.</p>
<p>Although they face little physical danger, politicians also conduct extensive behind-the-scenes work that can be grueling and thankless. Successful politics requires building coalitions, consideration of opposing viewpoints, understanding policy and sitting through numerous meetings. Is Trump willing to put in such work? </p>
<p>The health of American bodies, interestingly enough, has been his biggest leadership test to date. In the weeks after the election, some <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2016/12/27/these-coal-country-voters-backed-trump-now-theyre-worried-about-losing-obamacare/?utm_term=.0c2ebd29404a">Trump voters were surprised</a> to find out that they really might lose their health insurance. Nonetheless, Trump made repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act his first major legislative initiative. The plan – which would have cut the coverage of an <a href="https://www.cbo.gov/publication/52486">estimated 24 million Americans</a> – never even made it to a vote.</p>
<p>One reason could be that Trump and Congress spent only 63 days formulating and debating the legislation, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/health-care-republicans-repeal-obamacare_us_58d81295e4b03787d3598bf6?0r&">compared to the year</a> it took the Obama administration to advance and pass the Affordable Care Act.</p>
<p>While health care has captured headlines, significant threat comes from <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/03/15/us/politics/trump-budget-proposal.html?_r=0">his proposed budget cuts</a>, which will slash environmental, housing, diplomatic, educational and food programs, such as “meals on wheels.”</p>
<p>Like most forms of entertainment, the fans of pro wrestling want to get lost in the drama and yearn to be distracted from everyday life. Performers routinely get injured – <a href="https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2kgca2">and sometimes even die</a> – yet the crowd is safe and removed from the violence. </p>
<p>With Trump, the tables are turned: He’ll likely emerge with his health and finances intact while the crowd bears the risk. If millions of his supporters realize the pain, they will soon be seeing him as a “heel.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/74356/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>R. Tyson Smith receives funding from the American Council of Learned Societies. </span></em></p>As a candidate, Donald Trump – whose relationship with the WWE spans nearly 30 years – emulated the bombastic style of a pro wrestler. As president, it might be doing him more harm than good.R. Tyson Smith, Visiting Assistant Professor of Sociology, Muhlenberg CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/713772017-01-18T12:21:00Z2017-01-18T12:21:00ZWhy America’s most famous circus was destined to fail<p>The announcement that America’s best known and longest running circus, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/14/us/ringling-bros-and-barnum-bailey-circus-closing-may.html">will close in May</a> has been <a href="http://www.peta.org/blog/ringling-bros-its-over/">greeted with glee</a> by <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/animalia/wp/2017/01/15/animal-activists-finally-have-something-to-applaud-at-the-ringling-bros-circus-its-closure/?utm_term=.c42da11c2be3">animal rights activists</a>, who have been trying to shut down the circus, infamous for its exotic animals, for decades. Other more mournful reports <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/ringling-bros-shutdown-the-end-of-the-circus-industry-1484530116">have lamented</a> that the demise of the “Greatest Show on Earth” after 146 years could spell the end of circus.</p>
<p>But circus will, of course, continue. The circus arts go back thousands of years and the demonstration of physical feats is so deeply rooted in the human experience that new forms of circus will continue to be created as old forms die. A look at the history of circus and Ringling’s place within it, however, reveals that its demise was perhaps inevitable from the get go.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/153216/original/image-20170118-3893-pf44dm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/153216/original/image-20170118-3893-pf44dm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=435&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153216/original/image-20170118-3893-pf44dm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=435&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153216/original/image-20170118-3893-pf44dm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=435&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153216/original/image-20170118-3893-pf44dm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=547&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153216/original/image-20170118-3893-pf44dm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=547&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153216/original/image-20170118-3893-pf44dm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=547&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Astley’s Amphitheatre in London, 1808-11.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The modern circus was founded by the former Hussar Philip Astley on London’s South Bank in 1768. Prior to Astley, acrobats, jugglers and clowns could be seen at fayres or on the streets; but Astley brought them together for the first time. Circus spread so rapidly that it became the modern world’s first mass entertainment. In the 1830s, American circuses began to appear in canvas tents, rather than dedicated wooden structures, taking entertainment from town to town and developing a huge audience. The tented circus with its single 42-foot ring became the standard form.</p>
