Job descriptions are interesting things. Most of them are self-explanatory. For example, a haircutter cuts hair, a pilot flies planes and a car mechanic fixes cars. But what’s the job description of a kids magician?
Most people say a kids magician’s primary job is to fool people. They do fool people, but so do politicians; and watching magic shows is much more fun than watching them at work. A magician is doing more than simply fooling others. For example, what if the audience watching a magician had no idea how he accomplished his illusions but he mumbled a lot. And he never looked at the crowd. And he moved awkwardly around the stage. Hmmm…. The audience may feel like they had just watched some puzzles they couldn’t figure out but that’s about all. Something would seem to be missing although the conjuror fulfilled the task of fooling people.
I think a better job description is: A magician entertains people with things that look impossible. The key word here is “entertains.” Magician Paul Harris uses the term “the art of astonishment.” A magician entertains people using the art of astonishment. Now we’re getting closer.
And magician Michael Ammar uses the concept of pushing wonder buttons to describe what a magician does. That sounds more like it! When people file out of a David Copperfield show, they’re not just shaking their heads wondering how Mr. Copperfield was able to deceive them so badly, but they’ve been truly entertained.
And some deeper part of them has been satisfied. They’ve taken a journey together into their imaginations and experienced the wonder of a different world. Even more than that, they’ve had their wonder buttons pushed. So how about this for a magician’s job description: A magician is a wonder worker.
