Target girl

Without assistants placing themselves in danger these acts would be simple demonstrations of accuracy, but with the potential for injury or death the show is much more dramatic.

[4] Jim Steinmeyer, a noted illusion designer who has written well-regarded books on the history of magic, has identified a fashion for female peril as entertainment in the post-First World War period.

Steinmeyer has written that P. T. Selbit's stage debut of the Sawing Through A Woman illusion in 1921 marked the beginning of a trend for women as the victims of choice for acts simulating danger or torture.

[5] A further view on historical trends is provided by performer and blogger Ula the Painproof Rubbergirl, who has acted as a target girl for New York-based knife thrower The Great Throwdini.

A very small and select group of women are notable for having used personal experience to write about the impalement arts from the point of view of the target girl.

They include: A small group of target girls are notable for the fact that they are well known celebrities who performed the role for charitable purposes or other reasons apart from their main career.

They include: The mixture of peril, nerve and sexuality inherent in the idea of a target girl has proved attractive to writers, artists, moviemakers and television executives.

The most notable movie example is the character Adele portrayed by Vanessa Paradis in the film Girl on the Bridge (1999), in which the knife throwing act is at the centre of the plot and serves as a powerful erotic metaphor.