Magician’s right to not get fooled?
As magicians, we lie to our audiences to create the illusion of magic. Just like actors aren’t really the characters in real life, they “act” that way to create the belief that he/she is the character. Being decietful is part of the game.
So then why do magicians get really angry when other magicians try to fool them by non-sleight of hand methods? For example, Daniel Madison’s color change. This is pretty amazing in its own right, but why all the controversy about it being a video-editing trick instead of real sleight of hand? Regardless of what the method might be, the illusion is still the same.
So my question is, do magician’s have some “right” to not get fooled? I mean we fool magicians all the time with methods of sleight of hand that they don’t know. But what about making a video of a trick claiming it is sleight of hand but in reality you use some other method like video editing? Did we step over the line there? Why can’t we do that? we do it to laymen all the time. We tell them false methods making them believe we have more power than we do. If you think we don’t, then think of pseudo center deal gambling routines.
What gives us the right to bitch and cry foul play when it is us that is being lead in the wrong direction.
What do you think?
-T
Comments: 1 Comment.
I think it depends on the motivation behind the complaints. I think there is a valid complaint and an invalid complaint.
if you are just a magician who is pissed that you got fooled by video editing, then suck it up and get over it.
on the other hand, I think there is a legitimate complaint: magicians who use video editing or stooges on TV or video ruin the medium for the rest of us. In order to be truly entertained by a MAGICIAN on video or TV, the audience must believe that it would look the same if they were watching it live… otherwise it’s no different from the special effects in the Matrix — cool, but clearly not magic. If lay spectators think it’s just camera trickery, there is no mystery anymore, editing is something they already understand, and our job as magicians is to share with them things they cannot understand.
Every time a magician is outed for using special effects or stooges on video or TV, it undermines all magicians’ credibility when performing through that medium, and this makes it harder for the rest of us. There is already a severe lack of trust built into magic on TV (as you can tell from the lengths many TV specials go to to prove it’s not edited — long single shots, multiple camera angles, live audiences, disclaimers at the beginning of the show, etc).
If I were going to complain about this video (and I don’t really care that much either way), I would say that the magic community can’t afford this kind of trickery (or at least we can’t afford to get caught) if we are going to survive on TV.
[Reply]