No, I don't mean the trench coat stuff, nor intend to start a general ethics debate.

Has "exposure" personally affected you- cost you some shows, limited your repetoire, harmed your magical efforts in any way? If so, how? I'd love to hear of your experiences.

Exposure hasn't effected what I perform. Of course I always tell people that most of the effects exposed use older disregarded methods, when asked. I perform alot and NOBODY has ever ever come up and said, I saw that on TV! If I would take a guess, based on my experience, nobody watches exposure.

I think Penn said it best when he said (and I paraphrase) nobody would walk two blocks and pay a dollar to learn a secret. I think my audiences (for the most part) enjoy magic, but they REALLY don't care how it works and if by chance they see a secret exposed, I'll bet it doesn't stay in their brain a nanosecond. Most of the people I perform for really have much more important things to remember than how to do magic.

On the other end of the spectrum, I have had two people in the past two years come up to me and voice a concern that I have sold my soul to the devil. They were positively convinced that what I did was real and there was no convincing them otherwise. I don't think they'll be hiring me in the near future (and I didn't expose anything!)

Steven

Steve,

Have you? What's the going rate these days for a good soul? Yes, I'm interested!

I guess Steven's example demonstrates that the Reginald Scott theory still doesn't work. (i.e. explain how tricks are done and people will no longer mistake conjuring for consort with the devil)

Exposure has not affectd me much, aside from a few items I have temporarily taken out of my repertoire, (i.e. anything some kid has come up and shown me recently, including the Balducci levitation)but it has made life tough for the guys who are just starting out. With fewer effect to choose from, many beginning magicians found it extremely discouraging to essentially start from scratch again.

I have not exactly compared these, but I think I have taken more effects out of my repertoire due to overexposure by other magicains than due to outright exposure on television.

I have never been particularly vitriolic about this-- but yes, exposure of methods is detrimental, regardless of source.

It is hard to quantify impact. But, anything that takes you "out of the moment" (like a Roman soldier wearing a wristwatch) is bad news. Exposure can have that result.

That said, I see no well-orchestrated plan to limit it, much less eliminate it.

The problem I've noticed with exposure is not that spectators know how my effects are done, but that they have absurd explanations based on what they may have seen on TV. To a lot of spectators one card trick is not so different from some others. If they get it in their head that I was using duplicate cards or whatever and it sticks it is as bad as having them know the true method. I suppose it is my duty to actively structure my routines to eliminate such possibilities, but alas I'm still wet behind the ears and have a ways to go...

Hey Again Randy:
Exposure is contrary to the basic fundamentals of magic.
The easier it becomes to obtain information, the less appreciated, even revered, that information becomes. Hence, exposing it is easier for many to do.
My guess is that people expose for two reasons. 1) The money they may make from it. 2) Their ego is so writing checks that their perfroming talent can't cash.
Does it hurt magic? I think so. Not necessarily in terms of a single show, but overall. What happened with the Balducci Levitation was a travesty. It has even filtered into lay popluation.
I have long been an antagonist to any argument that attempts to justify exposing as something good for magic.
To comment on Steven Steele's parapharse of Penn... "...two blocks to learn a secret."
True. But the point is much bigger than that. And Steven is also astute in that most people don't really watch those shows with any diligence. And again, the point is bigger than that.

Anything that can remove the "Mystery," can also suck the life out of magic. There is no easy or quick resolution; there is the problem.

I think that once a person is exposed to the secrets of even a few effects, it can change the way they view magic in general. I don't believe that a layman will ever remember the specific means to a specific end, but that is not the tragedy.
If a TT is exposed, or a D****e lift for example, it puts the whole idea of moves and gimmicks in a person's mind.

They will not be viewing what you do as magic, but as a puzzle, ie. I know he had/did something, I just don't know what. They've seen this type of thing before.

I am certainly not of the school that this will kill magic, but it is another small obstacle to overcome.
Eric Grossman