Today's longread takes a look at the world of professional magic and the challenges that magicians face from those who copy and sell their illusions. A fun read for your Friday...
"The Honor System" by Chris Jones
Published in Esquire, October 2012
http://www.esquire.com/print-this/teller-magician-interview-1012?page=all
Eric
For anyone interested in more on Teller and magic, here's a cool video:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5x14AwElOk
Eric
"A great trick, like a great song, should be an inspiration," Steinmeyer says. "It should lead you to other things that are also wonderful. That's what happens in literature, and it happens in music, and it happens in art. But in magic, they don't do that. They just take it. You would hope that what you do inspires, but instead it just inspires theft."
ReplyDeleteThis makes me think about why seeing a stolen magic trick is different from the video Gabe posted that says humans always desire the original piece of art versus a knock-off and can subconsciously tell the difference.
I think that the average human being doesn't see enough magic to be able to tell the difference between a good magician and a great magician. So seeing the trick done feels like the original because it is a new experience for most people.
Kind of like hearing a cover of a song and really liking it without ever hearing the original.
So magicians can get away with simply copying great magician's tricks without being held accountable by the audience.
Is it really like a cover song though? Without knowing much about magic i don't know that you can really do a trick "better" than the person who created but would certainly argue that a musician can cover a song and improve it.
ReplyDeleteI think magic is unique precisely because it is about illusion and being tricked. Yet we still want our trickery to be "authentic" even if we can't individually tell that much different between a good and great magician. I also think some of this stems from our more general societal view of wanting credit to be given appropriately -- if Teller invented the trick, we think he should get credit (in some cases in the form of royalties).
ReplyDeleteAnd I think Mark is right that with music there is far more room to cover a song in a way that isn't just a sheer ripoff. For many bands, a cover can be a reimagination and reintepretation of the original. But as with magic, the appreciation of the cover (whether it is identical to the orignal or markedly different) can occur even if the audience is completely unaware of the original.
Eric
Yeah, I agree with you two the comparing to a cover song is a bit of a stretch. I'm trying to think of a similar, comparable situation in another field where this type of 'ripping off' is happening...ideas?
ReplyDeleteActually, yes. Patent law is a very common instance. I have a couple of longreads about patent battles queued up, but I was hoping to have time to do more research into the issue before posting them.
ReplyDeleteFor most of us, a knock-off product that hijacks someone else's intellectual property doesn't mean much -- the product is the same. But for society, this is a bad precedent to set because it discourages innovators from trying to invent something new in the first place (since they can't profit from it or even recoup costs in some csaes). The challenge is finding the right balance -- if you protect IP too much or in the wrong ways, it actually can stifle further innovation. If you don't protect it enough, the same happens. Really Teller is just the first magician to delve into this legal morass.
Eric
Do we really care if our magic experience is "unique" or authentic? I don't really think so, i'd say we just want to be entertained. It's not like if i saw someone do that flower thing i'd know it was ripped off and get aggravated about it.
ReplyDeleteI think another example is comedy. Tons of comedians have their material ripped off (most recently i know people were furious with Dane Cook for this)
To clarify what I meant -- I think you are right that most people aren't able to tell if a magic trick is "authentic." This is why it's a field ripe for exploitation (like comedy) because most of the time the performer can get away with it.
ReplyDeleteBUT when people do realize that a trick or a comedy bit is stolen, I think it does piss us off. In part, I think that is because we want an authentic experience and also because, as I mentioned before, it violates our sense of fairness that one magician or comedian would rip someone else off.
Eric