Interesting and Unbelievable
/An email from ZG asks…
I have vague memories of an article you did on the site, with a thesis statement was something to the effect of “ by making my premises so outlandish, if anyone tries to point out the premise is impossible, they look like the idiot“
Specifically I’m looking to send this article to a friend because we had a conversation to this effect:
Him: when you perform in the jerx style does anyone ever stop you in the middle and just say isn’t this a magic trick?
Me: well no because what I’m doing doesn’t look like what they think magic tricks look like it has more of an immersive theater vibe
Him: well don’t they ever just stop in the middle and ask is this a piece of immersive theater then?
Me: they might internally, but they recognize that would break the spirit of the game. Now sometimes they ask questions about the world we have created together, which is them playing along and gently poking the experience, which to me means they are in the right headspace for having a fun experience. I will have to dig and see if I can find the article where he explains the exact question you’re asking.
Basically anyone stopping to point out “hey I don’t think you really do have a leprechaun live in your house” isn’t really saying something that anyone in the room doesn’t already recognize. So there’s no point in saying it and they don’t”
And after that I looked at the article and couldn’t find it so I’m reaching out to you. —ZG
Yeah, I’m not sure which post you’re referring to, but it’s something I’ve addressed a few different times over the years.
Does anyone ever say, “Isn’t this just a magic trick?”
No. Because essentially everyone who sees me perform knows it’s a trick. They know of my interest in magic and they’ve been gradually acclimated to weirder and more immersive presentations.
I’m not meeting someone for the first time and telling them I have a leprechaun in my house.
Initially, they’re seeing stuff that’s much more low-key and traditional. Then I start to ramp it up over time.
I’ll tell you why I’m drawn to the stranger premises.
Imagine we judge a presentation on two criteria. 1 - Is it interesting or not. 2- Is it unbelievable or not.
In my opinion, the best intersection of these possibilities is in the green square here:
When your presentations are too believable, I think it can put your spectators in an awkward position. If they don’t believe your believable presentation, they may assume you want them to believe it. Which is uncomfortable for them.
If they do believe your believable presentation, then you have a weird situation where your friends/family are walking around thinking you can really psychologically influence them. Or that you can really memorize a deck of cards in a manner of moments. This should put you in an uncomfortable position. You shouldn’t want people thinking you can actually do things you can’t really do.
So when a premise is too believable, I think it’s often uncomfortable for the performer or the participant or both. Especially, if you’re performing for friends or family. (It’s a different dynamic if you’re performing professionally.) And there are ethical questions tied up in it.
For that reason, the “believable” column is not something I pursue.
That leaves us with “Unbelievable-Interesting” and “Unbelievable-Uninteresting.”
You would think people would want to avoid anything uninteresting. But many of the presentations in magic are uninteresting. They wouldn’t be a story you’d tell without a magic trick attached to them.
“The Ace of Spades is the leader ace and the other aces follow him.”
“This big rope is the daddy bear, this medium rope is the mommy bear, and this little rope is the baby bear.”
“This ace is going to do a somersault in this little packet and turn face up.”
These are all uninteresting stories. I think everyone—even the people who use these types of presentations—would agree to that.
I think their argument would be, “Yes, the presentations aren’t interesting. But it doesn’t matter. I’m doing the impossible. That’s the interesting thing. The presentation is just there to give it a little storyline.”
For them, the “impossible” is interesting enough. If someone sees cards changing into other cards, it doesn’t matter what the premise is.
To a certain extent, I agree.
But with social magic, where you’re often performing for the same people with some frequency, the “impossible” becomes less interesting over time.
For most people, seeing something impossible loses its impact the more they’re exposed to it. Depending on how often you perform for someone, you can’t rely on demonstrating something impossible to carry their interest.
But if you put the trick in an unbelievable, interesting context then you are essentially using the trick as a tool to tell a fun or bizarre or compelling story. And an interesting story never gets old.
Now, getting back to the original question, let’s say I’m telling someone about something weird that’s been occurring recently with someone who I thought was an invisible friend I made up in my childhood. Does anyone ever stop me and say, “Hey, wait. Isn’t this just a magic trick?”
No. For the same reason when a magician says, “The Ace of Spades is the leader ace,” no one stops that person and says, “Hey, wait. Is that true? Isn’t this just a magic trick? Or is the Ace of Spades really the leader ace?”
People understand there’s a layer of fiction on top of magic tricks. The goal, I believe, is to make that layer as interesting as possible.