31–40 of 64 posts
Considering for some years now, Penn & Teller's whole act is basically exactly what this guy did, I'd chalk his shunning down to him trying to protect his identity (yes, in the last episode, he dud reveal himself, I know... but I suspect that was not entirely voluntary.)
It's been decades and instantly in my head I could hear Cid Moreira's voice. I'm sure I'm not the only one :-) Watching that on Sundays, with my father, as a child. Good memories. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hed40Muo50
How did I know this was going to be about Mr M?
I remember watching his show in my younger years. I always assumed/thought that 'all magicians hate him' was just to sell the show more, like surely we all know magic isn't real anyways? Apparently that's not the case, it seems.
Of course there are probably a couple of clueless amateur magicians somewhere out there who will spout about this guy but it's not how the vast majority of us feel. Anyone who studies and understands magic on a serious level already knows they can take the exact same techniques you saw exposed on that show and fool you silly with them the next day.
I know this is true because I've seen a top notch magician like legendary Spanish card worker Dani DaOrtiz perform for a roomful of very experienced professional magicians at a magic conference and completely blow their minds. The best part is that he used a technique that every person in that room already knew! In fact, the majority of those pro magicians have studied and performed it themselves for years - and were still fooled. A layperson seeing a 60 second drive-by expose on a TV show of a single implementation of one of thousands of techniques has zero impact on a good magician.
Mentioning him as a “hero” in Brazil is quite an overstatement but whatever, but then the article goes on to bash and generalize Brazilians and paint him as a “rare” honest person that’s been lauded for it? I’d guess no one I know even know he lives in Brazil.
As a Brazilian, it has always been about a cool show that showed you cool new things, so he’s well known just like tons of other celebrities that grow beyond the US, and that’s it.
What I thought would be an interesting article about his life in Brazil ended up being… nothing. Mentioning him as a “hero” in Brazil is quite an overstatement but whatever, but then the article goes on to bash and generalize Brazilians and paint him as a “rare” honest person that’s been lauded for it? I’d guess no one I know even know he lives in Brazil. As a Brazilian, it has always been about a cool show that show…
Considering for some years now, Penn & Teller's whole act is basically exactly what this guy did, I'd chalk his shunning down to him trying to protect his identity (yes, in the last episode, he dud reveal himself, I know... but I suspect that was not entirely voluntary.)
I've seen P&T's show in Vegas a few times, and I've seen many of their TV appearances. They do explain how illusions work, but they don't spoil other magicians tricks. They will do an old classic, show it from the "other side", and then while you aren't paying attention they pull off something new, giving no explanation for that one.
Otherwise, I don't think the issue is spoiling it for audiences as the craft and presentation style count as much or more than the trick itself.