<p>By the late 19th century, travelling performers had gained legitimacy. Having been persecuted as rogues and vagabonds for centuries, some became stars, and fortunes were earned. Marketing owes much to the early circus and military logisticians routinely consulted with circuses on the movement of equipment, people and animals: some <a href="https://kelley.iu.edu/mabert/Recent_Pubs/PIM_2010_No1.pdf">1,000 people</a> toured with Barnum and Bailey’s at its height. Circus was a byword for organisation, not chaos.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/153217/original/image-20170118-3914-15divb3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/153217/original/image-20170118-3914-15divb3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=415&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153217/original/image-20170118-3914-15divb3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=415&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153217/original/image-20170118-3914-15divb3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=415&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153217/original/image-20170118-3914-15divb3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=522&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153217/original/image-20170118-3914-15divb3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=522&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153217/original/image-20170118-3914-15divb3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=522&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘The grand lay-out’, 1874.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">United States Library of Congress's Prints and Photographs Division, pga.01329</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Three rings</h2>
<p>The three ring circus, invented by Ringling founders P T Barnum and William Coup in 1871, was the apogee of this success. Instead of watching a single act, three acts would perform simultaneously in three rings. The biggest stars held the centre ring, overseen by occupants of the most expensive seats, with lesser acts and cheaper seats on either side. “The Greatest Show on Earth”, Barnum and Bailey’s circus vision was soon emulated by others in the newly industrialising cities of the US.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/153218/original/image-20170118-3885-v0syo8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/153218/original/image-20170118-3885-v0syo8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/153218/original/image-20170118-3885-v0syo8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=937&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153218/original/image-20170118-3885-v0syo8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=937&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153218/original/image-20170118-3885-v0syo8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=937&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153218/original/image-20170118-3885-v0syo8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1177&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153218/original/image-20170118-3885-v0syo8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1177&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153218/original/image-20170118-3885-v0syo8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1177&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Barnum Bailey poster, 1900.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But from the perspective of the circus arts, three rings were a mixed blessing. To fill them, the shows had to be spectacular and this required louder and bigger parades, greater risk, larger numbers of people and animals and constant novelty. Wild animals had only moved from the menageries into circus in the mid-19th century and the three rings soon became the home of large troupes of elephants and mixed groups of wild cats. </p>
<p>This brought the opprobrium that eventually undermined the legitimacy of the circus for many. As early as the 1920s, legislation was passed in the UK to regulate the use of animals. And as the animal rights movement grew from the 1970s, so did the criticism of circus and a series of bans from local authorities.</p>
