Were Angier and Borden aware of the other's presence during their magic tricks?
Throughout the movie the two rival magicians perform a number of magic trick performances and during each performance both Borden and Angier call for the audience soon after the pledge to come up on the stage and verify that the setup looks genuine. Both the magicians have found the other among the audience a number of times. Still every time when they call for the audience, wouldn't they be aware or worried that the other magician may turn up and cause their trick to fail? If i were Angier and would call for the audience testing then the first thing i would like to do is quickly scan the room to check if Borden is around and if i would find him would get more aware of my magic trick so it wouldn't fail. Please throw some light on this...
Instances:
- 1st - Borden's bullet catch, he calls for a volunteer and Angier appears
- 2nd - Angiers canary disappearance during which Borden appears and skews up the trick
- 3rd - Angier's Transported Man where Borden himself reappears instead of Angier's look-alike
- 4th - Angier's final Transported Man trick where Borden comes up on stage to inspect the machine
Considering they both are rival magicians, it's quite obvious that they attend each others' performances in a disguise either to learn a new trick or to mess up an old trick.
To summarize, whilst performing a magic trick wouldn't either magician be insecure or aware of the other magician's presence during their performance?
Best Answer
Borden and Angier are rivals. They are trying to one up eachother.
However, by revealing how a trick works, both magicians incur a loss. The crowd's suspension of disbelief is the most important factor in a magic show.
Let's say Angier does call Borden out on one of his tricks. "There's a mirror in the box!". Borden's trick (and show) fails. People discuss this happening. As a result, everyone in the city knows how the trick is done.
No magician can ever do this trick again. Even if Angier comes up with a new trick that only tangentially uses a mirror to hide something from sight, it's possible that the crowd will understand how the trick works.
Once the crowd understands the trick (or that it is a trick), the magic show has failed.
Also, if Angier slanders Borden for being nothing but a fraud (becasue his trick isn't real), then Borden can immediately respond by calling Angier a fraud. Both men have lost; and the general perception of magicians has been lowered too (so it impacts all nearby magicians by default).
The only way to win by calling out a fellow magician would be a dramatic case of pyrrhic victory.
Pictures about "Were Angier and Borden aware of the other's presence during their magic tricks?"
Did The Prestige have real magic?
The film alludes to there being no real magic many times, it's dedication and sacrifice that makes a true magic trick. What shows more dedication and sacrifice then dedicating the movie to actually masking this trick properly and sacrificing the real story of the movie by masking it inside a trick.How did Angier do the trick?
In a nutshell, Angier believes that Tesla built a machine for Borden, and he demands that the inventor replicate it. Tesla finally relents, and creates a machine that allows Angier to clone himself. Finally, Angier can pull off his magic trick. Each night, he clones himself on stage by stepping into Tesla's machine.How did Borden do the transported man?
Borden's \u201cThe Transported Man\u201d trick involves the appearance of an identical twin on stage after the first brother falls through a trap door. Angier's altered version, \u201cThe New Transported Man,\u201d is executed with the help of scientist Nikola Tesla.What does Borden say when he is hanged?
26 Just before he's hanged for Angier's murder, what does Borden say, when he is asked if he has any last words? Answer: "Abracadabra."Plot Twist - The Prestige Ending
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