The entertainment can be public or private and involve a formal and predetermined performance, as in the case of the theateror concerts, or a spontaneous performance, as in the case of games. Many forms of entertainment are cross-cutting throughout history and cultures and evolve in the light of cultural and technological changes.
An important aspect of entertainment is the audience, which turns a private recreation or leisure activity into entertainment.
The experience of being entertained has come to be strongly associated with amusement, so that one common understanding of the idea is fun and laughter, although many entertainments have a serious purpose. This may be the case in the various forms of ceremony, celebration, religious festival, or satire for example.
Entertainment education is based on a variety of theoretical frameworks. One of those is Albert Bandura's social learning theory.
Entertainment education is based on a variety of theoretical frameworks. One of those is Albert Bandura's social learning theory.
History of entertainment. Entertainment is any action, event or activity for the purpose of entertaining and eliciting the interest of an audience. It is the presence of an audience that makes any private activity from recreation or leisure into entertainment. The audience may play a passive role, such as when watching a play, opera, ...
Entertainment also evolved into different forms and expressions as a result of social upheavals such as wars and revolutions. During the Chinese Cultural Revolution, for example, Revolutionary opera was sanctioned by the Communist party and World War I, the Great Depression and the Russian revolution all affected entertainment.
The experience of being entertained has come to be strongly associated with amusement, so that one common understanding of the idea is fun and laughter, although many entertainments have a serious purpose. This may be the case in the various forms of ceremony, celebration, religious festival, or satire for example.
Most forms of entertainment have persisted over many centuries, evolving due to changes in culture, technology, and fashion for example with stage magic. Films and video games, for example, although they use newer media, continue to tell stories, present drama, and play music.
Some of the activities that were once considered entertainment, such as public executions, were successively removed from the public sphere. Other activities that throughout history have been essential skills of certain professions, such as sword management or archery, are today competitive sports, while becoming forms of entertainment as they become appealing to an audience each time. What a group or individual interprets as entertainment may be viewed as work by others.
Entertainment provides fun, personal satisfaction and good mood. In certain circumstances and contexts, entertainment has a serious purpose, as in the case of celebrations, religious festivities or satires. As such, there is a possibility that what appears to be entertainment may also be a form of cultural and intellectual development. The appeal of entertainment, along with its ability to use different media and its potential for creative adaptations, has ensured the continuity and longevity of many forms, themes, images and social structures.
This was the case with “masked dance-dramas” in Korea, which “originated in conjunction with village shaman rituals and eventually became largely an entertainment form for commoners”. Nautch dancers in the Mughal Empire performed in Indian courts and palaces.