For this little informal survey I thought asking my family and friends would get a bias answer. So I asked people that I barely knew or didn't know at all.
The question simply was, "When I say the word "magic" or "magician", what is the first thing that comes to mind?"
The answers ranged from:
1) David Blaine
2) Criss Angel
3) "That masked guy that was showing how to do stuff"
4) Clown/kid magic
5) "A corny magician I saw at a cruise, hotel, carnival"
6) "My friends/family member's kid/nephew/cousin is into magic"
7) Penn and Teller
I surveyed about 40-50 people ( a small number in the world of surveys) in the age range of early 20's to early 40's. And not one person said anything about YouTube exposure or magic being ruined. Also, not one person attributed magic as being "cool" or "awesome"....unless they were talking about David Blaine and to some degree Criss Angel.
There is a YouTube video, which I'm sure most have saw, of David Copperfield talking about YouTube exposure. The interviewer asked him what he thought of it and he shrugged his shoulders and basically said, "The internet has been around far longer than YouTube and people have been trying to find out my methods for years".
He went on to say that he simply has 3 or 4 methods to do any one illusion. In short, it was no big deal to the greatest magician of our time. If anyone should be offended, it's him, but he's not.
I think that a lot of magicians here are in an uproar over YouTube exposure not because it ruins the art, but because they feel it ruins their feeling of being "special". Because seriously, it doesn't ruin the art to the people that matter; the general public, the people that we actually perform for.
If anything magic is being ruined by magicians who do not engage the audience in a fun, casual manner. We try to set ourselves apart so much that we become a society of weirdos and freaks instead of just normal, cool, engaging people who just happen to have an interesting facet to our personality.
So the point is? Articles like this one: http://magic.about.com/b/2007/04/06/a-little-respect-for-magic-nerds.htm
.....represents the perception that is "ruining" magic, not YouTube exposure. Only we care about that, the general public does not.
Guys like Copperfield, Blaine, Angel have done their part in changing people's perception of magic and magicians. We can do our part too and spending time lobbying for videos to come off of YouTube so we can keep our position of "power" is not going to do it.
The question simply was, "When I say the word "magic" or "magician", what is the first thing that comes to mind?"
The answers ranged from:
1) David Blaine
2) Criss Angel
3) "That masked guy that was showing how to do stuff"
4) Clown/kid magic
5) "A corny magician I saw at a cruise, hotel, carnival"
6) "My friends/family member's kid/nephew/cousin is into magic"
7) Penn and Teller
I surveyed about 40-50 people ( a small number in the world of surveys) in the age range of early 20's to early 40's. And not one person said anything about YouTube exposure or magic being ruined. Also, not one person attributed magic as being "cool" or "awesome"....unless they were talking about David Blaine and to some degree Criss Angel.
There is a YouTube video, which I'm sure most have saw, of David Copperfield talking about YouTube exposure. The interviewer asked him what he thought of it and he shrugged his shoulders and basically said, "The internet has been around far longer than YouTube and people have been trying to find out my methods for years".
He went on to say that he simply has 3 or 4 methods to do any one illusion. In short, it was no big deal to the greatest magician of our time. If anyone should be offended, it's him, but he's not.
I think that a lot of magicians here are in an uproar over YouTube exposure not because it ruins the art, but because they feel it ruins their feeling of being "special". Because seriously, it doesn't ruin the art to the people that matter; the general public, the people that we actually perform for.
If anything magic is being ruined by magicians who do not engage the audience in a fun, casual manner. We try to set ourselves apart so much that we become a society of weirdos and freaks instead of just normal, cool, engaging people who just happen to have an interesting facet to our personality.
So the point is? Articles like this one: http://magic.about.com/b/2007/04/06/a-little-respect-for-magic-nerds.htm
.....represents the perception that is "ruining" magic, not YouTube exposure. Only we care about that, the general public does not.
Guys like Copperfield, Blaine, Angel have done their part in changing people's perception of magic and magicians. We can do our part too and spending time lobbying for videos to come off of YouTube so we can keep our position of "power" is not going to do it.
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