text:
Entertainment
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to navigation Jump to search
For other uses, see Entertainment (disambiguation).
Watchers of a roadside television set in India being entertained by a live cricket match between India and Pakistan (2003)
Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and interest of an audience, or gives pleasure and delight. It can be an idea or a task, but is more likely to be one of the activities or events that have developed over thousands of years specifically for the purpose of keeping an audience's attention.[1] Although people's attention is held by different things, because individuals have different preferences in entertainment, most forms are recognisable and familiar. Storytelling, music, drama, dance, and different kinds of performance exist in all cultures, were supported in royal courts, developed into sophisticated forms and over time became available to all citizens. The process has been accelerated in modern times by an entertainment industry that records and sells entertainment products. Entertainment evolves and can be adapted to suit any scale, ranging from an individual who chooses a private entertainment from a now enormous array of pre-recorded products; to a banquet adapted for two; to any size or type of party, with appropriate music and dance; to performances intended for thousands; and even for a global audience.
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. Hence, there is the possibility that what appears as entertainment may also be a means of achieving insight or intellectual growth.
An important aspect of entertainment is the audience, which turns a private recreation or leisure activity into entertainment. The audience may have a passive role, as in the case of persons watching a play, opera, television show, or film; or the audience role may be active, as in the case of games, where the participant/audience roles may be routinely reversed. Entertainment can be public or private, involving formal, scripted performance, as in the case of theatre or concerts; or unscripted and spontaneous, as in the case of children's games. 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. Festivals devoted to music, film, or dance allow audiences to be entertained over a number of consecutive days.
Some activities that were once considered entertaining, particularly public punishments, have been removed from the public arena. Others, such as fencing or archery, once necessary skills for some, have become serious sports and even professions for the participants, at the same time developing into entertainment with wider appeal for bigger audiences. In the same way, other necessary skills, such as cooking, have developed into performances among professionals, staged as global competitions and then broadcast for entertainment. What is entertainment for one group or individual may be regarded as work by another.
The familiar forms of entertainment have the capacity to cross over different media and have demonstrated a seemingly unlimited potential for creative remix. This has ensured the continuity and longevity of many themes, images, and structures.
Applause
Audience applauding a performance of Cavalleria Rusticana by Pietro Mascagni (2011)
Problems playing this file? See media help.
Banqueters playing kottabos and girl playing the aulos. Greece (c. 420 B.C.E.)
Banqueting and music have continued to be two important entertainments since ancient times.
Mesoamerican ballgame (Maya Central lowlands, 650–800 C.E.). Games and ritual events have been regarded as entertainment since ancient times.
Contents
[hide]
1 Psychology and philosophy
2 History
2.1 Court entertainment
2.2 Public punishment
3 Children
4 Forms
4.1 Banquets
4.2 Music
4.3 Games
4.4 Reading
4.5 Comedy
4.6 Performance
4.6.1 Storytelling
4.6.2 Theatre
4.6.3 Cinema and film
4.6.4 Dance
4.6.5 Animals
4.6.6 Circus
4.6.7 Magic
4.6.8 Street performance
4.6.9 Parades
4.6.10 Fireworks
4.7 Sport
4.8 Fairs, expositions, shopping
5 Safety
6 Industry
7 Architecture
7.1 Architecture for entertainment
7.2 Architecture as entertainment
8 Effects of developments in electronic media
8.1 Globalisation
8.2 Obsolescence
8.3 Convergence
9 See also
10 References
Psychology and philosophy[edit]
Entertainment can be distinguished from other activities such as education and marketing even though they have learned how to use the appeal of entertainment to achieve their different goals. The importance and impact of entertainment is recognised by scholars[2][3] and its increasing sophistication has influenced practices in other fields such as museology.[4][5]
Psychologists say the function of media entertainment is "the attainment of gratification".[6] No other results or measurable benefit are usually expected from it (except perhaps the final score in a sporting entertainment). This is in contrast to education (which is designed with the purpose of developing understanding or helping people to learn) and marketing (which aims to encourage people to purchase commercial products). However, the distinctions become blurred when education seeks to be more "entertaining" and entertainment or marketing seek to be more "educational". Such mixtures are often known by the neologisms "edutainment" or "infotainment". The psychology of entertainment as well as of learning has been applied to all these fields.[7] Some education-entertainment is a serious attempt to combine the best features of the two.[8][9] Some people are entertained by others' pain or the idea of their unhappiness (schadenfreude).