<p>Ringlings withdrew their elephants last year and <a href="http://theolivebranchreport.com/former-ringmasters-take-on-circus-closure/">traditionalists have already blamed</a> the decline in the size of recent audiences on that decision. Indeed, there may be a lesson here for businesses to distinguish between the demands of their customers and those of their critics. The <a href="http://econpapers.repec.org/paper/ucaucapdv/115.htm">evidence suggests</a> that a substantial proportion of the circus going public are attracted by animal acts.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/153214/original/image-20170118-3917-ofdqwr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/153214/original/image-20170118-3917-ofdqwr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153214/original/image-20170118-3917-ofdqwr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153214/original/image-20170118-3917-ofdqwr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153214/original/image-20170118-3917-ofdqwr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153214/original/image-20170118-3917-ofdqwr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153214/original/image-20170118-3917-ofdqwr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Ringling protests.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/perspective/123281019/in/photolist-GZbdUh-5TtHyp-bTWPT-bTUj3-bTR9R-bTR9N-bTUj6-bTJH9-bTR9Q-bTR9M-bTJHa-bTWPU-bTYEu-bTR9P-bTUj4-bTJHb-bTYEt-bTJHc-bTR9S-bTUj5-bTWPV">perspective/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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</figure>
<h2>Animals or artistry?</h2>
<p>But this was not the only irony in the history of the three ring circus. Its focus on spectacle undermined those arts that were quieter and required the development of relationships between artists and audience. The highly skilled acrobatic and musical clowns of the 19th century were replaced by water squirting, paste throwing troupes. Jugglers added ever more objects to their repertoires rather than developing their artistry. Performers in the outside rings had to accommodate their acts to the music and rhythm of the centre. By the 1970s, young American and Canadian performers, inspired by the classical one-ring circus of Europe, rejected all this.</p>
<p>They reinvigorated the single ring circus back home, their New Circus movement later spawning Cirque du Soleil and its many emulators. At the same time, the role that circus arts could play in developing children’s confidence and physical literacy inspired hundreds of circus schools to be founded. From the London Olympic opening ceremony to music videos, from the popular nostalgia of Gifford Circus to the continuing success of Zippos, from social circuses working with children in Afghanistan to those working with migrant communities across Europe, the circus arts continue in many different forms and venues. The 250th anniversary of the modern circus will be celebrated with gusto in 2018.</p>
<p>Like many business forms, the three ring circus existed in tension with the professional practices it housed. In some cases, a new type of business can provide resources, legitimacy and status to those who work in it. In others, the need for grandeur and growth might do damage as well as good and eventually undermine the business itself, even if this takes 146 years.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/71377/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ron Beadle does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>While hugely popular for a time, the advent of the three ring circus invited animal cruelty complaints and led to the demise of more skilled circus artistry.Ron Beadle, Professor of Organization and Business Ethics, Northumbria University, NewcastleLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/708292017-01-05T07:45:44Z2017-01-05T07:45:44ZFrom South India to Trump’s election: the happy marriage of stardom and politics<p>For many in India, Donald Trump’s election victory in the United States wasn’t <a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/surreal-is-merriam-websters-2016-word-of-the-year-w456686%22%22">surreal</a> as much as an uncanny replay of familiar stories, especially for those accustomed to the saga and careers of south India’s film-star politicians.</p>
<p>The issue is fresh in our minds following <a href="http://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/regional/jayalalithaa-passes-away-tamil-nadu-chief-minister-biography-see-pics-3059429/">the recent death of Jayalalithaa Jayaram</a>, the last of the three great actor-turned-politicians of south India.</p>
<p>Jayaram was the chief minister of Tamil Nadu, a state where <a href="http://himalmag.com/the-dravidian-school-of-tamil-cinema/">film personalities have dominated politics</a> since 1967. That was the year former actor <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCABHblTi80%22">Ronald Reagan</a> became the governor of California. Since then, no less than <a href="http://www.loksabhaindia.org/en/cinema-e-politica">five chief ministers of Tamil Nadu</a> have had a film industry connection. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Jayalalithaa Jayaram in the movie Naan, 1967.</span></figcaption>
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<p>In the neighbouring state of <a href="http://www.firstpost.com/bollywood/pawan-kalyan-vs-ntr-jr-how-a-surreal-mix-of-stars-caste-and-politics-has-bloodied-andhra-fandom-2979440.html">Andhra Pradesh</a>, the party established by film star Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao (N.T. Rama Rao or NTR) has been in and out of power since 1983. </p>
