Magic is good and bad on YouTube

[ArmanMagic]

Hello guys,

Recently, I have been thinking about how I became part of the magic community, and after thinking about it I would have never gotten here without YouTube. I find it interesting how people bash other people on YouTube for revealing tricks from magic sites (WHICH IS TOTALLY WRONG), but if you think about some magicians have come out of it because they found one simple trick from YouTube. This made me realize how YouTube could impact the magic community in a good way and a very poor way.
Pros about Youtube:
I mean on one side there are people like me who used YouTube to learned basic self-working tricks from MisMag822 or Disturb Reality and then in the process found there way into a better magic community like Theory11 or Ellusionist.
Downsides about YouTube:
On the other hand there are the other people on YouTube who abuse YouTube and create magic tutorials on tricks like stairway or dresscode. There is also the part where people perform magic horribly and ruin the trick which is also like exposing a trick. Now that also brings us to another realm that I learned about from Magic and Youtube which I like to call the "TRICKSTER" realm.

Tricksters and Youtube
Recently, I was looking at MisMag822's YouTube channel I couldn't help but noticing all the comments saying to check out their channel because they are great "Magicians". When I clicked on the link all I saw were kids messing up on simple pieces of magic. I also saw other comments about how MisMag822 was the best magician ever. It made me realize that some people from YouTube do not realize that there is more to magic than just YouTube. And since they don't realize this they think that MisMag and Disturb Reality are best magicians. Don't get me wrong Disturb Reality is a good performer and MisMag is a good trickster but they are not the best.

In Conclusion, YouTube benefits some people because it gives people to learn some of the good basics like double lifts and controls and everything but also bad that people reveal tricks.

 

[William Draven]

A pizza pie with a steaming pile of turd on one single slice, while still mostly edible is a crappy pizza. Bottom line YT is a poor way to learn magic.

 

[Randy]

Youtube is a very idiotic way to learn anything. While they're can be some good teachers on youtube, the problem with it is that you are picking up the same errors that most of the people on that site have. Also, unless you like learning from 13 year olds who stammer and stumble worst than Elmer Fud over their words. I'd recommend manning up and just buying DVD's or finding a good mentor online. I know Aaron Fisher does lessons and I think Steven Youell also started going them. Nothing wrong with getting proper teaching and have somebody correct your errors in real time.

 

[KeoSilver]

I respectfully disagree. Without youtube I wouldn't have found performances that I otherwise wouldn't have had the opportunity to see in my life. It isn't learning sleights or actual tricks, but it is learning none the less. Yes, youtube is full of poor performance tutorials, but it doesn't make it a horrible source for valid and genuinely good material. Just need to know how to use youtube as an effective tool and not your main source of information.

 

[ArmanMagic]

I respectfully disagree. Without youtube I wouldn't have found performances that I otherwise wouldn't have had the opportunity to see in my life. It isn't learning sleights or actual tricks, but it is learning none the less. Yes, youtube is full of poor performance tutorials, but it doesn't make it a horrible source for valid and genuinely good material. Just need to know how to use youtube as an effective tool and not your main source of information.

Exactly you just need to make use of it.

 

[Randy]

Or you can do the smart thing and actually help improve the industry and not learn from people who have no idea what they are doing. Which is why I mentioned finding a mentor, an actual mentor that has experience and has traveled down the same path you are.

 

[ArmanMagic]

I'm not saying I use it for just learning magic. It's just that's how I got into magic was because of YouTube. It just exposes (in a good and bad way) the art to many people that probably won't get exposed to it otherwise.

 

[Randy]

You need to realize that not many people in their lives have seen magic live (which is why youtube is horrible for it.), so when you go about learning from people on there. You end up hurting yourself AND other people in magic, because word of mouth will spread if you suck (due to learning from people on that site that have the worst technique, worst misdirection, worst presentations and absolutely no showmanship or personality at all.) This will rub off on you, and in turn cause people to think that's all that magic is.

I would rather not learn at all from people who suck or are on youtube. I'd rather spend my hard earned money and actually get it right and learn from real experienced people who know what they are doing. It's one of the steps you should start taking when you want to take magic seriously.

 

[Mike.Hankins]

Honestly...I look at YouTube as I would look at "TV Magic Cards"...you know, those crappy trick decks we have seen at WalMart. Think about that for a second...

Its crappy, but it also brings the serious student into the other, BETTER realms...(T11, E, and even magic shops). The ones who end up not taking this craft seriously, will eventually fade away and fade fast.

