Thanks to the free streaming services I’ve recently rewatched the series, Lie to Me, starring Tim Roth at his quirky best and the lovely and talented Kelli Williams. The idea of lying has always been intriguing to me – not only as a magician but as a human interacting with the world.
One evening I noticed that the scientific advisor was Paul Ekman. The name wasn’t familiar but thanks to the internet and our library, I’ve spent some time reading about his work. I found it both fascinating and a little dry. Ekman is a psychologist and a researcher. His details about his studies are a bit dry but his results were fascinating.
One thing that struck me was his definition of lying. He defines it as a “deliberate choice to mislead without giving any notification of the intent to do so.” Often the person being lied to doesn’t know that they are being lied to at least not consciously. So this begs the question, are magicians lying?
Upon reflection I have decided that magicians aren’t lying as our audience knows that deception is part of the game and without deception, there is no magic. We are in cahoots with our audience to bring forth the magic. They know we are lying and it’s okay, it’s part of our unwritten agreement.
Eugene Burger often said that magic teaches us to live without guilt. Being able to lie in a performance is a part of that. Now I suppose if it stretches to other parts of our lives…well, that’s a horse of a different color.
