A Study on the Structure Change of the Magic Industry
Date Issued
2008
Date
2008
Author(s)
Pa, Jenn
Abstract
“Magic” has been an entertainment art for a long time. However, its role and function in the very beginning were very religious. This might implies that the magic industry has experienced some major changes. It would be meaningful to figure out how and why the industry transformed and to investigate the structure characteristics of the magic industry nowadays. Moreover, due to the value of secrets, it would be intriguing to compare those characteristics of the magic industry and the theories about creative industries in which the magic industry belongs to. irst, in an effort to find out how and why the industry evolved, this study investigated the development of the magic industry, by dividing its history into four major ages: (1) Before the middle 17th Century: Supernatural and Religious Art, (2) From the Middle 17th Century to the Middle 19th Century: Entertainment Art, (3) From the Late 19th Century to the Early 20th Century: The Great Vaudeville Era, (4) From the Middle 20th Century to Present: Big Shows and Small Screens. Next, this study investigated the current U.S. magic market with the S-C-P paradigm, proposed by Scherer (1990). By so doing, we could reveal the underlying factors leading toward players’ behavior and hence structural changes.ur research findings indicated that the main factor of the industrial transformation is “the source of the magic knowledge.” The easier the magic knowledge could be accessed, the fiercer competition would be and players’ behaviors responding to the competition would further change the industrial structure as well. Moreover, the magic industry is very dissimilar from other creative industries in terms of IP protection. Given poor IP protection, there came some associated organizations and networks to make magicians cooperative and functions integrated as an alternative for IP protection. Due to this kind of collaboration, the magic secrets, which used to affect the industrial transformation, is not what magicians compete for anymore.
Subjects
Magic industry
Creative industry, S-C-P
Type
thesis
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