Maybe I’m in the minority here, but being “fooled” by a magic trick is so expected at this point that I don’t find it all that impressive. I am however fascinated by the clever solutions people came up with to achieve those surprises, and I think magic tricks are like setting up a mystery, that only gets interesting once that mystery is solved.
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If you’re 4+ and any magic trick is “impressive”, for any reason, you may be a redneck.
You’re literally describing why most people like magic. Virtually everyone is aware that it’s not real. The reactions are always a result of “but HOW did they do it?”
You didn’t state an unpopular opinion, you thought that wording what makes most people like it in a different way somehow made you different.
100% agree.
I find magic shows so boring.
Bet your fun at parties
Yeah I guess being “Impressed” needs you to actually understand why you were confused initially in the first place.
How do you feel in that time between watching the trick and then learning how it was done?
agreed. i want to know the science and the mechanics behind such things.
I agree with you. Finding out how it was done is the best part for me.
Believe in magic, you muggle!
I really like this take lol
Nah.
You’re just not fun. That’s fine too.
I love when someone does legit mysterious tricks that I can’t figure out. Not the large scale ones like disappearing an elephant on TV. Thats dumb. So are stupid things like levitating. Obviously, there is stabilization there. ONCE A LONG TIME AGO some dude was levitating at walking pace next to me and I tried really hard to see what was holding him up. It’s obviously a mirror trick. But it was so good, i was delighted! Playful, talented street performers have a special place in my heart tho.
It entertains, delights my senses, and impresses me. Really great slight of hand where you just totally are surprised bc you were watching and still didn’t see it. Idk… it’s a special feeling.
But, even though I find magic impressive, I know someone who likes doing magic and who prefers the learning side of magic. But yeah, I think it’s only slightly unpopular. If your opinion was truly popular, magic stores would be at every mall.
Magician here. You’re not really wrong or right. I’ve found that people just are one way or the other. Some people hate to know. I’ll usually tell you how it was done, unless your a dick about asking or ask in front of people who don’t want to know. I don’t really think ethier way is wrong. I certainly I’m more entertained now but trying to figure it out my self. However I’m always excited to be fooled. Which happens less the better I get at magic.
oh lord.
A thousand years of performance says otherwise.
The “how” is only impressive if the actual skills are impressive. Like slight of hand, and the quickness of it.
The “how” of many magic tricks is usually duct tape or a stupid looking prop the magician cobbled together minutes before the show or the night before. Its usually very silly and goofy when you know the truth. I’ve been to hundreds of magic shows, and seen many grown men walking around with eggs in their pockets. Smh.
^Source: I used to date a magician. Key word used to.
I’ve watched the secrets behind tricks revealed and find it even more impressive the second time they’re performed due to how smooth some of the techniques are.
Meh it’s usually some cheap gimmick that soils the whole thing..
If it’s some clever slight of hand I find that fascinating to learn how
I’m the same way, and started learning some card tricks (The Royal Road to Card Magic). It amazes me how simple some amazing effects are, and how complicated some methods can be.
For most people, learning how the trick works ruins it. The magic is gone when you realize I’m just lying, and doing a false shuffle. That’s why you don’t give up the “secrets”.
I’m fascinated by how easily we can be fooled.
The fun comes from trying to figure it out. The satisfaction is in the reveal; it either vindicated your own ideas or teaches you something new. Thats why magic rules.
I’m going to assume you know of this show but on the off chance you don’t, I think you’d enjoy the show “Penn and Teller Fool Us.” The premise is that magicians try to do magic that P&T do not know the methods of execution. They speak in code but you can kinda glean how the tricks were done.
Also, they allow the magicians to post the segment on their personal YT channels. Some of them will readily tell you exactly how the performed the trick. Irehman7 is also a magician that explains a lot about how certain magics tricks are done. It’s unfortunate that some of the early tricks were just stupid camera manipulation and video stitches.
“The secret impresses no one!”
Ya know…not entirely unfair. I’m never going to watch a magic act but I will occasionally stop on a TT explaining how a trick is done.
