The only connection between the two worlds of Tesla and Robert, electricity and old-fashioned staged magic, is the sense of hyper-reality: of magic and stagecraft in one realm, and electricity and the 'real world' of science that makes the depiction of magic on film possible. Tesla's mad scientist hair, the bags beneath his eyes, make him look more mentally unbalanced than a rationalist -- a mad inventor of film, not a trusted authority to the eye. The viewer's apprehensiveness is dependent upon this awareness of cinematic conventions, just like the audience of a magical illusion is dependant upon their awareness that it is, in fact, an illusion.

Further unsettling the viewer's sense of Tesla's trustworthiness are the buzzing electric generators that hum like tiny bees in the background, sparking with fire. Tesla seems purely a creation of the cinema, of electricity itself. Electricity unlike staged magic is real but close-ups...
[ View Full Essay]