What do you think about these kind of illusions?

A girl enters into a small box, She is "impaled" with several spikes, and then, she still can wave her hand over the top hole of the box.

What does a Magician wants to inspire with this kind of illusion? What is the sense of amazement the audience feels? I mean, more than just a mere puzzle. "how the heck is she still there in a so tiny box with those spikes? I defintely want to know the secret!" Is that what we want the audience to think?

Does the magician wants to demonstrate his capacity of healing the girl? ir "unharming" the girl by magcial powers?

What do you think?

Alejandro.

?????????????????

What is MAGIC?

This might be the true question. Answer this and you will have your answer.

Are you questioning what YOU do, or magic in general?

Blair Marshall
"ShaZzam!"

Hello Blair!

I don't understand your comment.

I don't agree with the thinking: "So what? That is what a magician Does! Who cares WHY? Why a Juggler throws ball up in the air? because that is what he is supposed to do"

I am not talking, nor I want to talk about MAGIC. I am talking about that kind of illusion.

I am not criticizing that illusion. I like it. I don't do it. But I would like to put some thinking on it.

I hope my comment do not sound any rude, because I really don't want to create any trouble.

that's it.

It wasn't meant to suggest that you were been rude in questioning. I was wondering what your motive was for the question.

I think every magician, at some time, questions what they are doing, and why they are doing it. About everything they do. That is more what I wanted to understand.

I mean a children's performer might question why he is making the die vanish for the thousandth (?) time, and ask isn't there more to MAGIC, than this. After you saw the lady in half, as in a song from "The Magic Show" goes "pop up the dusty flowers, saw the beautiful lady in half.........again". Why do we do it? The Sword Box? What do we want the audience to think when we throw someone in a box, and do the dastardly deed to them. Magic, puzzle, illusion????? What do we want to accomplsh, what do we want them to think. God, wizard, puzzler, or just a guy (gal) with an expensive box that does some neat things?

If your are strictly asking about the "torture" illusions, ie. sword boxes, but also the zig-zags, sawings etc. I would say it is perhaps tradition. Magicians have a long history of doing these sort of things to other folks, and far be it for this generation to stray from the path. I think we wish to live up to our audience's expectations of what we can do. ie. Can you saw my wife in half??

I really don't know what the audience thinks about these actual illusions, and I think that is why we all stress the presentation side in the performance of illusions. We don't want it to become just another puzzle.

Perhaps, we do not want to question too closely why we do things, or we start to question everything about what we do in this art called magic!

I think you are right in questioning this kind of illusion, and there are many others in our repertoires that could have the same questions raised.

A good performer/magician/actor always looks at the motivation for his actions, how he should feel, and the feeling he wishes to instill in his audience.

Look forward to hearing other's thoughts on this.

Alekei...good question.

Blair Marshall
"ShaZzam!"

(Almost 10:00 am here in Montreal, Canada and it is snowing, make me feel baad, what is it doing in Lisbon???)

It was precisely from asking myself questions like this that I eventually gave up performing as a "magician" and started performing in what I call "Wizard-style."

As a Wizard, my reason for doing something as strange as a sword box might be to demonstrate my power over life and death. I would put an apprentice in a chair (we Wizards eschew boxes) and begin stabbing him or her with swords and knives until they stick out of him like a human pincushion and he appears to be thoroughly dead (and covered in blood). Then I would remove the swords and knives, wiping each off carefully to capture the precious essence of life in a goblet. I would use a spell (light effect) to remove the blood stains from his clothing as the goblet apparently fills itself with the recaptured blood. Then I would bring the apprentice back to life, usually with a semi-spectacular light show and a change of costume.

For a Wizard, most effects are presented as "demonstrations" in a sort of lecture style. Other effects just "happen" because you are a Wizard and if you "accidentally" drop your wand, of course you just reach for it and it flies back up to your hand.

Thanks for the comments.

Blair, here in Lisbon the weather is getting better. We are right know about 15ºC. As you may know, Portugal is one of the hottest countries in Europe. (and the global over-heating will fry us this next summer!)

I question myself about some illusions I find more "puzzling" than others.

Despite what many magicians think, I use Copperfield a lot as a reference, and I notice he very often (not always) try to find a motivation behind the illusions. Some others are just "show off".

I always try to think What do I want the people think about what I am doing. I do Mentalism a lot, in fact I have a very commercial 65 minutes mentalism act that have had very good reviews and my approach is not to "Read minds", instead is of "manipulate minds to make them think What I want". And the people leaves with the idea that I influenced them, I forced them to think several things.

I try to do the same with the illusions. Did the girl Dissapear inside that little box? or is she there but unharmed by magical powers? It is exactly the same illusion, with 2 different approaches.


I hope to read more opinions.

See? That's my point. If you are going to make someone disappear, why put them inside a box? Just do it! The moment you bring on a box, you are presenting a puzzle for the audience to solve. Whether you stick them with swords, or cut them in thirds, divide them, multiply them- it's just another puzzle box to the audience. The latest style illusionists go out of their way to make it not LOOK like a box, with all kinds of modernistic shapes and effects, but in the end... it's a box! When you have to use a box or any other container- it's just a puzzle. When you perform "outside the box" you can (seem to) do real magic.

When patrons go to see DC and spend a great deal of money, they DON'T view his "magic" as a puzzle, and he has used boxes in all his shows.

Jack

I hope you illusion box builders will not take offense at the way I view magic. I was stating my personal views as to what I think the audience thinks. You are entitled to your views of what YOU think the audience thinks, as well. And you and the other illusion box builders will never hurt for business from anything I say, because performing illusions without boxes is definitely much harder than buying a box to do the illusion for you. However, my answer to Alejandro's post stands and you can either see my point of view, or not.

I do see your point, but "box" magic will be here after you and I both are gone!!

What the audience thinks and what we as magicians think are generally two completely different things. We look at everyhting from a jaded point of view and not as wide eyed children like we use to do when we first got into the art. When I perform I do something a little unusual to get info on what the audience is thinking about the show. Right after the show is over I have 2 people one male and one female go into the bathroom and hang out in one of the stalls. I have them write down the negative and positive things that they say about the show. You would be surprised at the type of honesty and imagination people have when they are in the bathroom. I have also handed out comment cards at shows and asked people what they liked the most and the least. This WILL bruise your ego but I gaurantee it will make you a better performer. I view myself as an entertainer first and a magician second. This is just my take, I know it is not for everyone. But, once I did this my magic improved and my show started to make more money and I was getting return gigs year after year. I am not into this business to fool magicians, for they do not pay my bill, nor am I into this art to just fool people. When you limit yourself just to fooling people you forget to entertain them and that is what they are paying for. Like I said this is what works for me so do with it what you will.

This might just stir the pot more, but on this site is a flash video that contains what I consider a logical variation on the "flame spiker" illusion.

http://www.holczgabor.hu/uj/angol/angol.html

My opinion is that if you don't see part of the assistant, it is a vanish, not a penetration.