and about the relationships of individual trainers and whales, dolphins, seals, otters, etc. How things change...Especially the signature Shamu show, which is now called "Believe" and introduced by a portentous vid about the importance of having beliefs like those of an unidentified boy who, in nostalgic black and white, believes there can be a unique relationship between two species, two worlds, carves a killer whale tail from driftwood on a dark atmospheric beach, and now... has become a trainer at Sea World! That's sort of a pumped-up version of the old personal show, but its ambition is mythic, and its prerecorded sound track (available on a CD for $15.99) epic. It's remarkable that the killer whales' breaches and splashes are coordinated to the music, I guess (so the biggest rises highest just as the music reaches a climax and it's hard not to burst into Pavlovian tears), but this makes them seem like adjuncts to a media spectacle. Since we no longer learn about the individual whales or their species, it's all symbol - top predator, will trust you if you respect it, packs a wallop of a splash for the 16 rows in the "soak zone" if you train it to. Music and stunts, not words, it's more like a military air show.
"Believe" was introduced in San Diego in 2006, after four years of development, as part of a rebranding. (A quick internet search informs me that Sea World was acquired in 1989 by Anheuser-Busch, which has itself just been acquired by Belgian InBev; was it ever the independent local entity it seemed to us as kids?) Our ultimate goal for this show is to impassion guests to believe in themselves, a vice president of Anheuser-Busch said, We want guests to believe they can accomplish the seemingly impossible, as our trainers do in this show through their relationships with these top predators of the ocean.
Quite inspiring, huh. But before we got to see the "Believe" video we heard the same deep-voiced announcer in a schmaltzy Anheuser-Busch Here's to Our Heroes featurette (introduced in 2005, presumably also as part of the rebranding), followed by one of Shamu's trainers inviting all members of the armed forces and their families in the audience, "and our allies," to stand for an ovation. I first thought this was just a nod to the military character of San Diego, home to the Pacific Fleet, but it's seamlessly woven into the show. So I got to thinking... Four years before 2006... This is really about America, the superpower with a heart of gold. It's the world's top predator, but if you respect it it will be your friend! Move over bald eagle, we have a better mascot for the post-9/11 age.
I don't want to push the Sea World-military analogy (if it is just analogy) too far, though the prices and quality of refreshments could be Halliburton, and at least one of the dozens of t-shirt motifs presents Sea World's original mission as a research and conservation center as if it were a military project (SeaWorld: preserve - protect). It's just... America. And what it's all about, worth every preserving and protecting? Commerce. Buy your $7.99 refillable souvenir drink container (empty, it's another $2.89 to fill it) as you dream your impossible dream, and thank God for the noble trainers who have since childhood wanted nothing more than to devote their lives to making killers our friends.