This annoys me more than anything.

[C J]

So I was watching youtube when this came up, I just sat there for 10 min watching in agony it is everything I despise about magic on the internet.

Note I like magic on the internet I would not be here if it weren't. but there are several people who I just don't like and would rather not see on the internet (evan era Russian genius and so forth). What do you think and what can we do to present a better face on the internet?

 

[TylerScottIllusionist]

So I was watching youtube when this came up, I just sat there for 10 min watching in agony it is everything I despise about magic on the internet.

Note I like magic on the internet I would not be here if it weren't. but there are several people who I just don't like and would rather not see on the internet (evan era Russian genius and so forth). What do you think and what can we do to present a better face on the internet?

Focus on how magicians make people feel rather than the magic. People care about people, they don't care about magic. That's why these two guys exist. They make a mockery of magic and it is specifically parodying the people that perform tricks to cameras. This is how laymen see it I believe. When laymen see other laymen they can relate to reacting and having a good time, then they start to have more respect for magic.

 

[Alarte]

Why? To make some clicks on youtube? And you dont care about others people love for the art and their job? They dont think that with those tricks there are people that make money from them? Money to use to their family to their personal life...This is a job...A job for many artists in this planet...Why you do this thing?

 

[RealityOne]

Jim Steinmeyer put it best:

"Magicians guard an empty safe. There are few secrets that they possess which are beyond a grade school science class, little technology more complex than a rubber band, a square of black fabric or a length of thread. There are no real principles worth of being cherished, only crude expediencies. But magicians have learned to appreciate how such simple devices can be manipulated into illusion. The art of magic is not found in the simple deception, but in what surrounds it, the construction of a reality which supports the illusion." Art and Artifice, p. 7-8.
​

If the strength of your magic depends on our ability to fool people based on you knowing the method and the audience not being able to figure it out, then you have a problem. Magic presented with a "look at what I can do" presentation where the magician narrates what he or she is doing with the props is not entertaining. We need to construct the reality which supports the illusion.

 

[Antonio Diavolo]

Jim Steinmeyer put it best:

"Magicians guard an empty safe. There are few secrets that they possess which are beyond a grade school science class, little technology more complex than a rubber band, a square of black fabric or a length of thread. There are no real principles worth of being cherished, only crude expediencies. But magicians have learned to appreciate how such simple devices can be manipulated into illusion. The art of magic is not found in the simple deception, but in what surrounds it, the construction of a reality which supports the illusion." Art and Artifice, p. 7-8.
​

If the strength of your magic depends on our ability to fool people based on you knowing the method and the audience not being able to figure it out, then you have a problem. Magic presented with a "look at what I can do" presentation where the magician narrates what he or she is doing with the props is not entertaining. We need to construct the reality which supports the illusion.

It's funny how true the statement about the secrets not being beyond a grade school science class. This is so true. People always assume the tricks use some complicated chemistry or micro-technology. I've heard heat changing ink, acoustic levitation, static electricity, robotics, RFID chips, skin pockets, etc. Lots of stuff bordering on real magic. I've actually started including some of these into my patter though.

 

[Antonio Diavolo]

I read the comments and it seems that quite a few people think the "prankster" is doing something right by revealing his friend's tricks. Weird that people can't just enjoy magic.

 

[TylerScottIllusionist]

What makes me the most upset is how much money these guys have made off of revealing other people's work. Because they make good money at this, they will be encouraged to do it more.

 

[RealityOne]

What makes me the most upset is how much money these guys have made off of revealing other people's work. Because they make good money at this, they will be encouraged to do it more.

Do you think the popularity is because they are revealing it or HOW they are revealing it? Do you think an instructional video for those effects would have the same popularity? Or is it because of the characters they have developed in this context? If it is the latter, what can we learn from this as magicians?

 

[TylerScottIllusionist]

Do you think the popularity is because they are revealing it or HOW they are revealing it? Do you think an instructional video for those effects would have the same popularity? Or is it because of the characters they have developed in this context? If it is the latter, what can we learn from this as magicians?

I would wager it's in how they are revealing it. Their gimmick of the silent guy revealing the magic and then getting beat up seems to be the hook that gets the majority of the views.