Something that has been on my mind for a few months now was VH1's new reality show CelebraCadabra. When I first heard about it, I immediately thought of Mindfreak and Phenomenon, two recent TV magic disasters. As the show got closer and closer to being aired, a lot of information was released to the magic community. Companies (ie. ellusionist) insured us that this show will help magic. They informed us that top notch magicians like Jeff Mcbride and Max Maven will be part of it. They wouldn't let anything bad happen right?
Well, three episodes have aired so far and I have been nothing but disappointed. What is Celebracadabra? It's a show that has the potential to downgrade the art of magic in the public's eye. It is taking a sacred artform and morphing it into a cheezy competition where VH1 viewers can see how celebrities "learn tricks" and perform them on the street the next day. We are seeing so called "magicians" learning "tricks" to beat the other magicians. We are seeing people mess up, argue over, and destroy the artform that we all love. Laymen are supposed to see good magic. They're not supposed to view people learning it. That's not what magic is meant for. Yes there's no "exposure" in Celebracadabra. But lets think about this for a second.
MAGIC IS BEING EXPOSED. Magic is a touchy artform. It's not like ballroom dancing where a reality show can broadcast dancers learning the art and there be no harm involved. The "art" in magic is taken away when laypeople see things like Celebracadabra. Frequently in the show, we see the coaches bringing in new tricks for the celebrities to do. This small one-minute segment can do a lot of harm for laymen. From this scene, magic isn't astonishing, its not amazing, its not even freakin magical. It's a small prop, or secret, that the celebrity learns one day and performs the next.
Then to top it off, we get to see ridiculous advertisments from our all time favorite online magic sensation telling viewers that they can easily learn secrets to tricks and perform them an hour later "for only $**.**" Is this really helping the art of magic?
You don't have to agree with me here but all I'm asking is for you to keep an open mind. Just because all these "big names" are saying great things about this show doesn't necessarily mean its right.
Thanks for reading and helping to keep magic alive,
Alex
Well, three episodes have aired so far and I have been nothing but disappointed. What is Celebracadabra? It's a show that has the potential to downgrade the art of magic in the public's eye. It is taking a sacred artform and morphing it into a cheezy competition where VH1 viewers can see how celebrities "learn tricks" and perform them on the street the next day. We are seeing so called "magicians" learning "tricks" to beat the other magicians. We are seeing people mess up, argue over, and destroy the artform that we all love. Laymen are supposed to see good magic. They're not supposed to view people learning it. That's not what magic is meant for. Yes there's no "exposure" in Celebracadabra. But lets think about this for a second.
MAGIC IS BEING EXPOSED. Magic is a touchy artform. It's not like ballroom dancing where a reality show can broadcast dancers learning the art and there be no harm involved. The "art" in magic is taken away when laypeople see things like Celebracadabra. Frequently in the show, we see the coaches bringing in new tricks for the celebrities to do. This small one-minute segment can do a lot of harm for laymen. From this scene, magic isn't astonishing, its not amazing, its not even freakin magical. It's a small prop, or secret, that the celebrity learns one day and performs the next.
Then to top it off, we get to see ridiculous advertisments from our all time favorite online magic sensation telling viewers that they can easily learn secrets to tricks and perform them an hour later "for only $**.**" Is this really helping the art of magic?
You don't have to agree with me here but all I'm asking is for you to keep an open mind. Just because all these "big names" are saying great things about this show doesn't necessarily mean its right.
Thanks for reading and helping to keep magic alive,
Alex