There are a lot of magicians that think its the bad magicians that make magic look bad. They blame the Tyro that has not perfected his routine before taking to the the street. The say things like most people only every see a live magician once in their life. Of course the same people that say that are also the same ones that say the reason no one wants to see them perform is that their target spectator has previously seen someone that was bad at magic which seems unlikely if the most people only ever see magic live once rule is true.
If you want to blame someone for making magic look bad how about network TV, the week that I placed this post in draft there were two TV shows that poked fun at those with a magic hobby. Not even snide little jabs these were full blown if you have a magic hobby you are a dork episodes. But I've rarely (read never) seen a post on a forum about how the portrayal of those with this hobby on television are bad for our image. It's all the clumsy amateurs fault.
The image of magicians is where it is today not from the bumbling of the amateur but from the popularity of the professional. I recently saw footage of Harry Blackstone Sr performing he was doing effects like they were bullet in a machine gun pow, pow, pow, pow. And the bouquet from nowhere may be mystical the first time but it's just a silly trick when you do over ten times in rapid succession. And think of how many magicians perform like that trick after trick after trick. Even the stage magician with the super illusions it's just one impossible thing after another and at this point there's very little mystery to a lot of it. It's visually appealing but it's not like the audience doesn't have a idea where the half naked lady was hiding. It's what Robert Neal would call distractive magic, it does little more than offer a distraction from the everyday humdrum. I'm not trying to put down that sort of entertainment, people enjoy it they wouldn't keep buying tickets. I'm just saying it doesn't really help the image of magic.
If you want to blame someone for making magic look bad how about network TV, the week that I placed this post in draft there were two TV shows that poked fun at those with a magic hobby. Not even snide little jabs these were full blown if you have a magic hobby you are a dork episodes. But I've rarely (read never) seen a post on a forum about how the portrayal of those with this hobby on television are bad for our image. It's all the clumsy amateurs fault.
The image of magicians is where it is today not from the bumbling of the amateur but from the popularity of the professional. I recently saw footage of Harry Blackstone Sr performing he was doing effects like they were bullet in a machine gun pow, pow, pow, pow. And the bouquet from nowhere may be mystical the first time but it's just a silly trick when you do over ten times in rapid succession. And think of how many magicians perform like that trick after trick after trick. Even the stage magician with the super illusions it's just one impossible thing after another and at this point there's very little mystery to a lot of it. It's visually appealing but it's not like the audience doesn't have a idea where the half naked lady was hiding. It's what Robert Neal would call distractive magic, it does little more than offer a distraction from the everyday humdrum. I'm not trying to put down that sort of entertainment, people enjoy it they wouldn't keep buying tickets. I'm just saying it doesn't really help the image of magic.
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