<p>NTR openly admitted that he drew inspiration <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2643038?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">from the success</a> of Tamil actor-politician Marudur Gopalan Ramachandran (better known as MGR), who was elected chief minister in 1977.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Tamil TV (Raj TV) pays tribute to the life of MGR.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Anthropologist Francis Cody has said, with reference to the <a href="https://kafila.online/2016/12/07/wrought-of-iron-until-she-was-no-more-jayalalithaas-passing-francis-cody/">star politicians of Tamil Nadu</a>, that “the image, which was once a vehicle of political publicity, has replaced conventional politics in importance”.</p>
<p>We can use the phrase “mediatisation of politics” to describe the larger phenomenon of celebrities taking political office. And it goes far beyond traditional ideas about media images and gullible masses who can’t tell the difference between fact and fiction.</p>
<h2>Mediatisation of politics</h2>
<p>Mediatisation is not about political personalities “looking good” in the media, although <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/why-looks-count-in-politics-1455206193">that too is important</a> and has been so for over half a century. John F Kennedy’s television presence <a href="http://europe.newsweek.com/first-debate-over-presidential-debates-159699?rm=eu">is said</a> to be among the reasons he won the closely fought election against Richard Nixon in 1960. </p>
<p>This does not mean beautiful people inevitably win elections. Or, in today’s context, that Twitter and <a href="https://theconversation.com/misinformation-on-social-media-can-technology-save-us-69264">fake news</a> can make a candidate look bad enough to lose an election. After all, we live in times when <a href="https://theconversation.com/in-a-post-truth-election-clicks-trump-facts-67274">we don’t really believe the media</a>. </p>
<p>There has been a marked shift by film star politicians of south India – anticipated as early as the 1970s – away from looking presentable and, following the classic propaganda model, using print or audio-visual materials to gain the upper hand. </p>
<p>In their different ways, the three actor chief ministers of south India forged new forms of campaigning and governing. Their methods were, above all, performative, and their communication style was exaggerated and theatrical rather than dry and political. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">The first political speech by NTR in 1982.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Today, there is no doubt that this is very effective political communication. And it is predicated on the power of gesture and symbolic actions.</p>
<p>In a spectacle, <a href="http://faculty.georgetown.edu/irvinem/theory/Barthes-Mythologies-Wrestling-1957.pdf">argues Roland Barthes</a>, “what matters is not what [the public] thinks but what it sees.” And what the public sees are signs, he writes, “endowed with an absolute clarity, since one must always understand everything on the spot.” </p>
<p>What did voters see in Trump’s over-the-top campaign? An article in <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/26/opinion/sorry-liberals-bigotry-didnt-elect-donald-trump.html?_r=0">The New York Times</a>, observes, “Much of the white working class decided that Mr Trump could be a jerk … They supported the jerk they thought was more on their side — that is, on the issues that most concerned them.” </p>
<p>What mattered in November 2016 was that sections of the US electorate saw Trump making the right gestures, heard him make the right noises. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">What Trump’s hand gestures say about him, BBC, August 2016.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Barthes, by the way, was writing about wrestling rather than reality television or political campaigns. Nevertheless, the resemblance between all three are unmistakable and Trump had been associated with <a href="http://www.haujournal.org/index.php/hau/article/view/hau6.2.009">all these forms of spectacle</a> even before he kick-started his successful campaign.</p>
<p>Traceable to the expansion of markets for media commodities, this special feature of politics that has now occupied the centre-stage of election campaigns in different parts of the world <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/brexit-trump-le-pen-and-the-rise-of-the-right-a7443241.html">has leaders constantly performing their defiance</a>, anger, or hurt on behalf of a constituency.</p>
<p>Or rather, constituencies are formed partly in response to leaders’ excessive, even laughable performances.</p>
<h2>Spectacle vs political content</h2>
<p>This in itself is not a sign of right-wing ideologies taking over the world, as journalists and academics <a href="https://pages.gseis.ucla.edu/faculty/kellner/essays/2003_Kellner_MediaCrisisDemocracy.pdf">have argued</a>, <a href="https://www.academia.edu/29978753/Seven_Propositions_about_the_election_of_Donald_Trump">pointing</a> to the rise of bigoted leaders in Europe and elsewhere. Although these labels do capture strands of Trump’s campaign, they paint all politicians who have mastered the performative idiom with the same brush.</p>