I still enjoy the betrayal of expectations and the futile attempt to guess how it was done.
wrong. the more tricks you know, the less pleasure you can experience from magic. the brain releases dopamine when you see something that is highly unusual. sometimes i wish i never pursued those secrets. now when i see a trick, even if i don’t know how it works, it barely triggers any pleasure in me. 99% of tricks once you know the secret the reaction is pshhhhh.
That is a good point. I am more interested in the slight of hands than the show.
As for me is interesting that people before magician came to that idea (if we spoken modern tricks. Stil amazing me the way they do it) like I don’t care I know I’m fooled but o love ideas of tricks are made.
Then maybe you should be a magician.
I’m an amateur magician. I’d love to tell people how I did something, but I know that most people won’t appreciate it. They’ll beg and ask and when I do tell them suddenly it’s boring and not interesting anymore because, guess what, the explanation is something mundane but I’d just spent hundreds of hours practicing to be able to do.
Let’s be honest: “I picked up 2 cards but presented them as one”, or, “I only pretended to put the coin in my left hand, I actually just hid it between my pinky and ring finger” is not as exciting to most people as “this guy can make cards or coins teleport from one hand to the other”.
But if you catch me with other magicians? We’ll geek out about technique all day. Maybe this guy would be interested in the little spin I put on Ramsay subtlety or a new way to get into Tenkai palm.
I think of it as an extra layer. It’s like magic is for three types of people all at once:
You like to be fooled. Your mind is blown, you have no idea how it’s done. You walk away.
You like to see beneath the hood. To learn how it’s done. You’re impressed by the creativity and dedication to craft; the lengths gone to trick the viewer. The cleverness, like you described.
You like magic, know magic and you’re impressed by how they do the trick specifically. What’s their take on a double-lift? How do they misdirect their false cut? You notice the details and even when you know what you’re seeing, you are impressed by it happening in front of you.
This is kinda contradictory. Why would someone care about a magic trick that didn’t even manage to fool them? The whole point of being fascinated by the process is because it worked. The full experience is watching it happen, and knowing there’s a trick behind it that brings it all together, both are equally important and fascinating. You can’t have one without the other. Even when you don’t get to learn how it was done, inciting speculation already works as entertainment, making it an effective performance.
They are even more impressive when you know how they are done.
I 100% AGREE!!! They’re like cool to watch but to me the interesting part is knowing how they’re done and while Ibunderstand why professional magicians don’t share how it’s done, nothing angers me more than an amateur 21 year old going “a magician never reveals their tricks”.
It’s the slight of hand and actual skill that’s impressive
I work with a guy who is also a close up magician. For some of the easier things, yeah I’m impressed by the skill once I’ve figured out how it works, and I do enjoy trying to figure out how it works. But there is a trick he’s done for me 3 times, and I’ve also watched him do it to other people a couple of times and I truly cannot make sense of how he’s done it. He ends the trick with a signed card in an envelope, in his wallet, in his jacket pocket. I feel like I never stop watching his hands, it’s legitimately witchcraft and I get a real buzz out of just how insane that is
Oh my God, yes! That’s how I understand this feeling. Tricks without explanation annoy me. I know it’s not magic, I know there’s a trick, but when I don’t see it, I get that uncomfortable feeling inside my brain that cats seem to feel when they see a closed door. I want to know how you did it. I want to see how your props work, even if all your props are a coke can with a hole cut in it. and only then will I be able to admire how you use visual deception and sleight of hand to create this illusion.
Honestly neither. They’re impressive when they look like real magic. I’m never going to be fooled I know it’s not real magic and seeing how it’s done just is like well yeah clearly you had to do something. A small slight of hand trick doesn’t look impressive. Though I will admit I’m impressed with myself when I can pull one off and no one sees me do it.
From a skill perspective learning how it’s done makes it better. But I come from a family of magicians and can usually sus out how most tricks are done before they finish. When I do get fooled it’s so much better.
real