Do you have to explain what mentalism is?

[Ocelotl]

I have been running into a problem lately that annoys me... I will do some amazing predictions and mind reading material, and then that spectator will grab a friend and say "you've gotta check this out, this guy does amazing magic tricks!" Ultimately I suppose it doesn't matter as long as they are entertained. But I would like to know your guys' input here. Is it because people simply don't know what mentalism is? Should a mentalist explain it? I thought of a way of doing so:

"Ladies and gentlemen, good evening and welcome! My name is Ocelotl, and I will be your mentalist for this evening. For those who may not be familiar, a mentalist is similar to a magician, but instead of using slight of hand to manipulate objects and make them disappear or something like that, I do "tricks" with information. Using skillful coordination of mental skills we all have, and a little cooperation from the audience, we can make some truly amazing things happen together." (Mentalist goes on to open with a quick and sharp effect, such as "An Opening Effect" by Corinda).

I want something that won't take long to say that lets people know who I am and what I do. Or should I forgo this and just do what I do? Or should I perhaps begin with the opening effect and then say this? What are your thoughts?

 

[WitchDocIsIn]

You're shooting yourself in the foot if you say, "I do 'tricks' with information".

Magicians do tricks. Mentalists are not magicians. If you're saying you do tricks, you're not a mentalist, you're a mental magician.

There's nothing wrong with being a mental magician. But it's not a mentalist. They are distinct and separate theatrical endeavors.

My suggestion is to commit.

"I am a mentalist. I read minds."

My little quote is inspired by/ripped off from Derren Brown, "My skill base revolves around three skills. I tell stories, I put thoughts into your mind, and I take thoughts out of your mind. That's what it all boils down to."

My second suggestion is to dissociate yourself from anything resembling "magician". If you're a mentalist, you're not a magician. Stop putting that thought into your audience's minds. Own it.

If you're not willing to own it - accept that you're a mental magician and adjust your scripting accordingly.

Again - I'm not saying one or the other is better or worse. But they are different, and accepting your preferred approach will dramatically improve your performances due to internal logical consistency.

 

[NinoIng]

I don't do mentalism but I was a fan of Derren Brown long before I really got into anything other than card tricks. His success, for me, is that he never promoted himself as anything even remotely connected the magic and unless you're part of the community you are unlikely to even realise he's part of it.

Derren has created a persona of being a genuine mentalist, but this isn't a word laymen use or need to hear. They see him as a mind reader and a specialist in reading body language, suggestion and picking up on what we would think were random events but that he will argue (in character) that they are actually incredibly predictable if you just know how to narrow them down.

So basically as a layman (I was one, when it comes to him) I believed his explanations as social phenomena, suggestion and some kind of ability that I couldn't explain. Because of this I never tried to find out how he did his routines, because I didn't think they were 'routines'. I saw them as demonstrations of genuine social/psychological tricks and phenomena and that's why audiences love him. It's also why they don't question him - his explanations for what he's doing sound so convincing and believable that you have no reason to doubt them, even when he then does something incredible that you didn't expect.

Like card magicians who should avoid leaving a trail of breadcrumbs for you audience to follow in order to figure out a method, mentalists should avoid any idea that what you are doing is a 'trick'. Instead, tap into those phenomena that everybody experiences but can't explain. Deja vu, sudden bursts of seemingly impossible intuition, those times when you think about a person and suddenly they call you on the phone, those days when you turn on the car and the radio is playing a song you've had in your head all morning. People might frown at believing in magic, but everybody has experienced seemingly unbelievable psychological coincidences that can be exploited beautifully by mentalists.

 

[Ocelotl]

I am definitely not okay with overtly telling people that I read minds as this is lying. Banachek is a world class mentalist, not a mental magician, and he says he creates the illusion of a sixth sense.

 

[ryanshaw957]

I’ve found that some of my close friends have mentalists go to their college, and no matter what, they always tell me that there was a “magician”. I let it slide because they usually go on to tell me about all the crazy things he did, and that tells me that they couldn’t care less about what we’re called, just what we do. “Mentalist” just isn’t as commonly used. I feel like you can declare that you’re a mentalist, and if they still call you a magician after that, don’t dwell on it, because “magician” is just more comfortable to use, colloquial, etc. However, they are important classifiers in the magic community as they serve to keep us organized and on the same page when collaborating.

 

[Ocelotl]

I’ve found that some of my close friends have mentalists go to their college, and no matter what, they always tell me that there was a “magician”. I let it slide because they usually go on to tell me about all the crazy things he did, and that tells me that they couldn’t care less about what we’re called, just what we do. “Mentalist” just isn’t as commonly used. I feel like you can declare that you’re a mentalist, and if they still call you a magician after that, don’t dwell on it, because “magician” is just more comfortable to use, colloquial, etc. However, they are important classifiers in the magic community as they serve to keep us organized and on the same page when collaborating.

