theory11 — Magic Tricks & the World's Finest Playing Cards

Magic

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soulbound24

Mar 20, 2008
5
0
When does it stop being an effect and start being magic.

When do you really make a spectator question reality, and disturb them by making them question what they percive to be possiable.

I want your opinions on this.
 
I think you all are not understanding what im getting at.

Anybody can do a trick, only a magician can do magic. Now, when do you stop doing a trick, and start doing magic.
 
When you have that connection with the audience.

People who are doing say, the 21 card trick don't do it with charisma or personality. Making it just a card trick.
 
I found that the more I try to achieve that particular type of reaction, the less fun magic gets for me. Because there really isn't that much out there that will totally shatter someone's perception of life. Instead, entertaining people with random moments of strange seems a lot more rewarding.

Your mileage may vary, of course.
 
copperfield 14 said:
When you start to levitate. Noone would believe in magic if you use cards. Unless if you make something float or burn it and quickly restore it.
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I disagree completely. When you watch Rene Lavand, you feel magic. When you sit across the table from Tamariz, you feel magic. When you turn over the packets the first time you experience Curry's "Out of this world" you sense the magic as it creeps up your spine.

The tools are irrelevant. They are tools.

If you are seriously interested in the subject, look up Suzanne Langer's Philosphy in a New Key, a Study in the Symbolism of Reason, Rite, and Art. She explores the aesthetic experience - that feelingful response - that one has when experiencing succesful art.

The same process holds for magic, except our symbols are different. The result is the same - the "feelingful experience."

For more information on symbols, look up Paul Tillich's Dynamics of Faith. He discusses how symbolism "works" for lack of a better term.

Brad Henderson
 
It's funny, because I was just thinking about this.

As I can see, many magicians base what "magic" really is off of what they think is magical. That's where you run into trouble. Because magicians have the tendency to create solutions for things they see, it takes a lot to cause a magician to become a layman again.

To a spectator, it's basically the same. Magic happens when their brain cannot understand how something has happened. The difference is that it takes a lot less to convince a layman than it does a magician. Laymen do not have the knowledge needed to fully form a solution to an effect, so they do not have the same tolerance level.

Sorry if this seems a bit logical, it is just my opinion. Also, I'm not saying laymen are stupid. Quite the contrary, actually.

David
 
Brad Henderson said:
I disagree completely. When you watch Rene Lavand, you feel magic. When you sit across the table from Tamariz, you feel magic. When you turn over the packets the first time you experience Curry's "Out of this world" you sense the magic as it creeps up your spine.

The tools are irrelevant. They are tools.

If you are seriously interested in the subject, look up Suzanne Langer's Philosphy in a New Key, a Study in the Symbolism of Reason, Rite, and Art. She explores the aesthetic experience - that feelingful response - that one has when experiencing succesful art.

The same process holds for magic, except our symbols are different. The result is the same - the "feelingful experience."

For more information on symbols, look up Paul Tillich's Dynamics of Faith. He discusses how symbolism "works" for lack of a better term.

Brad Henderson
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Well I'm sure you've been doing magic far longer than I have so you are probably right. Just that's what my spectators say. They perfer something like hover card then something like biddle trick.
 
Well, the biddle trick might not be the best dog to put in this fight...

But think about it backwards: The Hover Card can be a miracle, but in someone else's hands, it can also be a cheap stunt.

So, it's not the "trick" that makes the difference (though I believe some tricks are better suited for true magical moments than others).

What makes the difference?

Well, that takes a lifetime of exploration. I have some ideas. But every now and then I'll see something that makes me question what I believe. That feeling you speak of is the effect of 'art'. We can talk about it, we can theorize about it, and we can practice it. But ultimately the art speaks for itself, and sometimes it says things in ways no one could have expected!

Brad Henderson
 
it becomes more magical when it seems more impossible, take for example distortion, they know it is impossible but they see it so visually that they have to question it, and take wave the aces yeah it is impossible but a few minutes of thinking and bam! they got it.
 
In Control (Wayne Houchin) I remember Dexter saying something like this- When you bring out a deck of cards people automatically think is a trick but when you move or levitate something or in your case stop your pulse people freak out because you got to close to reality.
-Hope that Helps
 
What do you mean with your question? Could you clarify that a little more? "stop thinking of it so literaly" doesn't help very much.

Are you asking when people stop to think it as a performance, and start to believe that you are doing a real thing?

Or are you asking when it stops to be a "trick" and when it starts to be entertainment?
 
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