There used to be a "joke" line that went "The Only Thing Wrong with Magic is All the Magicians". . . when you consider that less than 15% of us make an actual living at it and nothing else, that less than 1% of us ever become "recognized" and "remembered" by the laity, well I think you can get the gist of that line. Most of us are at best, part time paid help & filler acts and as such, there's a lot of bruised ego going around a.k.a. cynicism. BUT, the "Magic" of the past 15 years has become little to nothing to do with talent and a lot to do with playing to a camera, the majority of the TV Heads not having the ability to deliver a full-evening show in the vein of the past. They are not "Entertainers & Showmen" but rather "one trick ponies" that rely far too much on film edits, the abundance of stooges and other related controls. The weekly ops budget to a live Criss Angel show if done as he does it on TV would be as much if not more than what it cost to run the Siegfried & Roy show but with less than 10% of the umph . . . let's face it, anyone can do his act when they have a few dozen paid stooges on staff and set within the audience. THAT'S NOT MAGIC! Not by any stretch of the imagination. It's just cheating; cheating at the art form and cheating the paying public.
No, that does not mean we can't use stooges but if you study successful shows the most they ever use is 3 in any given performance and that would be for a huge production. Angel seems to use one for every effect he offers but too, Criss and others elect to do routines that cannot be replicated live and that my friends IS NOT magic. . .
Yes, "Perspective Control" is a principle within magic and yes, using the Harary Perspective technique still applies to magical work; it is a literal advancement to a yesteryear principle designed for the video medium. However, certain performers have taken this factor to be permission to stretch the idea of perspective and even the use of "digital cheating" (a.k.a. special effects via the video only medium) so they can make an effect seem more impromptu/impossible. . . this again sustains the fact that they CANNOT replicate the piece in a live show, which by the way, is what the public expects you to do when they pay premium price to sit in a theater and see your show.. . they want to see what you did on TV!
There is no such thing as a "Magic Show" it would seem but rather, a collection of fools that do single effects and pander to a camera, be it National TV or Youtube. We no longer seem to have or support the quality and pride of performance that was seen just a few short years ago in the Lance Burton Show or the Spectacle of S&R. We see very few individuals investing themselves into the idea of building an actual show and lots of manifestation of fools that love to "tricks" that have no rhyme of reason when it comes to blocking, scripting, choreography and scripting. . . that is to say, they don't know how to build an actual SHOW because for 15 years or so now, there's not been an example of this in the U.S. the closest demonstration being the Derren Brown Tv spots in the UK.
Video and most particularly Internet based video, is killing Magic when it comes to the idea of showmanship and true artistic expression as an ENTERTAINER. There is no interaction with the public, no learning curve for the performer just the expression of ego.