I feel this is largely accurate. Everyone knows what a magician is but mentalism is not in everyone's vocabulary. From the reactions I get, I know I am doing mentalism proper. They think I am actually in their head, never asking "what's the trick behind that?" Another issue that might explain why they think I am a magician is that many of my family who I perform for at parties etc know that I used to do magic as a kid, and so they just think of me as a magician. BTW I'll just state here that I in no way disparage being a magician as if it were not as good as being a mentalist, but a mentalist is just who I am and what I do, paying brief visits to magic here and there just for fun.

 

[RealityOne]

If you explain why what you do is not amazing, your audience will believe you.

 

[WitchDocIsIn]

So you tell them you're peeking or otherwise reading what they write down?

There's going to be a base level of deceit in most performances. Unless you become a real purist, which is certainly possible, you're going to be lying to your audience. If anything, lies by omission.

As much as I rant about the difference between mentalism and magic, I'm talking entirely about how we (the magic community) need to think about it. The theatrical motivation behind each art form will influence how it is performed.

That being said, the audience will use whatever label they feel best describes what they are seeing. If they go with general words like, "Magician" - they're probably thinking they're seeing tricks. If they start to use modifiers, then you're moving away from that perception, such as "psychological magician", "kind of a magician", etc.

And yes, Banachek does the line about creating an illusion of a sixth sense. I know he's very successful, but I also think that line makes his life harder.

Mentalist isn't a super well known term outside of the magic community - but mind reader is. Psychic is. I'm asked if I'm genuinely psychic pretty frequently. I've had several people introduce me to friends as someone who reads minds. Magician almost never comes up.

 

[Ocelotl]

You could go the Banachek route with a disclaimer... you could go the Osterlind route of not claiming anything in the first place. You could go the Jesus route of "who do you say that I am?" What does Max Maven do? He is my favorite as far as performance goes.

 

[WitchDocIsIn]

I've never seen Maven perform but from what I understand he just does his thing. No disclaimer, no real claims. He usually talks about scientific discoveries or art, and then uses that as a frame for his presentations.

 

[Ocelotl]

I agree with you BTW that Banachek makes his life harder. I used to disclaim as he does and my reactions were weaker. Banachek is my favorite innovator of mentalism, but I don't think he is a particularly gifted performer. He talks way to fast. Maven speaks slowly, deliberately, and thoughtfully. Less is more!

 

[Bliff]

I am definitely not okay with overtly telling people that I read minds as this is lying. Banachek is a world class mentalist, not a mental magician, and he says he creates the illusion of a sixth sense.

If you tell people that you can read minds, you are setting yourself for a challenge because the first thing that comes to their mind is "tell me what I am thinking." Maybe you can perform and convince them but why make you work harder by challenging them? What you is said about lying to them isn't right. Most of our performances aren't real (except things like "suggestion" and muscle reading.) So you will be lying to them one way or another. If you are going to lie then why not make your lie convincing ? You are also missing the point that mentalism is all about plausibility. If what you performing isn't plausible then you aren't performing mentalism.

 

[WitchDocIsIn]

If you say, "I can read minds" and you're just doing tricks, then yes, you're setting yourself up for a problem. The trick is to actually be able to read minds.

 

[Ocelotl]

How about "I as a mentalist have acquired a set of skills that although natural, seems almost supernatural. The psychic can allegedly read minds supernaturally. The mentalist is just hyper-perceptive, so much that he may as well be able to read minds, at least under the right conditions."

 

[WitchDocIsIn]

That's a lot of words to say, "I'm going to pretend to read your mind."

Also, is your performance aimed at debunking psychics? If not, why mention them at all?

 

[Ocelotl]

Because I don't want to encourage people into believing in psychics in this age of misinformation and flat earthers. Like Reality One said, if you tell your audience why what you do isn't amazing, they will believe you. So I want to tell them, while still being honest, why what I do is amazing. I really do think most people would find the skill of hyper perception to be quite incredible, would you agree?

 

[WitchDocIsIn]

I agree that perception can be magical. Question - how much of your performance is genuinely achieved by perception?

If your goal is not specifically debunking psychics (which is fine, if that's what makes you happy) then I think talking about them at all just clutters the script and devalues your own efforts.

Otherwise, as I have recently been given notes on myself, it's easy to over explain. You should give the audience enough information to clearly understand what's going on, and why they should be impressed, and not really anything else.

If the audience doesn't seem to be reacting to the degree you want them to, it's time to examine the performance and see where you can tweak it to make it better from their perspective.

 

[Ocelotl]

It doesn't really matter how much of my show is done by perception as that is given as an example of how a mentalist does what he does... I never said it was the exclusive method. I just want to tell them in a nutshell: "I have amazing peeceptive abilities that are almost psychic in their effect from years our training. Now let's try something..."

 

[WitchDocIsIn]

If you're saying you're a mentalist, and that mentalists use perception to do their thing, you're saying you're using perception to do your thing.

How is doing a trick and calling it perception and less of a lie than doing a trick and calling it psychic power?

 

[Ocelotl]

Because I neverefuse said I do everything that I do by perception. I merely mention it as a way that I do things. Which one course I do, by pencil reading etc. It is not as if I said "my name's Ocelotl and everything I do is through enhanced perception." It is also implied through the context of my performance that perception could not be the exclusive method. How is perception relevant to metal bending? Clearly it its intended as an example of how someone can do what I do.