E "Eddy" Edwards
. . . is a sub-set of themed entertainment design and development named after paleontologic concept of " Lazarus Taxa," a term that describes the phenomenon of a species of plants or animals that seemed to have become extinct at sometime or another only to appear again later either in the fossil record or happily moving about unaware that reports of its death have been greatly exaggerated. The Lazarus Effect in design and development is the rediscovery (or reuse or repurposing) of a supposedly extinct entertainment or exhibition technique to engage and communicate with a modern audience.
"Lazaruses" in this context can be just about anything from earlier times:
DioramasMiniature buildings and settings
"Non-movie-related, gnericly creepy Day-Glo Horrors" Dark Rides
In a design and development setting, The Lazarus Effect is the mindset and practice of taking a step back in time and in perspective to see if there might not be something worthwhile in showmanship relics that will serve modern needs.
Of course, this presents the question "Why go to the trouble of worrying about these Lazaruses, anyway, hunh? If they were so good, how come they aren't around any more?" This question is usually asked by some dull dink who's . . .
A.) never hear of the particular types of Lazarus at hand and / or . . .2.) has already been sold on (or is selling) some product / service / technology that they think they can convince the client will be ever so much better (especially for the dull dink themselves) than some tired old-fashioned way of achieving the desired whatever
In the same way that a perfectly good business along a country road gets "side tracked" by the interstate (Mr. Bates' place not withstanding), so too do "states-of-the-art" get passed by in the rush of evolving technology and taste. Miniature automatons — oh, so quaint! — get pushed aside by fully-articulated animatronic figures (or, as "fully animated" as shrinking budgets will allow). Painted moving cyclorama shows (great painted screens that unfurled from one reel to another set inside environmental theater settings with special effects a'plenty), get superseded by large-format movies (which, too, are shrinking with the budgetary times).
The reason for seeking out and applying the Lazarus effect ranges from those who are contextually conscientious (finding a technique or medium that works to expand upon the themeing, mirroring the times, technologies, and attitudes of a particular period that relates to the story at hand being told) to the adventurously audacious ("we did it because it's marquee-able, you dink, and cool and like nothing anybody has seen since The Century of Progress Exhibition in '33, that's freaking why! Can I have my THEA now?").
The disadvantages are the need to physically knockdown the dull dinks who are attempting to get the stakeholders ear while at the same time convincing the stakeholders that doing it "old" is not only the newest thing, but the best thing (for some reason, this is especially tough when it really is the best thing. There may also be technical issues to be considered, especially if the desire is to employ period technology to accomplish the feat. Of course, unless the need is to make the period technology a part of the show, there is little from the past that can't be done better and cheaper using current off-the-shelf technology.
So dig out those photo collections of the World's Fairs of the Nineteenth and early Twentieth centuries, grab your well-thumbed show control manufacturer catalog, and create something new from something old. The future will thank you for it.
Not only, but also . . .
The Elvis Taxon: the connection between pretenders to the rock 'n roll throne, misidentified fossils, and 1970's kiosks can make for some interesting discussions around the cluttered charette table . . .
* The non-naughty kind. But, you know, for the European crowd, the other might have its uses. And what a nifty boondoggle that trip would be, hunh?
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