Story of Magic DVD – A Second OpinionInside MagicMagic News Updated Daily for the Professional Magician

Not that long ago,I reviewed the wonderful review of Grand Illusions: The Story of Magic. I thought the reviewer did a great job in appreciating that Magic is a special kind of Art.

The reviewer did not believe magic had to be exposed to be enjoyed. He was alone in his thesis. The same DVD was reviewed recently and found to be lacking precisely because it did not reveal secrets.

Well, here is the very same DVD reviewed by another on-line service that writes:

??Explore the rich, fascinating culture and history of magic. Come backstage and see what’s behind the curtain!? So proclaims Grand Illusions: The Story of Magic. Oh, if only it were so. But instead of a true exploration of an intriguing subject, we get 160 minutes of bland and nearly content-free pap.?

The pappy part of the show is apparently that the secrets are not exposed:

?A fundamental flaw in Grand Illusions is how it approaches its subject matter, which is to simply present a descriptive summary of the careers and favorite tricks of various magicians. There’s no attempt to explain how the tricks were, or are, done.?

Magic should be considered in the same light as movie making. We?ve lost our innocence and no longer think Magic is magic.…

Not that long ago,I reviewed the wonderful review of Grand Illusions: The Story of Magic. I thought the reviewer did a great job in appreciating that Magic is a special kind of Art.

The reviewer did not believe magic had to be exposed to be enjoyed. He was alone in his thesis. The same DVD was reviewed recently and found to be lacking precisely because it did not reveal secrets.

Well, here is the very same DVD reviewed by another on-line service that writes:

??Explore the rich, fascinating culture and history of magic. Come backstage and see what’s behind the curtain!? So proclaims Grand Illusions: The Story of Magic. Oh, if only it were so. But instead of a true exploration of an intriguing subject, we get 160 minutes of bland and nearly content-free pap.?

The pappy part of the show is apparently that the secrets are not exposed:

?A fundamental flaw in Grand Illusions is how it approaches its subject matter, which is to simply present a descriptive summary of the careers and favorite tricks of various magicians. There’s no attempt to explain how the tricks were, or are, done.?

Magic should be considered in the same light as movie making. We?ve lost our innocence and no longer think Magic is magic.

?We accept the illusions as part of the film experience, which means that when we want to admire the illusions as illusions, we want to know how it was done: just look at the popularity of “making of” documentaries for films.?

Our attraction to magic has moved from ?wow that was incredible? to ?wow, that was well-done. How did they do it?? ?We’ve taken for granted that we can be fooled: what arouses our sense of wonder is the skill and cleverness of the trick that fooled us.?

The DVD is sterile and boring because the secrets are not revealed. The author asks, ?did the filmmakers think that showing how these tricks worked would dispel all their magic? If so, they must never have spoken to anyone who’s interested in science, for instance ? and never realized that understanding how something complex works makes it more fascinating rather than less.?

This argument has been advanced by many recently during the discussion on whether exposure actually helps promote magic. The theory is that we are in a post-modern world where we no longer could possibly expect there to be real mystery or real magic and so there is nothing lost by exposing the secret.

It is, after all, just the application of science.

There were magicians on the various bulletin boards that also espoused this theory and suggested our Art would actually receive greater acceptance once we exposed our secrets.

I?ve believed exposure for virtually any reason ? other than bona fide education of magicians ? is wrong. While a Magician is not simply a purveyor of secrets, secrets are an essential part of the Craft.

Without secret methods, we would be nothing more than performers of scientific experiments.

Last time I checked, there weren?t that many sold-out science demonstrations in Vegas showrooms. This excludes the adult shows that test the limits of silicone or the effect of bleaching chemicals on hair.

The review suggests that modern day audiences love to watch magic just to learn the secrets ? the behind the scenes ? not to be mystified or fooled.

I disagree.