This past Friday night, Hope’s Student Activities Committee (SAC) invited a man by the name of Chris Carter (or the “Mentalist”) to entertain students in our Knickerbocker Theatre on 8th Street. I don’t think there were any empty seats in the audience. In fact, my friends and I arrived at the Knickerbocker an hour early and there was already a line forming. What I’m trying to say is that this guy is a hot commodity here at Hope. People want to see him do what he does.
So what exactly does he do? With a name like the “Mentalist,” people are likely to be skeptical. I’ll tell you what he doesn’t do: read minds. Carter openly admits that at the beginning of the show. He cannot read minds, but he can very well read your eyes, lips, posture, any and all body language. He’s a people reader.
I think this is part of what makes Carter so fun to watch. When you think you’re being tricked, deceived, or that someone is violating your personal thoughts, it’s easy to get upset with the performer. Carter doesn’t do that; he’s very open with his audience.
He opened the show with a simple card trick where he was able to guess the card of an audience member just by reading his face and body when he asked him questions about this cards. He then proceeded to do this three more times. Other parts of the show consisted of Carter demonstrating hypnotism and making various predictions about scenarios the audience would make up themselves. He was, of course, right on every prediction. Some of the simpler things, like the card reading, are explicable, but certain things he does are not. There’s a bit of mystery in his performance.
An important piece to take away from Carter’s show is that our unconscious mind shows our true intentions in the smallest ways, so it’s best to make them good ones.
If you ever get the chance to see Chris Carter (the “Mentalist”) in person, I highly recommend taking the opportunity up! It was my second year watching his show, and I was happy to see that in some ways it was similar and in some way it was different.
Have a great week,
Brooke
If you have any questions for me you can contact me at brookelyn.wharton@hope.edu, through Facebook, or my Twitter @hopebrooke18! I’d love to answer them!