"Every great magic trick consists of three parts or acts. The first part is called "The Pledge". The magician shows you something ordinary: a deck of cards, a bird or a man. He shows you this object. Perhaps he asks you to inspect it to see if it is indeed real, unaltered, normal. But of course... it probably isn't. The second act is called "The Turn". The magician takes the ordinary something and makes it do something extraordinary. Now you're looking for the secret... but you won't find it, because of course, you're not really looking. You don't really want to know. You want to be fooled. But you wouldn't clap yet. Because making something disappear isn't enough; you have to bring it back. That's why every magic trick has a third act, the hardest part, the part we call "The Prestige."
-Cutter
The Prestige
This is the opening line for the book and movie The Prestige. For all those who watched it, you know how this follows with the story. For those who have not, don’t skim through that part.
One of the main characters, Angrier, is performing a trick that involves using what seems to be a hollow, dome shaped tesla coil (Tesla actually made it.) He first performs “The Pledge”, giving an introduction to his trick. He then turns it on, which creates a storm of electricity inside the dome. He walks in, which appears to be suicidal, but miraculously, he isn’t even phased by the volts zapping all over him. This is the time where he performs “The Turn” which involves him miraculously disappearing in a flash of light. But, the crowd wants more, “because making something disappear isn't enough; you have to bring it back.” From atop a balcony, a voice shouts. Everyone looks up, and there stands Angrier. This is the final part. The part any good trick can’t go without. He preformed what is called, “The Prestige”.
Why is the prestige so important? It’s the part of the trick that wins your audience over. It’s very cheap to make a card or a dove disappear and not bring it back. The prestige is what will make your trick both mysterious and magical. This brings me to the point of this essay. Chris Angel, the Mindfreak, does not understand the concept of a prestige too well. He makes a car disappear but he doesn't bring it back. He saws a lady in half but doesn’t put her back together again. He does something amazing but he doesn't perform too many prestiges. Yes he occasionally makes a necklace disappear and then brings it back in through the workings of a gumball machine. But that to seems cheesy and it’s with something small. I want to see something BIG reappear. I want him to bring that car back. If he can’t do that, I’d at least like to see him put the lady back together. Let me give you an example.
In season six of the show Mindfreak, he made 100 people, at random, disappear. He shackled them up in an alternating order of sitting and standing. The platform that they were on was completely exposed, cameras were everywhere, people were shackled around the platform, there was an SPOV camera, and even a POV camera for Chris Angel. So there was no possible way Chris Angel could do something sneaky. He pulled a cover over the 100 people, put them under hypnosis, and pulled the camera up to his face- wait, to his face? That’s cheap! But anyway he drops the cover and everyone is gone! It’s an amazing feat of magic, a world record even! That’s in fact what the setup was for, the Guinness Book of World Records! Wow! Not only does Chris Angel perform the trick of the year, he wins the award for most vanished people in an illusion! Amazing! But wait, where did the 100 people go? Is he going to bring them back, or are they just going to emerge from the back door? Where is the prestige? This trick was very cool, but without that prestige, it’s almost nothing. Besides, if he were to bring them back, it would be like winning two world records. Chris Angel is always saying that he pushes himself all the time, but when he doesn't perform the prestige, that creates a lie of what he said. I hope he will come to realize this and do better in the future.
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