Another Morals Thread

[JD]

So a good friend of mine have been having this debate for a long time.
Basically, he says magicians like Danny Garcia, Jay Sankey, and Greg Wilson just rehash magic, sell it, and rip people off.
I personally don't think they are ripping people off.
I just want to see what you guys have to say about this.

 

[William Draven]

Well without going too historical, and theoretical on you, it has been said (and I do believe it to a degree) that there is no new magic tricks. Basically everything that we can do has already been done, and anything on the market today is just a re-envision, re-tooling, or alternative handling of a previous effect. The industry still stands on the shoulders of those who came before us.

So in a way, I guess your friends statement is accurate. The real question we must ask ourselves is just how much do we care about what others are doing, vs what we are trying to achieve for ourselves.

 

[Cedric Taylor]

I pretty much agree with Draven!!! However on your friend's opinion: Its a business!!! Their jobs!!! I get that, so yeah they gotta feed their families. As for the rehashing part. I guess its true to a certain extent. Here's the difference, sometimes it takes a rehash or a retooling to actually make us ,as magicians and fans see the potential of a core effect. Its like Wayne Houchin's Thread vs The Indian Bean mystery where the thing comes out the eye. From a core principal, its the same thing!!! Yet, i think its pure genius how Wayne took something so simple and made it scary looking!!! The same can be said by Marc Spelmann's "Orfices". Kool effect, but pretty much the same thing!!! So its a 50/50 statement. Its about the core principal, but when you can dress it up to where it looks different, thats genuis.

I can recall Banachek & Wayne Houchin's "Stigmata". Dude when I was 9 (1993), we (my classmates and I) use to do the same thing by using the entire effect in making realistic unremovable (temporary) tattoos, which stayed on your body for months before fading away. Yet when I saw how Wayne used Stigmata, I was like. "Damn, he made it big off that? I could have released that!"

If you don't believe me draw a small number on your body with a pencil or marker and do the workings of Houchin's Stigmata over and over, you'll find that you have created a temporary tattoo!

 

[Goldmos]

Well, the thing is credit: do the people who sell their "handling" credit well or not? I think it's cheating to tell people that this is your creation and in fact it's an "inspiration", but like Cedric said: it's a business. Nobody is forcing us to buy those trick. Nobody is forcing us to buy DVD insteed of book. Nobody is forcing us to choose Dan Garcia over Erdnase. As far as I'm concern, with business, it's all about what they deliver. If you are happy with what you purchase, then it's fine. That's the beauty of Free entreprise. Today, I think we buy more the "concept" than the "trick" itself. You can save a lot of time purchasing a DVD and learn from it than purchasing a book and learn from it. Granted, interpretation is taken away if you learn from a DVD, but it's a price that you should know when you learn from it.