Thirded? (word count)
C-c-c-combo breaker! I think someone will post soon that will contain an ungodly long post explaining why we aren't pretentious, why magic should be viewed as art, and the other beaten to death arguments.
So I see a few posts agree with the OP... I do too, to a certain extent...
So what? What does this mean?
I'd like to see discussion stemming from this. So we agree, what does that mean for us and our magic? Thoughts like this are useful, but if they don't get thought about, then what's the point in noting these things? What's the point of noting that magicians often disguise the true reasons why they do magic, to use another thread, if it doesn't make us think about why we actually do magic?
My two cents: I agree because the stereotype is there, and I generally believe that stereotypes are based on an element of truth. I think it's slightly unfair to leave it at the OP's original statement though because it implies that a large majority of magicians are pretentious, and I'm not sure that's the case. However, the question remains, what are we to do about it?
This is one of the main problems I have about the way magic is taught these days. The nature of magic products has a definite technical focus - how to do tricks, how to do sleights, whereas very few products teach you how to be a magician. Being able to do tricks makes you a circus pony, not a magician. Unfortunately, many magicians are concerned with being ponies, rather than creating magic. This in my view is related to the pretentiousness stereotype, because the study of tricks is, quite often, an exercise in social stature rather than creating magic. This isn't quite as well thought out as I had intended, but at least a thought is out there...
There's nothing wrong with taking what you do seriously. If you actually put the effort into your magic and creativity into, then you should be proud of it.
Yes, some people will think this is a bit "pretentious." and well they can go bugger off.
Yeah, this is a HUGE generalization. Honestly, most magicians I meet are super nice guys and far from pretentious. They take what they do seriously but know that at the end of the day, it's just card tricks (or whatever genre of magic they're into). Of course, you're always going to run into a few jerks who think they and their magic are hugely self important.
From a laymen's point of view, they might think some stage illusionists come off as pretentious but close up guys? Not many close up guys seem pretentious when they perform. Pretentiousness is a great way to alienate people, especially in an intimate environment like close up magic. Unless, of course, they are being a jerk in a jokey, tongue-in-cheek way.
Yeah, this is a HUGE generalization. Honestly, most magicians I meet are super nice guys and far from pretentious. They take what they do seriously but know that at the end of the day, it's just card tricks (or whatever genre of magic they're into). Of course, you're always going to run into a few jerks who think they and their magic are hugely self important.
From a laymen's point of view, they might think some stage illusionists come off as pretentious but close up guys? Not many close up guys seem pretentious when they perform. Pretentiousness is a great way to alienate people, especially in an intimate environment like close up magic. Unless, of course, they are being a jerk in a jokey, tongue-in-cheek way.
Now, if we're strictly talking about internet magicians, then, yes, there is a lot of pretentious on the magic forums in general. A lot of ranting about "THIS is what magic is", when it's fairly obvious the poster has pretty much no performing experience and doesn't know much about magic. But it's easy to boast on the internet. I have a feeling that in real life, most of these guys don't come across as pretentious at all.