Attractive Magic

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Amateur magic is inherently unattractive. Especially the way it’s traditionally performed. Normally it’s performed in a show-off type of way. “Look what I can do!” That’s a very unsexy attitude.

Let’s say you’re a guy, and you happen to show up at an event and you’re wearing a suit that makes you look sexy. That’s great.

But if you show up and say, “Hey everyone. Look at me in my fancy suit! And this tie… it was really expensive!” That’s what’s known as a vagina-dryer-upper.

It’s the same thing: wearing a nice suit. But in one case it’s an attractive quality and in the other it makes you look like a tool. The same magic trick can come off in different ways as well.

Magicians often think, “Power is sexy. So displaying my magic powers will be sexy.” Nope. Sorry. Displays of power for the sake of displaying power come off as corny to everyone but the most vapid of mindless dipshits.

I’ve recently realized that a lot of my ideas about performing magic are about ways to make performing magic more attractive. Not because I’m looking to “attract” people with magic. But just because I don’t want to turn people off with magic, which I think is something the traditional modalities often do.

So how can we present magic in a more attractive way? Well, as I said, I think that’s the underlying theme of most of my writing. But I’ll get to some specific ways in a second.

First, let’s consider a trick…

“I can float a bill with my mind!”

This basic-bitch style of magic is about as uninspired and unattractive as it gets.

How could we present the trick more attractively?

  1. Allow them to see your progress. One day you’re just staring at a bill and nothing is happening. A couple weeks later you can get the bill to shift a little when you concentrate on it. A month later you finally get it to float. Watching people accomplish a goal is attractive.

  2. Do it casually without begging for their attention. If you dropped a bill and floated it back up to your hand nonchalantly, then you would just be the guy who shows up to the party in the nice suit, not the guy who says, “Look at my nice suit!” See: The Distracted Artist performing style. People who can do unusual or difficult things with ease and without seeking validation are attractive.

  3. Create a story around the moment that is not about you. If—to make this bill float—we have to take a little journey to some weird location of “low gravity” out on the edge of town, or there’s a haunted corner of the public library, or something, you can make the trick more about the experience than just the thing itself that’s happening. See: The Romantic Adventure performing style. For many people, life can feel like the same thing day after day. If you can give people a new experience (even a fictional one) that’s attractive.

You will find other techniques throughout this site, but those are some of the big ones.