Magician Penn Jillette Explains How Batman is The Ultimate American Magician
Batman has always been one of my favorite superheroes. I loved that even though he didn't have any superpowers he was still an ultimate badass. But, the ultimate American magician?! I never thought of the Caped Crusader as a magician... until today. Master magician Penn Jillette has opened my eyes and has made me see that, yes... Batman is the ultimate magician!
The Washington Post recently talked to 24 professionals from various industries and asked them what films they thought most accurately portrayed what they themselves do for a living. There's a former NASA administrator who chose Ridley Scott’s The Martian; a politician picked Frank Capra’s Mr. Smith Goes to Washington; and then there was an attorney who picked My Cousin Vinny. Those are pretty typical answers, but then there was Penn Jillette, who picked Batman and he gives a great explanation as to why:
"The magic I think is beautiful is the magic of trickery. What I love about Batman is he doesn’t have any supernatural powers. In 'The Dark Knight,' with the Joker and Batman, you really have two magicians running scams. I love the intellectual interest of the boat scene [where there are two boats laden with explosives, and a philosophical debate about who should survive]. When you talk about modern American magic, it’s not supernatural, it’s the playful study of epistemology. It’s how we attain information, and how we attain what is true. In the boat scene, it’s: How people perceive morality, coupled with an impossible trick.
"The ultimate American magician is Batman."
As a fan of magicians in general, the thought of Batman being one is just one more reason that makes him even more awesome in my eyes. What do you think? Can you see the Dark Knight as a magician?
Via: /Film