The enjoyment of live magic and it’s relation to other forms of entertainment

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Kuhn, Gustav; Rustrick, Emma; Pattundeen, Srishti Kiran and Chamberlain, Rebecca. 2025. The enjoyment of live magic and it’s relation to other forms of entertainment. The Journal of Performance Magic, 8(1), ISSN 2051-6037 [Article]

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Abstract or Description

Magic is a performance art that allows us to experience the impossible. We present data from a questionnaire-based study that examined how the liveness and social and physical proximities of a magic performance affects people’s enjoyment of magic and how this relates to other forms of entertainment. Participants preferred magic performances that were live to when they were presented on video, but this preference for live performances was also found for dance, theatre, visual arts and sport, but not for film music and comedy. People’s enjoyment of live magic correlated positively with all other forms of entertainment except music at home, film on TV and sports on TV. Watching magic on TV correlated positively with all the other forms of entertainment except live dance, live music, live plays, film on TV and at the cinema. Regression analysis showed that people’s enjoyment for live and video magic were driven by different factors. Enjoyment for live magic was negatively predicted by watching stand-up comedy and sports on TV. Live stand-up comedy, live sport and live dance and film at the cinema all contributed positively to people’s enjoyment of live magic. Watching magic live was the strongest predictor enjoyment of watching magic on TV, followed by stand-up comedy on TV, dance live, dance TV, sport TV play TV, sport live, and film on TV. Live dance and sports were negative predictors, implying that increase enjoyment in these forms of entertainment predicted lower levels of enjoyment of magic on TV.

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Article

Identification Number (DOI):

https://doi.org/10.5920/jpm.1560