MagicGizmo

I guess the first answer to the above-proposed question is really a question in return: “Or does it really not matter if we are ethical or have morals?
I guess a lot of the answer is based on how you are raised as a child and what your friends and family infused into you as you grew up.  Most of us are taught from an early age that you must abide by the norm, be ethical, and live morally in today’s society.

Well, for the sake of this article, let’s say we all are or try to be ethical and live morally.  So, then does this means you should be ethical in your performance and perform morally?  The quick and easy answer is no!  After all you are an entertainer and you have artistic latitude, or you can do what it takes to entertain an audience.  That seems to be the attitude or mind set or the new breed (some older) of magician/mentalist.  Most will do just about anything (if not everything) to make that almighty buck.  Some will compromise their ethics and morals to make a name for them, and then go for the bucks.

While I was thinking about what to put in this article I came across an old article written by an acquaintance of mind, Craig Browning.  I am only going to paraphrase and not quote him:  If you do not want to hear the opinions, don’t read any further.

I guess I should go back and give a brief definition of ethics and morals; most people believe they are the same.  Actually that is not true; morals are the norm (expected patterns of behavior) of human behavior in an individual and ethics are the norm of human behavior in the family.  So as you can see, one is what the person believes and the other is what is instilled by the family (family here is meant to be the overall society one is raised in).

We as people of today’s product, expect bigger and better on everything.  While better is good, sometimes bigger is not.  What I mean is we are so used to seeing kung-fu masters jump 50 feet into a tree or a magician teleport himself and an audience member to another country while on stage.  I feel this is sending the wrong message to the young magicians of today.  If you think an audience actually believes you can walk on water or walk or fly from building to building without any means, you are insulting the minds of your audience.  So if John vanishes an elephant at his show, then Jim must vanish a jet and so on.  At this rate we will be running out of large objects to vanish.

So, what does all of this have to do with ethics and morals?  Well, maybe everything; when is it ethical to make an audience believe you are a god and can walk on water?  Is it ethical to claim to be able to do things because you can edit cameras or add special effects to your taped show?  I, for one say no; you are hurting the art and making it very difficult for the younger magician of today progress with their art.  This is the old “keeping up with the Jones” effect; that is you must “one up” the last guy and yours must be bigger and better.

When we were growing up, most of the society frowned on lying for the sake of “Tom foolery” or keeping out of trouble.  Why then do we not see that over exaggeration is wrong and it is not morally right.  We as magicians (I am including myself here, even though I’d rather be a mentalist) must strive to be better in ways that does ask the audience to think we are gods or something out of this world.

We, of the older generation of magicians, mentalists and entertainers have the moral obligation to educate the younger generation of entertainers.  I have seen over and over an audience go crazy for the classical magic of sleight of hand artists and just the old classics of yesteryears.  I am not saying that I do not watch the outrageous antics of the “TV” showmen; I do like to see just how crazy they can get and speculate on how much money that must have cost the sponsors.  Can you imagine how much it must have cost for just one show of Chris Angel?  Wow, it is mind boggling for me to even try to guess what the costs would be.

I believe we, as magicians and mentalists of the elder generation must show the younger generation of upcoming entertainers what is ethical and how our morals should influence them.  We must not leave our art and craft to those who just want to sensationalize it and put it out of the reach of the younger less monetarily gifted.

I have now sort of danced all around the actual question ” Where do ethics and morals fit into magic and mentalism?”  I truly believe that growing up we are taught to be ethical and shown the morals of our society; we need to have the nowadays entertainers learn, acquire and practice the ethics and morals that the audiences are use to. 

It is very difficult for the magicians/mentalists today to know what ethical is, with all the show stealing, magic manufacturers ripping off magic inventers, people stealing articles and rewriting them as their own, and lying about their magic.  Of course, it does not help that everyday in the news you hear about financial wizards stealing, lying and acting unethical and immoral.  I have a very hard time trying to understand why people do that and how they can live with themselves.   It is down right immoral and unethical the way people are doing their business today.

I have seen many a younger magician just quit and do something else because they are so tired of hearing “can you fly”, “if you are really a magician, teleport yourself”.  It is next to impossible to keep up with all the outrageousness of the performances today.

I am appalled at all unethical and immoral magicians, mentalists, and magic dealers there are today.  That is why we, the old guys need to instill into the younger ones today that being ethical and having morals is not only the right thing to do, it is the only thing to do.

Bono Fortuna
Massimo
The Mental Institution™