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Scott Cram Inner circle 2678 Posts |
More and more, I see the newer generation do something rather bizarre. To them, magic secrets are something to be obtained, used and traded like baseball cards or MP3 files.
We could get into a discussion about whether they're lessening the value of magic for all magicians, but I can say for sure that they're diminishing the value of magic for themselves and their own audiences. That is truly sad. There are too many side-effects of this to list, but here are the major ones I've noticed: * Lack of originality. (You don't have to create new effects, but how about an original presentation or two?) * Confusion of what magic itself is. (It's an artform - a way of expressing yourself and your beliefs to your audience - through the performance of a feat of wonder. Take yourself out of the equation and we have "tricks.") * A rise in the number of show-offs. (Brian Tudor grew up in the magic store I worked at. Whenever he showed me some flashy cuts he'd been working on, I would always have to admit that he was one of the best card jugglers I had ever seen. This seemed to make him mad, as he thought of it as "magic" somehow. When he first showed me his video of all these cuts, and had titled it "Show Off", I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing in front of him.) * Too many young magicians who think a trick ranks higher because of the number and difficulty of the sleights it involves. (I'll put John Q. Sleight's latest masterpiece involving a pass, a Zarrow shuffle, three multiple shifts and two triple lifts up against Daryl doing ANY self-working trick any day of the week.) Some have blamed David Blaine for this, but I don't. To his credit, he has more people talking about magic than anyone since Houdini. With popularity, of course, does come the desire to imitate without really learning - the desire to cash in quick. As this is a result of popularity, I don't see it lasting long. Some of these young magicians will get curious as to why they don't get larger reactions than some doing simpler effects, and may go on to study presentation and improve. Others will simply drop it and move onto the next big thing. Magic, and every other art form, will always have those who pursue the form in a shallow manner. It just seems to me that magic is having its turn as the center of attention at the moment. If you look out into space, you may occasionally catch a glimpse of a meteorite coming into our atmosphere. They're fast, flashy, but quick to burn up. You'll also see the stars. They're old, and don't catch the eye as quickly, but they're so reliable that you can navigate your way around the globe using them to guide you. Maybe there's a lesson there. Forgive me for rambling here, but I just wanted to comment on the passing scene as I saw it. |
KC Special user Utah 571 Posts |
I'm relatively young (22 years old). I like the work of Brian Tudor and other card flourish junkies. As far as flourishes being magic, who really cares, as long as your "intended" audience is entertained and whatnot. "Intended" is the key word there.
I was reading an interview of Ray Kosby, and he said something about respecting magicians who are involved in magic for different reasons than you are. Some people are more creators and focus on that, some people like performing professionally and amateurishly, some people do it as a hobby, some guys do it to impress the ladies, some guys like to show off to their buddies. So even though you may not necessarily like the flashy cuts of some of the younger generation and maybe they are not the strongest performers yet, don't accuse them of destroying the art of magic. Bad magicians and bad magic tricks are the things that are lessening the value of magic to all magicians. From the way you define "magic", there are many things in magic that don't live up to your definition. "* Confusion of what magic itself is (It's an artform - a way of expressing yourself and your beliefs to your audience - through the performance of a feat of wonder. Take yourself out of the equation and we have "tricks")" How is a magician expressing themselves and their beliefs when he/she is doing the Linking Rings or telling the difference between red cards and black cards by their weight? It's not just the younger generation that's not strong at performing magic, the majority of self-proclaimed magicians are not strong at performing magic. I'll end this post here, and add more when more people respond. If the posts are too long, most Café Members won't bother reading it and then too many things are being discussed for one post. |
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