Escape artists are fun to watch, aren’t they? They’re even better in the movies since it looks like they can do pretty much anything when it comes to defying death and escaping rooms and situations that might be the end of anyone else. But there are quite a few times when movie magic tends to make things look a little more realistic than they actually are, and this can lead to a lot of people thinking that certain situations are easy enough to get out of that it might be fun to try. Yeah, that’s not a great idea in any situation since the truth is that a person needs to be trained to make these feats work. The escape artist featured in this clip makes it pretty clear that the way he looks, the way he acts, and everything he does is made to draw the attention of the audience away from what he’s about to do, and a lot of times it is bound to work. There are a lot of factors that go into the art of the escape, but plenty of them are tricks that people don’t know to look for when watching someone perform.
We want to be fooled, much as it was said on The Prestige.
Whether people want to admit it or not, this is very true since the fancy movements and misdirection used by those who practice illusion or any form of sleight of hand are usually done to keep the audience from focusing on the wrong thing at the wrong moment. Sleight of hand is an interesting trick since it takes a great deal of practice and stealth to make it work, not to mention that performing a trick in front of a watching audience can be kind of tough. But those that know how to get people to look where they want them to are bound to find out the ways that they can draw a person’s attention in the direction they desire so that they can pull off the trick.
After this explanation, being an escape artist doesn’t sound that easy.
Well, you know the old adage, right? If it were easy, everyone would do it. This is kind of a specialist field that doesn’t have a lot of room for those that can’t master the finer points and to be fair, it’s not something that everyone is going to be able to master and learn how to make work for them in terms of getting paid. Much like any specialist position, being an escape artist is something that doesn’t have a lot of practical uses when one looks around, but obviously, in movies and on TV it’s something that can be used to create a great effect. No offense to those who have perfected this art and found a way to make it pay, but it’s not exactly a 9 to 5 job that one can see themselves performing every day like clockwork. Who knows, maybe some folks see it this way, but from a general standpoint, it does feel as though this art is something that people might take up as a hobby initially before finding true love for it.
The movies have a way of making everything look possible.
It’s fun to watch the experts in so many different fields take a look at various clips and point out what’s accurate and what’s not even close to accurate since there are still a lot of people out there who are willing to state that some of the stuff they see in the movies could possibly happen. When it comes to this subject though, it’s fair to believe that Hollywood is doing whatever it can to make the attempts look impressive, even if the directors don’t always do their homework and allow certain moments to slide. This makes for a great effect at times, but it can also be a little irresponsible if the movies and TV shows are showing the completely wrong method for escaping. In a lot of cases, it’s not quite that bad since one has to imagine that people can think for themselves and realize that what’s seen in the movies isn’t always going to be realistic. At least we hope that’s the case.
This is definitely one of those ‘don’t try this at home’ moments.
Without a doubt, a person should NOT attempt these stunts unless they are a trained professional, which means that they won’t do them for fun and will know what they’re doing every step of the way. Seeing an actual escape artist talk about what’s realistic and what’s not in the movies is a lot of fun but it’s also an eye-opening experience that should make a lot of people realize that as great as it looks, a lot of it isn’t wise to take for granted.