Revealing the Elements of Magic Tricks
Date Added: November 30, 2007 04:49:24 PM
Every successful magician knows there are several elements to magic. The expectation’s of the audience that is viewing the show is the first element. They come to the show expecting to be amazed with magic and that sets the stage for them to believe that the out of the ordinary experiences they will witness are either magic or the supreme illusion.
Maybe they will just have the expectation of entertainment from the shows with high budgets. This is especially true when the magician is well known and has a reputation for theatrics.
David Copperfield is well known with a reputation for making amazing things disappear. When you hear before a show that he will be making the Statue of Liberty disappear, you go with the expectation of at least seeing it seem to disappear.
I once saw a Copperfield show live from the front row and he made a Cadillac appear onstage not five feet in front of me and later (when I was picked from the audience) made me disappear from stage and appear at the back of the auditorium. It was amazing to see and even more amazing to experience.
After establishing the expectations for the audience the magician will perform some preliminary feats. These can be illusions that are on a level exceeding card tricks and perhaps just tricks that are redone with a new spin. A new element could be added such as different music, lighting or assistants on stage. The entertainer just takes something established and spins it to appear fresh and news.
While completing the preliminary feats the magician is setting the stage, building up expectations for the grand finale. In the case of the Statue of Liberty, we know that it did not actually disappear from New York Harbor. Yet when the trick is over no one is disappointed or talking about what happened, they are only discussing how he could have made it disappear.
In other words, we know that it could not have actually happened, but we don’t argue that it did. Instead we debate over how it occurred. The reason is that we want to keep our illusions real and not have the magic revealed to us. Not knowing is part of the fun.
The illusion of magic represents a challenge or puzzle for the brain to make sense of what was just witnessed. Trying to figure out what just happened is part of what makes magic fun. The challenge for the magician is developing new ways to do old tricks or developing entirely new ones.
When you see kits in magic shops with coins that have trap doors and rings that have invisible breaks in them it seems like cheating. It makes the illusion too real and there is no longer a mystery or curiosity to it.
It makes you just look for the props when you see future illusions and spoils the effect of the magic. The fun in magic is the mystery of not knowing how it was done.