I don't think I have seen anyone who has used only YouTube as a means of learning magic. (The serious student that is.) Just like I don't think I have seen anyone who takes this craft seriously, use only TV Magic Cards.

While there is a ton of CRAP on there...there is also some amazing videos too.

$.27 worth...

 

[ninjabennie]

youtube as a tool

I have been practicing magic for 25 years and i believe youtube is a great tool for learning. I think alot of people take the tricks at face value but to me thats not the point. I enjoy getting the jist of it and adding my own perspective on the tricks like any good magician should do. the idea of it is whats important and how you use it to your own advantage. I dont agree with how alot of people just give the good ideas away but how else are the younger people going to learn if they cant afford it because i gotta say magic is and always will be expensive because its the idea your buying.

 

[William Draven]

Magic may have always been pricey but 15 years ago when we didn't ha e the net what did we do? We saved up and made careful informed purchases based upon what we saw at our local clubs or in the prints.

What exactly gives this generation a free pass? Besides most o the tutorials on YouTube are done by inexperienced preteens who just learned the trick 4 minutes before they turned the camera on.

When you buy your material you attatch a value to it. If you get your stuff for free then it is possible that you won't respect it as much as if you paid for it.

 

[benyeeah]

I agree, there are both advantages and disadvantages. I had been doing magic on and off since 2008, then 14 months ago i really started to take it seriously, and that's when i discovered theory11, Dan and Dave, Ellusionist and all that jazz. Before i took it seriously, i only watched youtube videos, but now i rarely learn a trick from youtube. But having said that, i only discovered theory11 and all the others BECAUSE of youtube, so it's pretty even. However, i agree that people shouldn't reveal other peoples tricks, i hate that!

 

[KeoSilver]

Or you can do the smart thing and actually help improve the industry and not learn from people who have no idea what they are doing. Which is why I mentioned finding a mentor, an actual mentor that has experience and has traveled down the same path you are.

A mentor is a great tool, but sometimes that is impractical for some people. Just depends on the situation.

You need to realize that not many people in their lives have seen magic live (which is why youtube is horrible for it.), so when you go about learning from people on there. You end up hurting yourself AND other people in magic, because word of mouth will spread if you suck (due to learning from people on that site that have the worst technique, worst misdirection, worst presentations and absolutely no showmanship or personality at all.) This will rub off on you, and in turn cause people to think that's all that magic is.

I would rather not learn at all from people who suck or are on youtube. I'd rather spend my hard earned money and actually get it right and learn from real experienced people who know what they are doing. It's one of the steps you should start taking when you want to take magic seriously.

Well ain't that just dandy. Glad that method has worked for you, but maybe it won't work for someone else. Also I feel that the focus of the posts made so far are on the tutorial videos and piss poor crotch shot magic. It is a bit narrow considering how large and expansive youtube is. I agree with the general consensus that youtube has its pros and cons.

Magic may have always been pricey but 15 years ago when we didn't ha e the net what did we do? We saved up and made careful informed purchases based upon what we saw at our local clubs or in the prints.

What exactly gives this generation a free pass? Besides most o the tutorials on YouTube are done by inexperienced preteens who just learned the trick 4 minutes before they turned the camera on.

When you buy your material you attatch a value to it. If you get your stuff for free then it is possible that you won't respect it as much as if you paid for it.

Times are changing. If we continue to send beginner magicians back to the roots that most of the older generation of performers started with, I feel it would be counter intuitive. There are some outdated theories, tricks that don't make sense to this current generation, etc. If we want to move magic forward, stop sending people backward. Silk or handkerchief magic, slowly dying because no one uses them regularly anymore; same with thimbles. Even cigarette manipulation, IDK where in the US it would still be legal to light up in a public space forget about within a building. These are all skills that I started out as a magician with. I completely feel if I had the resources that I have now when I started out, my magic wouldn't be current, it would be beyond its time. Yes that is arrogant and maybe a fantasy, but dreamers make the world move forward.

 

[ArmanMagic]

Very interesting discussion here you guys. Very interesting to see what other magicians think about YouTube. Now I'm not saying YouTube should be used for learning the basics because there are many other resources to learn the basics better. What I meant was that YouTube can be used as a gateway into finding the other part to the magic community. I mean I found Theory11, Ellusionist and Magic Geek from finding their videos on YouTube.