The Prestige
“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 work it out.
You want to be fooled.”
Alfred Borden, The Prestige
One of the most recognised and easily accessible areas of magic is card tricks.
The skilled magician is able to deftly flip, conceal and switch objects without you realizing. The best magicians are always smooth and polished, but never contrived or too showy.
You want to know how they do it.
But also you don’t.
You want to suspend your disbelief.
To marvel at what just happened.
To revel in the trick, the skill, the magic.
This isn’t limited to illusionists and conjurers who utilise magic in the traditional sense.
You’ll see it in incredible executives who can seemingly freeze time and see all the angles and endgames of a situation, manipulating it for a positive and profitable result.
The writer or director taking us down a well-trodden path before throwing in a twist that we never saw coming.
The sports stars conjuring up a moment of magic in the blink of an eye.
The coach who sits with their client’s negative take and deftly
Some people use their manipulative magic to play tricks and bend the rules.
Sometimes they’ll do so in nefarious ways.
There’s a certain prestige that comes with this prestige.
It’s not just about the magic – it’s about how you harness it.