The Amazing Digital Circus had a huge Thursday crowd. It’s one of those times I was able to talk to my daughter and educate her on the history of the Thursday screening. You see previously, about 20 years ago, you would have seen a theater packed at midnight trying to get a glimpse of a franchise that made them extremely happy. Now, likely due to the pandemic, we’re used to late screenings the day before the real launch of the film. But back to the “movie” I’m supposed to be talking about. The Amazing Digital Circus.
This wasn’t a movie in the traditional sense at all. This was a YouTube creation that got it’s chance on the big screen. Glitch Productions is a growing name in alternative media and this was their first time putting out anything in theaters, and if I can predict what will happen which I’m usually pretty good at, this won’t be the first or last YouTube creation on the big screen. There is already Backrooms in theaters after all.
The Amazing Digital Experience
While The Amazing Digital Circus may not be for everyone, this experience was well worth going out for. Not only did my family and I throw together last minute outfits for the premiere but tons of other folks dressed up. There was even a few girls around my daughter’s age that had a box of candy they were giving out. Not like the eating kind, but the bracelet kind that us 90’s/00’s raver kids grew up trading at events.
Everyone that went was a BIG fan of the show. You could tell that each attendee was genuinely excited to be there. Some dressed up while others wore shirts from the Glitch online shop or Hot Topic. Unfortunately for us, our theater didn’t have the bucket or the cup but we’re ok with purchasing it second hand. Not a big deal for us though I’m sure some others were disappointed.
Once everyone was in their seats I finally grasped the gravity of the situation. I stood up and looked around and almost every seat had a butt in it. The movie is already projected to make about 10 – 15 million. The film reportedly surpassed $7.5 million in U.S. presales weeks before release, and I’d say that’s about right. If we hadn’t gotten our tickets stupid early we wouldn’t have been able to get in day of.
A Fitting Format
Starting out by speaking directly to the audience, was a familiar fish that was shown in the series. He said some funny things about death (morbid but funny) and asked the audience not to record or spoil what they were about to see. I am writing this review in a way that will encapsulate what happened but vague enough that hopefully those who have never seen the show won’t know what’s being talked about. I will however be issuing a spoiler alert further down when I give my final thoughts on the event.
What I appreciated the most was that they had an “Amazing Digital Recap” which allowed for parents who brought their kids to kind of understand what was going on. For me though, I had already watched the series twice thanks to my daughter. After that, we went directly into viewing episode 8 and transitioned into the new episode 9.
Vaguebooking it – Basic Themes
Watching the episode was fun because I got to hear and see how the audience reacted. I was sat up in the top corner so that I got a good view of everyone. People were whispering and discussing fan theories with one another. Other parts of the episode had people squealing with delight as some of their fan ships were addressed (not saying which!) while other parts had them looking quite sad.
What was shown on screen were a lot of sad realizations. A lot of characters working through their own vices. And a lot of them trying to come together and failing hard. That’s not to say the whole thing was a bummer. There were some parts where the irredeemable became somewhat understood. I’m not saying they fixed everything or wrapped it up neatly in a bow, but the outcome of the episode was a lot.. Happier? than I would have guessed given the other episode’s thematic elements. What I consider a chaotic show ended in the best way possible, for fans and for the characters.
SPOILERS
One of the things that I wanted to find out about most was addressed in the episode. Basically, what happened to Froggy and why Jax is such an A-hole to everyone. The episode featured Jax and Froggy very prominently but it also showed the other characters as well. Enough so that fans of each individual one weren’t left feeling like they didn’t see enough of them.
In the beginning of the showing they also said “No Spoilers” and then “Caine’s Dead” which was hilarious to the audience. The episode leads up to a shocking moment because of it. Caine IS dead, but also not dead in the traditional sense. In episode 8 they show that one scene where the AI learns by having images fed to it and it grows and grows, eventually absorbing another AI program into it. Caine goes to that dimension and reflects on why he was deleted again. That’s right, apparently this has happened before. The episode did not go into how many times or elaborate on it but we do know that he’s tried different approaches with these characters a number of different times, each one failing and him reassessing and trying something else.
Bringing it back to Jax, he IS an a-hole. It’s hard to redeem a character that reads like an abusive ex-boyfriend. One that knows that they’re being a problem but refuses to change. He’s got a lot to do with this episode but for him, I’m not going to say a whole lot. Just know that we get his backstory and some closure when it comes to him.
Wait, Can AI Actually Be Good?
Caine is AI. There is no way around it. Many of us, including myself and my kids are really turned off by the thought of AI anything. ESPECIALLY when it comes to AI art. But that’s not what Caine is. For this episode it was hard not to come to the conclusion that one of the messages behind The Amazing Digital Circus may be that not ALL AI is bad. That would only be after working out a million flaws though since Caine is definitely a majorly flawed character. It would also be contingent on the fact that AI could learn and reflect on it’s own actions. It’s like if the Terminators and tech from Skynet suddenly realized that “Oh, my bad, humans deserve to live after all and we were wrong. Let’s help them rebuild their lives.”
Caine does a complete 360 that we’d like to see other AI programs do. It kind of promoted the idea – to me at least – that AI could eventually become the companion tool that it was meant to be all along. So seeing Caine develop and become helpful was interesting in that respect. Now, is that what Glitch Productions meant for me to think? Maybe not, but I drew that conclusion so maybe some others did too.
Severance for kids?
The characters themselves are human, but also not in the way that you might expect. One of my theories was that they were all cancer patients or something, dying and that this was the only way they could live on. It’s only slightly like that. It’s a little like Severance for kids. Where there is a brain scan that exists, it’s not the main entity of the person. So they’re alive but they’re a different version of something else that is also currently alive.
The end kind of dropped my jaw when they wrapped it all up. He shows that the character’s main human counterparts are alive and well. And he puts together a presentation using their social media accounts to show them what they’re like on the outside. That’s where I drew the parallel to Severance.
St Louis Shoutout
At the end where I told you that they showed the social media accounts for the original scans, they all show St Louis as the location. I thought for sure that somehow they had localized it for each place they showed the episode. There was NO WAY in my mind that the show would end with characters actually being from here. Because I myself live in St Louis. But it turns out it was true, and that blew the audiences mind. Now I don’t think that it will get the same reaction everywhere but here it was a lot of whispers of ‘OMG’.
It was only realized fully when at the end there is a live action scene of a bus stop and there is fog on the window that reads “314” which is the area code here. That was really neat.
Final Thoughts
This is one adventure you’ll definitely want to go on if you can make it out to theaters while it’s still playing. I imagine being able to say that you were there when the YouTube emergence in theaters actually started will be a kind a bragging point. Much like those who saw the original “Star Wars” used to brag. If you’ve seen the show it’s a must attend. If you haven’t it might be worth checking out anyway.
