I'd forgotten about that aspect of parkour. From what I've read, I think you're right that it has a pretty well developed philosophy surrounding it, and it's a mischaracterisation to say it's just gymnastics. As a lay-man when it comes to parkour... it... kinda just looks like gymnastics to me. But I appreciate that it's not.
Dominic Rougier wrote:Jamy Ian Swiss's essay on the subject:
http://www.antinomymagic.com/swiss.htmThe man has a lot of opinions, some of them are excellent, some I think are complete nonsense... but I find he's always worth listening to, or at least taking the time to form a decent argument against what he's saying.
It's an interesting essay... but I don't find it compelling.
In the first section the claim is made that few people make their living from street magic. Whether true or not, it seems to me unlikely that 'ability to make profit from it' is a desirable characteristic of a performance - from an audience perspective I mean - and so I don't see the significance of introducing 'making a living from it' into the discussion.
Additionally, the fact that the professional street magicians are "surrounded by cameras" is cited as though it's a necessary part of street magic. Firstly, I don't personally really see a difference between the noble art of busking with cup and balls and street magic, so in my view it's perfectly possible to perform street magic without cameras. Secondly, I'm tempted to ask "So what?" The claim seems to be that all street magicians are just in it to get on TV, for which I find some evidence, but little. And certainly nothing to damn street magic out of hand.
While considering 'audience' in section two, the author equates performing magic tricks with 'accosting' strangers and making inappropriate offers. I would like to pose a counterexample. I can't speak for anyone else, but I would absolutely *love* it if someone introduced themselves and explained politely that they're an artist and would I mind pausing for a moment while they drew a quick sketch of me. That would be a fantastic thing to see happen. You could call it street art I suppose.
I smile when I see people making chalk drawings on the street. I enjoy watching flashmobs in action. And yes, I do find some graffiti appealing, with certain caveats. It's a touch of the extraordinary brought into your everyday life. Go and watch Amelie to get a sense of the kind of feeling I'm talking about. Modern life can be depressing, boring and mundane, and an unexpected flash of colour can be very beautiful indeed. This, to me, is the over-all aim of street magic.
In section 3, the author expresses disappointment that 'street magic' is, actually, just magic. But I feel that this criticism can be applied to most other areas of magic; the presentation is all that differs much of the time. For example;
"Many of these tricks are available for purchase via an immediate download: you provide your credit card information and seconds later the instructions are yours."
But you could say exactly the same about books bought at magic shops, which I trust we don't have a problem with.
"Clearly, if you can simply download the instructions, then such tricks require a few simple materials - a piece of string, a spot of glue - that can quickly be assembled at home"
Yes, just like books on card magic only require a simple deck of cards, and Bobo's tome requires a few simple materials that you can assemble at home.. Again I don't see the point the author is trying to make.
The author does make a very good point (by proxy) about 'magic as stunts'. But again I feel that *bad* street magic, just like any other badly performed magic, can come across as a shallow stunt with no depth. But I don't feel that this is enough to negate all the possibilities which the street as a venue for magic offers. Indeed, I am of the opinion that an excellent trick performed for a someone who wasn't expecting to see a trick, will have a greater impact than the same trick performed to a seated paying audience. Not only due to the intimacy of it all, but also the surprise which such an event may offer. Note that I do not speak from experience, so may be way off here. This is just what I feel, not what years of experience has taught me. I am naive, which I fully admit.
, what seems consistent with the vast majority of these tricks is that they are short, fast, one-beat effects.
This is true, but I'm not sure it's a bad thing. Certainly longer routines with storylines are good, but that doesn't mean there's no room for short punchy effects too. How much story does a coin vanish need, really? Is it made more magical if the routine lasts 5 minutes instead of 2? I'm not suggesting just silently go up to someone and vanish a coin, but likewise no-one wants to sit through 20 minutes of narrative just to watch a card trick.
Clearly there's a curve at either end of which lies absurdity.
I'm cutting this reply short of a full reply to the essay because both it and this reply are bleedin' long already.
edit: Sorry, I can't stop myself.
other oddball variants of U.S. Playing Card pasteboards, which he markets to adolescents as "cool," but of course violate the entire raison d'etre for doing magic with playing cards in the first place.
this is an excellent point. The entire reason we do magic with cards is because they're more-or-less everyday items (and incidentally this is why a lot of stage magic (but not all) leaves a bad taste in my mouth. "Look, watch me do something amazing, but I have to do it in this special box" Hmmmmmm). So to introduce loads of 'cool' looking cards and then aggressively market them to impressionable newbies probably doesn't do anyone any favours. I myself was tricked into thinking I should get a posh shiny deck of cards to do magic with.
Yet again though, the same applies to paddles and change bags and colour changing knives and a whole host of things other than just fancy looking decks. So it's a valid point, but I don't see it as applicable solely to street magic.
I'm not particularly interested in discussing the particular case of a certain retailer.
The online street-magic demos are just that: a fantasy.
This is true to an extent, but I don't think street magic can only exist in this engineered form. There's clearly something appealing about the fantasy that it's selling, so I think it's a worthwhile project to try to make that fantasy a reality.
In fact, towards the end of the essay, the author does seem to get to the crux of the matter:
if standard magic is performed on the street, it suddenly becomes street magic. As Malek put it, "The Ambitious Card routine that David Blaine did was no different - it was just on the street. The Balducci levitation is still the Balducci levitation." Good magic, they seem to be saying, will always remain good magic, no matter where it's performed. And bad magic doesn't become good magic merely by doing it in an empty lot.
Which I completely agree with. There is no reason to dismiss 'street magic' just because it's done on the street. Bad magic is bad magic, and I'm sure there are plenty of rubbish tricks being sold by dealers everywhere which are geared towards indoors performances, just as there are for street performers.
I found a post from a man who does much the same thing at his local coffee shop. His wife and young child sit with him, and he begins to perform for her, as a way of attracting a larger audience. His mate "is great at becoming invisible at the right times, as a great assistant (and partner) always is," and the coffee shop clientele "are like ripe apples, just waiting to be picked by me and my ID."
But is Mr. Coffee (or was I) doing street magic, according to the definitions I've addressed? Or is he operating in a more reasonable social setting, a more viable performance setting, by, at the very least, bringing the audience to him?
Yes, I would pretty much call that street magic myself. It all hangs on the definition. If you define street magic to be "poorly executed magic performed to an unwilling audience by unskilled adolescents" then absolutely the points stand. But the street has nothing to do with that definition. If linking rings or doing costume changes looked cool to kids, they'll all be botching that instead. But that shouldn't detract from the actual art of that form of magic, when done right.
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