Exposure (magic)

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Exposure in magic refers to the practice of revealing the methods of magic tricks.

Contents

The practice is generally frowned upon amongst magicians, who believe that it ruins the experience of magical performances for audiences.

Exposure is uniquely impactful to magicians, as magic relies heavily on the elusive nature of secrets and methods in order to create mystery.

Background

Magic effects have been exposed by both professional and amateur magicians. Some magic effects have been exposed in stage shows, and in other public media including television, [1] the Internet, certain video sharing interfaces, discussion forums, and blogs.

One notable case of exposure on network television involved Val Valentino, performing as the "Masked Magician" in the Fox series Breaking the Magician's Code: Magic's Biggest Secrets Finally Revealed , which ran between 1997 and 1998. Valentino was ostracized by the magic community and received much criticism from magicians for contravening the joint International Brotherhood of Magicians and Society of American Magicians ethics statement. [2]

Penn & Teller have often exposed their own tricks for the purposes of entertainment. Penn Jillette has stated that while the duo show the audience how a trick is done, it is often done so quickly or with different mechanics that the audience is unable to follow. [ citation needed ] This highlights the need to distinguish apparent exposures performed by magicians during an act, which often turn out to be illusions in their own right.

Arguments

Supporting exposure

ReasonArgumentCounter-argument
EducationNew magicians need to learn somewhere. Exposure enables young magicians to develop their skills across a wide range of magical methods.There are many accepted methods of teaching magic that target those who want to perform, rather than those who just want to know the secret.
InnovationExposure of old tricks forces magicians to develop new ones.Developing new tricks is a difficult, time-consuming process. [3] Rather than encourage innovation, exposure may discourage the process. Moreover, innovation is encouraged through competition and collaboration between magicians.
Appreciation of skillExposure allows spectators to fully appreciate the range of skills involved in performing magic tricks.The entertainment provided in magic is heightened by not knowing how the trick is achieved - unlike, e.g., juggling, where appreciation of the skill of the juggler adds to the experience.
Audience satisfactionExposure allows the audience to feel "complete" after watching the performance, instead of being left with an unsatisfactory, nagging cliffhanger.The cliffhanger is key to the performance; not knowing how it is achieved keeps the trick magical and mysterious, instead of rendering it a simple step-by-step "how-to do this" exercise.

Opposing exposure

ReasonArgumentCounter-argument
Devaluation of tricksExposure devalues magic tricks by removing their potential to surprise audiences. [4] Exposures are oversimplified to the degree that they cheapen the art.The dangers of exposure are easily exaggerated. [1] Many magic tricks which have been exposed in the past remain popular with audiences. In addition, many members of the public are indifferent to exposures and will neither seek them out nor remember the details for long. Finally, there exist strategies that allow a magician to continue to fool an audience even if they've been exposed to secrets for similar, or even identical, effects. [5]
Intellectual propertyExposure violates the intellectual property rights of the creator of the trick. Whilst magical secrets cannot be protected by the law, the moral code of practising magicians [3] respects the innovator of any particular secret.In most cases, intellectual property law does not protect magic methods. Most tricks rely on sleight of hand and knowledge of psychological principles, neither of which are patentable in the capacity that scientific methods and processes are.
Potential for disruptionExposures provide ammunition for hecklers and saboteurs at the point of performance.These individuals will damage performances either way. A good performer should be able to cope with this.
Harms new magiciansIt is the simpler, cheaper tricks that young magicians rely on, which are most likely to be exposed. Exposure also encourages experienced magicians to avoid discussing methods with newcomers for fear that their methods will be revealed.Exposure aids new magicians by providing them with an easy, cheap source of new tricks.
Magic and criminalityThe skills and secrets of a magician can be used to harm the public, by creative cheats and emotional persuasion. Exposure may furnish those with criminal intent the skills needed to attempt such deception.Exposure allows members of the public to become more keenly aware of the possibility of deception, and how it works.

See also

Related Research Articles

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Derren Brown is an English mentalist, illusionist, painter, and author. He began performing in 1992, making his television debut with Derren Brown: Mind Control in 2000, and has since produced several more shows for stage and television. His 2006 show Something Wicked This Way Comes and his 2012 show Svengali won him two Laurence Olivier Awards for Best Entertainment. He made his Broadway debut with his 2019 stage show Secret. He has also written books for both magicians and the general public.

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Penn & Teller, Penn Jillette and Teller, are American magicians, entertainers, and scientific skeptics who have performed together since the late 1970s. They are noted for their ongoing act that combines elements of comedy with magic.

Cups and balls Magic illusion trick

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Spoon bending Apparent deformation of objects using magic tricks

Spoon bending is the apparent deformation of objects, especially metal cutlery, purportedly by paranormal means. It is a common theme for magic tricks, which use a variety of methods to produce the effect. Performers commonly use misdirection to draw their audience's attention away while the spoon is manually bent. Another method uses a metal spoon that has been prepared by repeatedly bending the spoon back and forth, weakening the material. Applying light pressure will then cause it to bend or break.

