Recently I watched a movie called The Prestige, a film that came out in
2006 and was directed by Christopher Nolan. Some of the actors are Hugh
Jackman, Christian Bale, Michael Caine and Scarlett Johansson. I picked this
for my blog entry because it falls into place with the topic of my final
project with aura. The movie is about magic shows in the nineteenth century and
two young magicians Borden (Bale) and Angier (Jackman). There are several
instances in this story where people are able to see past the illusion of
doubles and magic tricks, and feel the truth based on changes in aura. This blog post will contain some spoilers,
but if this description sounds interesting to you, I definitely recommend watching
the movie!
The aura is described by Walter
Benjamin in The Work of Art in the Age of
Mechanical Reproduction as “presence in time and space, its unique existence
at the place where it happens to be” (220). This is relevant to The Prestige as a large part of the
magic tricks used revolve around doubles of objects to create illusions. However,
in some cases, the illusions are not sufficient enough to fool the perception
of the aura. For instance, there was a part in the film where Borden is helping
a magician perform a trick where he smashes a bird cage with a live bird in it
(though logically, this would kill it, but magic and humans are not logical),
and pulls it out—alive—from thin air. The audience was amazed—they did not for
one second suspect that there could have been a second bird who had not
suffered such an ill-fate as his brother—except for one small boy who burst out
in tears asking “where is his brother?!”. The little boy was able to see past
the illusion masking the aura and could feel
that it was not the same bird the second time around.
(MAJOR SPOILER) Another instance where someone is able to tell the
difference between a double and the original is when Borden’s wife senses
something different about her husband. Part of successfully executing a magic
trick, according to Borden, is living it. So, Borden and his double both lived
Borden’s life and would take turns being a father and husband to his family,
and living life as one person allowed them to give off the same aura to most
people (successfully turning a double into a replica). However, Mrs. Borden was
not fooled. She was able to look at her husband and tell when it was the double
and when it was her husband because she could feel whether he loved her or not. She would say “you don’t love me
today” and the replica would answer, “not today”. Borden loved Mrs. Borden but
the double did not. Borden was able to fool the audience because they did not
know him on that level, but cheesily, love gave him away. There are many instances
such as these throughout the film.
This movie is relevant to my
project because it elaborates on the aura and people’s abilities to sense
changes in aura. Furthermore, I am using this source to distinguish between
doubles and exact replicas, as this movie provides a very detailed account of
this (I excluded it because I feel really bad about spoiling the movie!), especially
when taking into account Angier’s experience. Furthermore, I plan to explain
the logic behind how Borden was able to turn a double into a replica, almost. I
also plan to elaborate on the aura and how it is different in each situation.
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