David Blaine and Criss Angel

There has been a lot of controversy in the magic community over David Blaine and Criss Angel. The controversy spreads from which is a better magician, to how they have hurt the magic community at large.

Now, my opinion, and this is one that is shared by very few magicians, is that both Angel and Blaine have done amazing things for the magic community and that we wouldn't be where we are today without them.


Now that is a controversial thing to say! The magic community generally hates both Blaine and Angel (each for their own reasons), but to come out and say that we should give them credit for the state of magic today? That's unheard of!

But think about it. David Blaine came on the scene with his street magic specials. Sure, maybe he happened to be in the right place at the right time, but what does that matter? The real point is that he made several street magic specials that ran on national television and stirred up a new interest in magic. People all over the country were now trying to figure out how Blaine accomplished what he did and everyone loved the shows.

Then Angel came on the scene and started with his show Mindfreak, where he performed some amazing bits of magic as well as physical endurance stunts. This created a whole new wave of interest in magic and not only that, but gave the public two opposing figures to get behind (because there's nothing we like more in America than to fight with each other). This dynamic between Blaine and Angel only drew more attention to the world of magic, and set us up to be put back into the mainstream.

Now it doesn't matter what you think of these magicians' skills, tricks, looks, personality, anything. What matters is that you give them an honest assessment and ask yourself if the world of magic is better off or worse off because we have had these figures performing on national television.

So next time you feel like mouthing off about one of these guys, remember that you owe a lot to them. The entire magic community owes a lot to them.

~Cameron Rivers, Kings To You Magic