<p>A notable characteristic of the Trump campaign was its <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trumps-all-spectacle-no-technique-2016-10?IR=T">lack of substantial political content</a>. This was not just because it was bigotry plain and simple but also because it was powered by his performance. And no one can deny that he put up quite a show in his rallies, on television and Twitter – rather than a program of action.</p>
<p>The now-deceased star politicians of south India were populists too and early pioneers of content-light, mediatised campaigns, which had a sound “political logic”, to borrow Ernesto Laclau’s <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Populist-Reason-Ernesto-Laclau/dp/1844671860">description of populism</a>. Laclau argues that the populist need not be committed to any particular ideology. She or he need not even be consistently left, right or centre of anything. </p>
<p>In Trump, we have a textbook example of such leadership: in the past decade he has been – <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/11/07/donald-trumps-got-a-particularly-strange-voting-history/?utm_term=.3638d1a66f8e">serially</a> – a Democrat, a <a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/presidential-campaign/256159-a-look-back-at-trumps-first-run">Reform Party member</a> (and a presidential candidate of this party to boot), an independent and a Republican. Such was his faith in the power of his own performance (and lack of faith in the party system) that even in early 2016, <a href="http://fortune.com/2016/04/03/trump-independent-threat/">he threatened</a> to run as an independent. </p>
<p>What matters in campaigns of this kind is the mediatised act; it is staged, and communicates through gesture. Opinions can always be expressed, changed and recanted.</p>
<p>Trump’s lack of commitment to a concrete program is already the stuff of legend. During the 2016 campaign, the electorate was apparently subjected to no less than “<a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/full-list-donald-trump-s-rapidly-changing-policy-positions-n547801">141 distinct stances on 23 major issues during his bid for the White House</a>.” Herein lies an(other) uncanny resemblance between Trump and a south Indian film-star politician. </p>
<p>In March 1982, the actor NT Rama Rao — who had no political background but who had starred in <a href="http://www.chitramala.in/sr-nt-ramarao-ntr-movies-list-232351.html">roughly 300 films</a> — announced his decision to enter politics. One of his biographers, M.D. Narayana, <a href="https://openlibrary.org/works/OL12107006W/N.T.R._the_man_of_the_masses">suggests</a> that he had no idea what his agenda was going to be. Apparently, he even came up with a name for his party on the spot when quizzed by reporters during his first press conference. His famous populist promises came months after his campaign proved to be a success with the masses. </p>
<p>Perhaps he would have won that election even if he had not released a manifesto. As Amit Shah, president of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which heads the ruling coalition in India, <a href="http://www.deccanherald.com/content/458045/amit-shah-calls-modi-bluff.html">reminded us</a> in early 2015, “election promises are rhetorical expressions (<em>jumla</em>) anyway”. </p>
<p>No doubt Donald Trump would agree. And surely, he may be forgiven if the Mexican wall is not built and Hillary Clinton does not go to jail. Or, for that matter, there’s no cracking of the whip on <a href="http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/uZL6f1YVaRjInUsZRiE6wN/Donald-Trumps-threat-to-Indian-IT-is-all-bluster.html">Indian software companies</a> and <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/02/business/economy/trump-manufacturing-jobs-world-trade-china.html?_r=0">Chinese manufacturers</a>. At least he made the right gestures to sections of the electorate.</p>
<p>What then, can we expect from a leader without a clearly defined program, especially one who rose to power independently of party structures? </p>
<p>The three south Indian star chief ministers proved to be authoritarian and <a href="http://www.amazon.in/Image-Trap-M-G-Ramachandran-Politics/dp/9351500667">their governments</a> had uniformly poor human rights records. At the same time, they came to be associated with populist measures, often with more symbolic than economic value. </p>
<p>In India today, performer-politicians are neither limited to south India nor are they always former celebrities. As for Donald Trump, the early signs are anything but encouraging. But let’s keep our fingers crossed.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/70829/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>S.V Srinivas receives funding from the Azim Premji University to carry out his research. </span></em></p>Performance politics has made Donald Trump the new president of the United States. But this is far from new to south India, where the mixing of cinema and politics has a long history.SV Srinivas, Professor, School of Liberal Studies, Azim Premji UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.