The illusionist cannot be confused with the pretender. The illusionist is a lot smarter than the pretender and a lot more devious. The illusionist exudes confidence, which in turn, instils confidence in him/her. The illusionist can be mistaken for the self-important, pervert, incompetent and immature (as they do in fact have all of these qualities) but generally you can distinguish an illusionist by the trail of admirer’s that bask in his shadow and one particular follower who believes they are on the same plain…also known as the sidekick.
The illusionist will seem very charming to those who fall for his spell; these people are generally ill educated or susceptible to his vernacular and self-belief. Other traits of the illusionist are: the lack of pauses: the illusionist will hardly ever let you speak to try and give the impression that what he has to say is more important than you and that he is more intelligent than you as he has so many thoughts that he cannot, by any means, contain them to himself. However, as every illusionist, he may trick you in more than one way. The illusionist will have a way of enforcing his apparent intelligence on an observer, making them doubt their own, by taking an excessive pause after you have been allowed to vocalise your opinions or even problems, followed by a deep breath through the teeth and a long winded “well”, making you question if what you have to say is valid at all. These powers can render the ill prepared powerless and fearful.
Physical traits of the illusionist will include body language. One way to spot an illusionist before even interacting with one will include the head tilt. All illusionists do it and it may be subconscious. The illusionist will always have his head tilted 30 degrees backwards meaning he is constantly looking down his nose at people. This seemingly dominant stance is to deter questioning predators and encourage the notion of grandeur. This slight exaggeration of posture will belittle the meek of heart and fortify the illusionist’s assurance.
Another visual sign of the illusionist is his style. The illusionist will always hang on to his youth as he has unfortunately fallen for his own spell and thinks he is more attractive and cooler than he actually is. Unfortunately, years of alcohol and substance abuse has led him to think that the image he sees in the mirror every morning is the same as the one seen in the real world. Even more unfortunate is that he will often use his position in the work place to take advantage of unsuspecting clients here to learn less than what he attempts to teach them.
Like the pretender, the illusionist will spend most of his time faffing rather than doing work. Unlike the pretender, it is because he is lazy…not stupid. The illusionist will use all his creative skills and resources to avoid work and convince others to do it for him. However, he will usually spend most of his time looking for the piece of paper he needed to give his helper, as he is extremely disorganised and forgetful.
The illusionist does have a weakness. The illusionist’s weakness is his rival; the young, intelligent, outspoken member of the opposite sex. These people are a threat to the illusionist as they see through his lies and will, when possible, push him into a corner so his true colours show.
Comments (1)
The Illusionist is a GREAT movie. Have you seen it?
The Prestige, with Hugh Jackman and Christan Bale may be better.