I read various forums on magic. This everyone knows. I post on them as well when I can, but this time I am utterly unable to think of what to comment.
Well, that isn't true. I can think of what to comment, I simply can't think of a tactful way to do it.
Last night, just before going to bed I checked in on one of those forums that I watch and discovered a link to a short video clip of young lady doing a card trick.
Except that this was more along the lines of "bad magic" combined with "soft porn." Seriously.
This lady is reasonably attractive looking, but to my eye appeared to be deliberately made up and dressed up to look like a hooker. At least that is what I'm hoping because if this is the way she usually appears then I would strongly suggest a fashion consultant.
She performed one of the most obvious card forces on the face of the planet, mainly because it's clear that someone told her "if you wave the deck around really fast people can't see what you are doing" and she took that as advice rather then a warning about presentation.
Once the card was forced upon the spectator she pauses for a second and half and then says "I won't try to read your mind but instead I'll just reach down here...." and she pulls down her leather-iod bodice from her left breast and shows a miniature copy of the card which just barely covers over her nipple.
"Is this your card?" she asks.
Sigh.
I am utterly disgusted.
Aside from the obviously tacky nature of the clip, the magic itself is pathetic. The revelation at the end is lame, ham fisted and completely pointless. (No jokes about the point being hidden behind the card please.)
Starting with the card force. As mentioned above she is using a method which should be smooth and clean. In most peoples hands it is, and as such is virtually undetectable. It is not a method I use personally, but not because it isn't good, only because I have no need of the method for any of my current effects. If I had an effect where I needed to force a card on someone I would seriously consider this method. When done right it is extremely effective.
Presentationally she is clearly leaning on the idea that waving her arms in the air makes it impossible for the audience to focus on the deck of cards and this covers the action she needs to do in order to accomplish the force.
Okay, so by this point she has managed to force a card on the spectator. Badly, but the job is done.
Next she gets the card returned to the deck and then does nothing.
Nothing.
Okay, maybe that doesn't mean anything to anyone else, but if you watch me or most any other magician you will find that when we do something that involves returning the card to the deck, we also then proceed to mix the deck up. Shuffle, cut, whatever.
We do this for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is to reinforce the idea that the card is truly lost in the deck. Some magicians will even say "... and now I'll lose the card in the deck."
Why? Because you can't find a card if it isn't first lost!
No, little miss magic hooker just holds the deck and pulls down her top to show off her breast, and oh yeah, a miniature duplicate of the card.
"I'm not going to try and read your mind..." she says. Well no kidding. Really? Probably on some level she realizes that dressed as she is the card is not what is on the spectators mind anyway.
"Instead I'll just reach down here...." making your eyes really focus on what you've been looking at the entire time mister spectator man.
"Is this your card?" First response? Yes it is and thank you for letting me look at your boobies.
Second response? Nope. Because if it was my card it would, at the very least, BE THE SAME SIZE!!!! That is obviously a different card with the same value on it so I now know that you just made me pick that card from the deck. Thank you for letting me look at your boobies.
Women in magic have a really tough time. I get that. Magic as a form of entertainment has long been dominated by men and as such has developed strong masculine themes.
So what ends up happening is that many women coming into the magic world are taught by men and have male perspectives presented to them as if they were cannon. Sadly most women, when starting out, don't even realize this problem and the result is presentations exactly like this one.
I can only hope that someone will point out to her exactly the problem with this. I would do it myself but there doesn't seem to be a good way to contact her.
Not only that, but upon doing two seconds of research, I have discovered that this woman is, in fact a model who does nude work. And while I don't mean porn (because her profile suggests otherwise), it wouldn't surprise me any to discover that porn could be involved.
So it appears that being a magician isn't a goal. For her it is a tool to help set herself apart in the modeling world. I suppose I can understand that. Just like any other business world you need to have something that makes you different from all the rest.
I just wish someone would teach her to turn her "tricks" into magic.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
I don't fault her just because she is a woman. I understand that her goal as a model is to be seen. Given what little I discovered just doing a search on her name, I don't think being seen is to much of an issue for her.
I guess I just have a problem in general excusing any bad magic performance, no matter what the circumstances are.
An additional thought:
I'm not sure I would go as far as saying that performance magic is BASED on masculine themes.
Why?
Because so much of magic is based on themes having to do with production and producing life. That is a very feminine theme.
What I would be willing to say is that performance magic is often BASED on both masculine themes and the HIJACKING of feminine themes.
Men can't produce life the way women can, but we try to emulate that production with such things as dove acts and rabbit from the hat tricks and other such productions.
Um, you left off the URL so I can see the boobies, I mean the trick, for myself.
That's right anonymous, I left off the URL deliberately. I see no need to continue to perpetuate bad magic.
kdroo, I would have to say that the kinds of acts which use the themes of "assistant torture" are pretty seriously masculine in nature.
Women don't 'destroy' or 'torture.' That has always fallen very much into the masculine role.
However, that being said, I would have to suggest that magic in general should be more about the balance of masculine and feminine aspects and the perhaps what has really happened is that most performers have simply forgotten that.
Consider an effect like "sawing a woman in half." In this case the effect isn't complete until the woman is restored or healed. It is masculine to destroy and feminine to heal.
The argument would suggest that the best magic show/act/presentation would be one that successfully balances between masculine and feminine aspects, but there is one inherint problem in achieving that balance -- the performer is always going to be either male or female! We do not have a 'neuter' magician archetype from which to build!
So by default any performer is going to present magic from one side or the other of this particular balancing act. The question becomes one of whether or not it is possible to compensate enough to achieve that balance.
The Tarot card "Magician" is about mastery. It is about have all the powers balanced. Interesting then, that more often then not the card is depicted with a male magician.
Historically speaking women were more magical then men for a very long time. Men appropriated that magic rather then embracing their own and maybe that is why magic is seen as a very unnatural act. (A thought I think I will explore more in an upcoming article.)
Post a Comment