Guerrilla magic alive or dead?
- Thread starter Jared braunagel
- Start date
I think it's still done, it's just not in the limelight any more, really. Lots of YouTube channels still show it.
What's or opinion on it, I've seen some people say it's not vary respectful to the art, I like too see some other people's thoughts.
I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with it, but I also think the vast majority of people who I have seen attempt it are just not very good.
I think too many people saw Blaine doing tricks, and thought that's all he did. But he actually talks to people first and establishes a rapport before doing tricks. So what you get these days is kids with poor social skills interrupting random folks and trying to make them watch a trick, and expecting the arm-flailing, run-around-shouting kinds of reactions.
It takes a lot of skill to rapidly create an atmosphere where magic can occur for spontaneous performances.
I think too many people saw Blaine doing tricks, and thought that's all he did. But he actually talks to people first and establishes a rapport before doing tricks. So what you get these days is kids with poor social skills interrupting random folks and trying to make them watch a trick, and expecting the arm-flailing, run-around-shouting kinds of reactions.
It takes a lot of skill to rapidly create an atmosphere where magic can occur for spontaneous performances.
You mean like this:
Oh wait, that is an orangutan.
Oh wait, that is an orangutan.
Agreed that there is nothing wrong with guerrilla performing. I think it is important to realize the the establishment of rapport is often cut from the videos that we see, and it is a separate (arguably more important) skill set of its own. Obviously the reasoning behind this is that TV viewers probably wouldn't be as interested if they were to watch the full interaction. Reaction reels are popular for a reason. The downside is that there is a flood of future-performers who don't realize the full context.
It took me years to realize the importance of connecting with someone before you begin to share with them. I get a sense of their personality, their knowledge of magic, and their interest level in what I want to show them. You can do this while still fitting into the guerrilla category.
Absolutely. When I first watched David Blaine I also did not realize how much was happening outside of what was shown on the screen. It wasn't until I tried busking that I really realized the importance of creating the connection and atmosphere for a good performance.
I still do the guerrilla style street magic. Although, like Blaine, I don't show the interactions that take place before the camera starts rolling. 9/10 times I'm usually the one that gets approached by strangers to be asked what we are doing (my cameraman has a shoulder rig mounted on him so they think we mean business). I put up a compilation on my YouTube channel of me doing this style of performance. The last clip at the end of the video is my favorite performance because a birthday party at a park was going on and they stopped us to see what we were up to. I explained to them we were filming magic performances and they got all giddy and wanted to see some magic so I got to perform a quick set for them.
I understand where a lot of the hate comes from in guerrilla style magic, especially if it's done for TV/video. But I think it's a beautiful form of performance art since it's a way of connecting with someone you would not have a reason to otherwise without wanting to entertain them. Not only that, chances are this will be the one and only opportunity that you have to be with these people and so this will be their only memory/experience with you and so I try to make it as entertaining and memorable as possible. Before I got into magic, I always wanted to know what it was like to interact with a complete stranger without it being creepy. Magic gave me the avenue to do just that.
I understand where a lot of the hate comes from in guerrilla style magic, especially if it's done for TV/video. But I think it's a beautiful form of performance art since it's a way of connecting with someone you would not have a reason to otherwise without wanting to entertain them. Not only that, chances are this will be the one and only opportunity that you have to be with these people and so this will be their only memory/experience with you and so I try to make it as entertaining and memorable as possible. Before I got into magic, I always wanted to know what it was like to interact with a complete stranger without it being creepy. Magic gave me the avenue to do just that.
My good friend The Magic Crasher on youtube makes a living off of approaching people on the street and pranking them with magic. 
Because I think of Jean Eugene Robert Houdin stopping a war with his magic performances. Think of what that means. Not only does it mean that the people who were starting that rebellion respected the performance enough that they lost their nerve to rebel, but it also means that the government of a powerful nation decided that their -best- strategy was to send a magician to stop the war. Imagine the level of respect for Houdin that these actions imply.
But now we've got people like The Magic Crasher and Carbanaro using magic to ... pull pranks. Let's make a video of this dude sitting on an invisible chair at a muscle beach. Hilarity ensues!
And magicians wonder why people think magic is lame these days? Why should the general public respect magic when magicians don't?
But now we've got people like The Magic Crasher and Carbanaro using magic to ... pull pranks. Let's make a video of this dude sitting on an invisible chair at a muscle beach. Hilarity ensues!
And magicians wonder why people think magic is lame these days? Why should the general public respect magic when magicians don't?
Ok. Not sure how using magic to prank people is disrespecting the art. I just think it is a different style of magic.
Vernon said, "Confusion is not magic". Pranks do little more than cause a few moments of confusion. Pranks are also inherently trivial and meaningless. Therefore, using magic to do these silly pranks, by default, means the person thinks that it's something trivial and meaningless.
I'm going to agree with what has been said above: There are still youtube channels out there that promote that kind of performing. So I don't think that it's "dead" per-say. Just out of vogue.
To that end I also want to add that there's a great deal of difference between performing for someone and performing AT someone. The latter being what you see in those types of videos. I'm not a fan of just performing at someone.
To that end I also want to add that there's a great deal of difference between performing for someone and performing AT someone. The latter being what you see in those types of videos. I'm not a fan of just performing at someone.