Magic’s a bit weird, isn’t it? By its very nature, the events that a magician creates in front of his spectators are designed to fool and confuse the onlookers, plus set out to blatantly contradict the laws of normal reality.
The people who create these moments of wonder can initially appear totally ordinary, just an everyday person with no special abilities, and yet in a flash they can turn into this altogether different being who suddenly seems possessed with extraordinary powers. He or she may look the same but their behaviour is completely transformed.
The objects used by the conjurer are usually presented as being totally normal, maybe even borrowed. Yet seconds later these seemingly benign items metamorphose into objects that levitate, change colour, vanish, transpose from one place to another, or behave in all manner of other bizarre ways, all seemingly without explanation.
Often there is little or no logical reason for why these magical happenings occur. Other than the fact that they may be taking place during an advertised ‘magic show’, exactly why the four Kings change to the four Aces, or why a sheet of newspaper when visibly torn up decides to instantly put itself back together again, or why a spectator’s bank note ends up in a weird little locked brass tube, none of this makes any sort of logical sense. And of course, the beauty of it is, it’s not expected to.
Despite the weirdness of all this, lay people still come along to performances in their droves in order to witness these amazing events. What makes this especially surprising, perhaps, is that they turn up completely understanding that nothing they are about to see will make any sense. They know in advance that they will not understand how or why any of it works and that the magician, himself, doesn’t really have any special powers, but will simply know a secret that they don’t have access to and will use it to fool them.
So what is it about all of this that for time immemorial has allowed conjurers to conjure and spectators to willingly spectate? From the performer’s perspective there’s something strangely satisfying about pulling the wool over the eyes of the uninitiated. Being party to secrets that allow someone to appear above ordinary is for many enough of an attraction on its own. The magician’s self esteem and ego are nicely massaged by the exclamations of amazement from those who witness the little miracles, and this is all before considering that the entertainer may well also get paid!
But what about the spectators? Given that they understand going in that the performer is going to deliberately lie, deceive and cheat them, that he will seek to continually keep them off balance and confused, why would any of them willingly offer themselves up to be treated in this way?
It’s probably because most people rather revel in the uniqueness of the feeling that good magic creates in them. Adults who are used to controlling most aspects of their lives are suddenly thrust into an alternate universe where nothing makes any sense, and for a short while it’s an exciting place to be, a place that only magic can transport them to.