Mentalism Performing art in which practitioners appear to demonstrate exceptional mental abilities

Mentalism is a performing art in which its practitioners, known as mentalists, appear to demonstrate highly developed mental or intuitive abilities. Performances may appear to include hypnosis, telepathy, clairvoyance, divination, precognition, psychokinesis, mediumship, mind control, memory feats, deduction, and rapid mathematics. Mentalists perform a theatrical act that includes effects that may appear to employ psychic or supernatural forces but that are actually achieved by "ordinary conjuring means", natural human abilities, and an in-depth understanding of key principles from human psychology or other behavioral sciences.

Sawing a woman in half Stage magic trick

Sawing a woman in half is a generic name for a number of stage magic tricks in which a person is apparently cut or divided into two or more pieces.

Metamorphosis (illusion)

Metamorphosis is the name of a stage illusion invented by John Nevil Maskelyne, but most often associated with famous escape artist Harry Houdini and performed to some renown by The Pendragons, among others. It is also known amongst magicians as the Substitution Trunk.

The bullet catch is a stage magic illusion in which a magician appears to catch a bullet fired directly at them ⁠— often in the mouth, sometimes in the hand or sometimes caught with other items such as a dinner plate. The bullet catch may also be referred to as the bullet trick, defying the bullets or occasionally the gun trick.

Street magic

Street magic falls into two genres; traditional street performance and guerrilla magic.

Intellectual rights to magic methods refers to the legal and ethical debate about the extent to which proprietary or exclusive rights may subsist in the methods or processes by which magic tricks or illusions are performed. It is a subject of some controversy.

This is a glossary of conjuring terms used by magicians.

This timeline of magic is a history of the performing art from B.C. to the present.

Val Valentino is an American magician. Valentino starred in a series of four television specials exposing the methods behind numerous classic magic tricks and illusions on the Fox network. In the specials, he used the stage name the Masked Magician and concealed his true identity by wearing a mask with a squid like design, being aware of the stigma amongst the magic community with publicly exposing tricks. As the finale to the final special, Valentino revealed his identity as the Masked Magician, garnering some notoriety amongst the magic community, and instigating several lawsuits.

Breaking the Magician's Code: Magic's Biggest Secrets Finally Revealed is a series of television shows in which the methods behind magic tricks and illusions are explained. In its original incarnation there were four shows in 1997–1998 and a special in 2002 broadcast on the Fox network in the United States, and on Sky and ITV in the United Kingdom. In 2008–2009, a new series of thirteen shows was broadcast by MyNetworkTV in the United States and ITV4 in the United Kingdom. On May 1, 2012, reruns of the first season began airing on BIO in the United States.

David Devant English stage magician

David Devant was an English magician, shadowgraphist and film exhibitor. He was born David Wighton in Holloway, London. He is regarded by magicians as a consummate exponent of suave and witty presentation of stage illusion. According to magic historian Jim Steinmeyer, Devant was “England’s greatest magician—arguably the greatest magician of the 20th Century”.

John Nevil Maskelyne English stage magician

John Nevil Maskelyne was an English stage magician and inventor of the pay toilet, along with other Victorian-era devices. He worked with magicians George Alfred Cooke and David Devant, and many of his illusions are still performed today. His book Sharps and Flats: A Complete Revelation of the Secrets of Cheating at Games of Chance and Skill is considered a classic overview of card sharp practices.In 1914 he founded the Occult Committee, a group to "investigate claims to supernatural power and to expose fraud".

Mac King American magician

Mac King is an American magician who has performed on television specials, often as a co-host. He has his own family-friendly show, "The Mac King Comedy Magic Show", at the Excalibur Hotel and Casino in the Thunderland Showroom, in Las Vegas, Nevada. King's show is currently the longest running one-man show in the history of Las Vegas.

Platform magic is magic that is done for larger audiences than close-up magic and for smaller audiences than stage magic. It is more intimate than stage magic because it doesn't require expensive, large-scale stage equipment and can thus be performed closer to the audience and without a stage. Many of the tricks performed by platform magicians are sufficiently angle-sensitive as to make them impossible to perform as micromagic. Most working magicians are parlor/platform magicians.

Magic (illusion) Performing art

Magic, which encompasses the subgenres of illusion, stage magic, and close up magic, among others, is a performing art in which audiences are entertained by tricks, effects, or illusions of seemingly impossible feats, using natural means. It is to be distinguished from paranormal magic which are effects claimed to be created through supernatural means. It is one of the oldest performing arts in the world.

References

  1. 1 2 Peter Lamont, Richard Wiseman (2005) Magic in Theory: An Introduction to the Theoretical and Psychological Elements of Conjuring pp xiv. Univ of Hertfordshire Press ISBN   1-902806-50-6 Accessed 2010, May 20
  2. ↑ "Young Magician Practices Abracadabra". Santa Clarita Valley Signal. 2006-03-17. Archived from the original on 2006-06-27. Retrieved 2022-08-04.
  3. 1 2 Popular Science (Feb 1926) My Rope Escapes - By Houdini Vol. 108, No. 2, pp23. Bonnier Corporation ISSN 0161-7370 Accessed 2010, May 20
  4. ↑ Paul Curry (2003) Magician's Magic pp76. Courier Dover Publications ISBN   0-486-43176-2 Accessed 2010, May 20
  5. ↑ Musgrave, Andrew (2010). "Exposure Essays Retrospective". Ye Olde Magick Blogge. Archived from the original on 2010-09-24.
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