Magician and Not so a Magician

[Toby]

This is not one of those deeper meaning threads, just a food for the thought.

I showed some rubber band magic to my older brother, and he loved it. He wanted to learn it so he can show it to his girlfriend and his coworkers. He is not a magician, but he got the tricks down good enough.
So the question is, what effect does a trick leaves on other people (aka. the audience) when a magician shows a trick, and when a lay person shows a trick? And let's say they both show it exactly the same...

Does it make a difference in the spectator eyes? Let's say that you are doing magic in a bar, or people already know you as a magician, because they have seen many of your effects. When you approach them and do the trick, they already know that you do magic, and that you can do magical stuff. But when their friend/boyfriend does the trick, audience knows that he is not magical and that he doesn't do magic.
In my opinion, the effect is more believable if a magician does it, because of the reputation, than when a layman does it because then the audience KNOWS it's just some kind of a trick or a puzzle.

And finally lets say that they are in the vacuum, they do it EXACTLY the same, so same presentation, same moves, same words, same confidence, same body language, etc... So the only thing standing between those two people is reputation. Can REPUTATION be a difference between "magic" and a "puzzle"?

 

[SebaMan]

Yes
Jus think of an effect you do and watch the reactions, now, lets see David Blaine do the same stuff and compare the reactions.

 

[JButterfield]

Well, David Blaine has the added benefit of a camera and sound crew following him around with the implication that "if you react strongly enough, you'll be on TV"

Getting back to the original post, I think that reputation helps, but only in that people will be convinced that they'll not be able to catch a real magician doing it, but they might catch someone doing a trick - that they'll give up in trying to catch a real magician sooner than some random guy.

 

[Toby]

Yes
Jus think of an effect you do and watch the reactions, now, lets see David Blaine do the same stuff and compare the reactions.

I'm not talking about Famous Magicians against not famous magician, I am talking about any magician against non magician.

 

[praetoritevong]

This is not one of those deeper meaning threads, just a food for the thought.

I showed some rubber band magic to my older brother, and he loved it. He wanted to learn it so he can show it to his girlfriend and his coworkers. He is not a magician, but he got the tricks down good enough.
So the question is, what effect does a trick leaves on other people (aka. the audience) when a magician shows a trick, and when a lay person shows a trick? And let's say they both show it exactly the same...

Does it make a difference in the spectator eyes? Let's say that you are doing magic in a bar, or people already know you as a magician, because they have seen many of your effects. When you approach them and do the trick, they already know that you do magic, and that you can do magical stuff. But when their friend/boyfriend does the trick, audience knows that he is not magical and that he doesn't do magic.
In my opinion, the effect is more believable if a magician does it, because of the reputation, than when a layman does it because then the audience KNOWS it's just some kind of a trick or a puzzle.

And finally lets say that they are in the vacuum, they do it EXACTLY the same, so same presentation, same moves, same words, same confidence, same body language, etc... So the only thing standing between those two people is reputation. Can REPUTATION be a difference between "magic" and a "puzzle"?

Yes, absolutely.

The concept is similar to developing rapport. There are certain effects I perform only after I have spent a certain amount of time with an audience, and feel that the atmosphere is conducive to what I'd like to do. It sounds like a clichéd patter line, but it also happens to be true in this case. There are many reasons for this, more than I have the time to go into, but here's a brief thought, a paraphrased quote:

Joseph Dunninger was one of the greatest mentalists of modern times. But no-one would've given him a second glance if he was working in Pizza Hut, with a name tag saying "Joe".

Why is this the case? In part, it is due to expectations. In part, it is due to belief. The power of thought is immense.

 

[William Draven]

I think reputation can play a large part in it. I've seen some serious big names in magic behave like complete jerks in public and on forums with some of their opinions, and by saving grace that it was them who said it, it flew. Had it been anyone else in magic of a lesser name or reputation then the community would have rounded on them in a second.