Here is a tricky question? Does exposure harm magic? The answer is not as easy as one might think. Yes part of a magic trick is the secret. If the secret is revealed no fooling happens, thus no magic. Really?
What is magic? Is it just the part of being fooled? I think not!
Would you go to a Stand Up Comedian, whos jokes and punchlines you already know? If you say no, I wonder how those overexposed Comedians make a living. Do they have a secret repertoire, that is never performed unless no camera is there? No! They do their standard stuff.
Why? People come to see the performer first. They want to see the performer do his act. Even though, they might know everything!
And I believe the same is true for magic. If the audience would know how the trick is done, and if they still wanna see you, that means you are a good performer. If you are entertaining people will want to see you. Even if they know how the stuff works. They might even enjoy the fact, that they know and still don't see. They might enjoy the level of difficulty that is executed oh so flawlessly by the performer.
Let's just say, that the Great Exposure seperates the men from the boys.
So does exposure harm magic...? Well, yes! Slightly. And does it harm the magicians? Not the right ones.
PS: Still no Internet. Things are complicated!
3 comments:
Well stated, but I believe you missed one major point:
The main problem with exposure is that it creates more bad magicians. And the problem with bad magicians is that, unlike music or stand-up comedy, if someone sees a bad magician perform it is not uncommon for them to decide that they just don't like magic at all. And that hurts all magicians, even the ones that understand that presentation is the real secret to magic.
I totally agree with you on the fact that exposure creates bad magicians, but I disagree on your conclusion that it hurts good magicians.
I get booked by word of mouth. People tell their friends that this magician is good. Or they book me themselves as they are the host of the party now.
They know very well that I am doing something right, otherwise why book me, especially if they have seen me before.
Their opinion towards magic might be a bad one, but not about me as a performer. And I stated that it hurts magic a bit. But not as much as you might suspect. Because all it takes is one good show. It might not change the overall image of magic to the better, but certainly your image.
My concern is the people who will not hire a magician because they saw a bad one perform.
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