Yes, there may be other magicians and illusionists with more technical skill, but David Blaine has what Houdini had--style.
David proves again that it's not so much what you do as how you do it. Fortunately, Blaine has a very positive vibration, which helps him to communicate to a broad public. In his Vertigo, all he does is stand still in one place without a break for 35 hours. That in itself is unusual, but perched outside on an 80-foot pole with diameter of about a two feet, that's something else!
That it's in mid Manhattan adds to the "stunt." In a city where everything's "a-go-go" all the time, this is an act of defiance--or revelation.
What does it mean? Whatever one wants it to. For instance, "he's crazy" and "he's nuts," to some people; and "he's great" and "he's incredible" to others.
However, the people come out, representing all walks of life. Everyone can comprehend a person standing erect on a 80-foot pole. One doesn't need to speak a certain language, be a member of a particular organization, fall into a specific socio-economic class, or be a certain age.
Just one look up there, and every person is instantly united: a commonality is established. That's what music was supposed to do, but it doesn't seem to any more. That "universal language" has been thwarted with the influx of vastly diverging musical tastes.
But David, standing on that narrow post, so high as to be a tiny silhouette, unties. In his other TV special of street magic he went all over the U.S., ending up in the remotest point of the heretofore unexplored Amazon jungle, doing tricks for the natives, young and old. There was no need for verbal communication: he just showed them, and they understood and responded with amazement.
That's the significance of David Blaine's Vertigo. For 35 hours people came together mentally, emotionally and spiritually in a common bond of fascination and wonder.
