Yeah, I think you’ve pretty much got it. If your magician is 10 years old (and I haven’t done this since I was a kid), you don’t seriously demand to know how it’s done. If you know, you go along. It’s like pretending that sex is as good as Madison Avenue would have us think: yeah, sex is good, but it’s not that good, but let’s not ever say it out loud.
And the movie fx thing is a good analogy. Used to be I wanted to know how all of it was done, and read movie credits, etc. Now I find it spoils my suspension of disbelief to think about that stuff.
So basically, the whole brotherhood of secrets exists because some people feel that if other people are told how tricks are done, the experience is poorer? I don’t buy that. I prefer to know the mechanics behind stuff like this, and if you don’t want me to, that’s your problem.
Not exactly. It’s less that ‘some people’ feel this way and more a prerequisite for the entertainment form. You are more than welcome to explore the mechanics behind the illusionist’s craft, but you can’t really call foul because the rest of us like our entertainment…erm, entertaining. It’s a little like running up on stage and ripping the fan dancer’s feathers away while shouting, “SEEE? She’s really NAKED!”
Except your entertainment isn’t really all that entertaining, from where I’m sitting. Watching someone pretend to pull a rabbit out of a hat is pretty lame, in and of itself. The technology (or even just psychology) behind how you convinced someone that you just did something clearly impossible is far more interesting. It doesn’t have to be an either/or thing, here. If you feel that learning that there’s a secret rabbit comparment in the bottom of the hat ruins the mystique of long eared pests being removed from unlikely headgear, that’s fine. Avoid sources that would spoil your fun. But there’s no reason to prevent everyone else who wants a different sort of fun from having access to those sources.
An excellent analogy: I’d much rather look at a naked woman than a big fan with feathers on it.
It’s not like that at friggin’ all! If it’s important to you to keep the mystique intact, then when Bob Loblaw starts a sentence saying, “So the way it works is…” you click the back button on your browser and read a different thread.
I’m not advocating that all traditional magic shows be retired in favor of how-to clinics, but I don’t what the big deal about telling folks that ask how it’s done.
It’s like letting women into the Freemasons - I believe it is based on an “us vs. them” psychology. If everyone knows how the tricks work, it isn’t exclusive any longer and magicians have to go get jobs that aren’t based on scamming the gullible.
Oh, and expecting people to use English to spell words when they are communicating in written English is not ethnocentric - it’s just logical. But I’ll leave that hijack alone for now, unless you want to start a thread, mrrealtime.
But, surely, you can concede that not everyone would on every occasion. The artistry and skill of the fan dancer can be appreciated all the more by our knowledge that she is, indeed stark naked behind those feathers, and yet she manages to pull off the illusion of modesty, even if it’s the coy, teasing kind that offers no significant pay-off (reveal) in the end.
Oh, I love finding out the secrets. That’s why I’m here. But I also know that this knowledge lessens the effect of the show.
I don’t have a problem with open discussion of the tricks of the trade, right here in the SDMB where something like that would belong. Just don’t cry like a little girl when the professionals, whose artistry depends on the whole ‘secret brotherhood’ schtick, don’t want to share with you.
BTW, Bob’s coy baiting of your kind has been enjoyable throughout both threads. I imagine he was quite the showman.
As one of the board’s radical descriptivists, I gotta agree with you here. It’s silly to get upset over the occasional creatively-spelled word, and it’s obnoxious to get upset over people who use words in perfectly comprehensible but regional fashions. But when a person’s grammar and spelling are so bizarre that it makes reading their writing difficult, then criticism is well-founded. At that point, it’s like criticizing someone for talking with their mouth full of food.
No one is suggesting that your access to the mysteries of illusion be prevented. I’m not sure where you got that idea. All I’m saying is that it’s unreasonable to classify tight-lipped magicians as pricks because they won’t tell you their secrets. Go to the children’s section of your local library and take out a book on illusion if you’re so hot to know. Better yet, read the dope. Just spare us the whining about magicians who don’t tell since, clearly, not telling is part of the act.
Jesus, are you even paying attention here? I called Bob Loblaw a prick because he’s - get this - acting like a prick! If he doesn’t want to talk about how to perform his tricks, that’s fine. I got no problem with that. What bugs me is when he starts acting like a condescending asshole because I’m curious about the mechanics of it. Now, I’m about to call you a moron. And there’s a reason for that, too, and I’ll tell you a secret about that reason: it’s not because you like magic tricks. It’s because you have the reading comprehension of a stunned gerbil.
No, I guess I missed the part where he was condescending. I did, however, get the bit where you revealed that you’re not impressed by magicians or their tricksy ways.
Was he really condescending, or do you just resent his magical powers?
I guess I also skimmed by the part where you explained why the topic gets you into such a lather.