An entertainment might go beyond gratification and produce some insight in its audience. Entertainment may skillfully consider universal philosophical questions such as: "What is the meaning of life?"; "What does it mean to be human?"; "What is the right thing to do?"; or "How do I know what I know?". Questions such as these drive many narratives and dramas, whether they are presented in the form of a story, film, play, poem, book, dance, comic, or game. Dramatic examples include Shakespeare's influential play Hamlet, whose hero articulates these concerns in poetry; and films, such as The Matrix, which explores the nature of knowledge[10] and was released world-wide.[11] Novels give great scope for investigating these themes while they entertain their readers.[12] An example of a creative work that considers philosophical questions so entertainingly that it has been presented in a very wide range of forms is The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Originally a radio comedy, this story became so popular that it has also appeared as a novel, film, television series, stage show, comic, audiobook, LP record, adventure game and online game, its ideas became popular references (see Phrases from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) and has been translated into many languages.[13] Its themes encompass the meaning of life, as well as "the ethics of entertainment, artificial intelligence, multiple worlds, God, and philosophical method".[14]
History[edit]
Telling stories around a campfire is a universal entertainment
Albert Bierstadt The Campfire
Mosaic showing Roman entertainments that would have been offered at the gladiatorial games, from the 1st century
The "ancient craft of communicating events and experiences, using words, images, sounds and gestures" by telling a story[15] is not only the means by which people passed on their cultural values and traditions and history from one generation to another, it has been an important part of most forms of entertainment ever since the earliest times. Stories are still told in the early forms, for example, around a fire while camping, or when listening to the stories of another culture as a tourist. "The earliest storytelling sequences we possess, now of course, committed to writing, were undoubtedly originally a speaking from mouth to ear and their force as entertainment derived from the very same elements we today enjoy in films and novels."[16] Storytelling is an activity that has evolved and developed "toward variety".[16] Many entertainments, including storytelling but especially music and drama, remain familiar but have developed into a wide variety of form to suit a very wide range of personal preferences and cultural expression. Many types are blended or supported by other forms. For example, drama, stories and banqueting (or dining) are commonly enhanced by music; sport and games are incorporated into other activities to increase appeal. Some may have evolved from serious or necessary activities (such as running and jumping) into competition and then become entertainment. It is said, for example, that pole vaulting "may have originated in the Netherlands, where people used long poles to vault over wide canals rather than wear out their clogs walking miles to the nearest bridge. Others maintain that pole vaulting was used in warfare to vault over fortress walls during battle."[17] The equipment for such sports has become increasingly sophisticated. Vaulting poles, for example, were originally made from woods such as ash, hickory or hazel; in the 19th century bamboo was used and in the 21st century poles can be made of carbon fibre.[17] Other activities, such as walking on stilts, are still seen in circus performances in the 21st century. Gladiatorial combats, also known as "gladiatorial games", popular during Roman times, provide a good example of an activity that is a combination of sport, punishment, and entertainment.[18][19]
Changes to what is regarded as entertainment can occur in response to cultural or historical shifts. Hunting wild animals, for example, was introduced into the Roman Empire from Carthage and became a popular public entertainment and spectacle, supporting an international trade in wild animals.[20]
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.[21][22][23][24][25]
Relatively minor changes to the form and venue of an entertainment continue to come and go as they are affected by the period, fashion, culture, technology, and economics. For example, a story told in dramatic form can be presented in an open-air theatre, a music hall, a movie theatre, a multiplex, or as technological possibilities advanced, via a personal electronic device such as a tablet computer. Entertainment is provided for mass audiences in purpose-built structures such as a theatre, auditorium, or stadium. One of the most famous venues in the Western world, the Colosseum, "dedicated AD 80 with a hundred days of games, held fifty thousand spectators," and in it audiences "enjoyed "blood sport with the trappings of stage shows".[26] Spectacles, competitions, races, and sports were once presented in this purpose-built arena as public entertainment. New stadia continue to be built to suit the ever more sophisticated requirements of global audiences.
Court entertainment[edit]
Tournament before an audience and musicians (14th century)
Ralph Hedley The Tournament (1898) Children adapting a courtly entertainment
Imperial and royal courts have provided training grounds and support for professional entertainers, with different cultures using palaces, castles and forts in different ways. In the Maya city states, for example, "spectacles often took place in large plazas in front of palaces; the crowds gathered either there or in designated places from which they could watch at a distance."[27] Court entertainments also crossed cultures. For example, the durbar was introduced to India by the Mughals, and passed onto the British Empire, which then followed Indian tradition: "institutions, titles, customs, ceremonies by which a Maharaja or Nawab were installed ... the exchange of official presents ... the order of precedence", for example, were "all inherited from ... the Emperors of Delhi".[28] In Korea, the "court entertainment dance" was "originally performed in the palace for entertainment at court banquets."[29]
Court entertainment often moved from being associated with the court to more general use among commoners. 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".[30] Nautch dancers in the Mughal Empire performed in Indian courts and palaces. Another evolution, similar to that from courtly entertainment to common practice, was the transition from religious ritual to secular entertainment, such as happened during the Goryeo dynasty with the Narye festival. Originally "solely religious or ritualistic, a secular component was added at the conclusion".[31] Former courtly entertainments, such as jousting, often also survived in children's games.
In some courts, such as those during the Byzantine Empire, the genders were segregated among the upper classes, so that "at least before the period of the Komnenoi" (1081–1185) men were separated from women at ceremonies where there was entertainment such as receptions and banquets.[32]
Court ceremonies, palace banquets and the spectacles associated with them, have been used not only to entertain but also to demonstrate wealth and power. Such events reinforce the relationship between ruler and ruled; between those with power and those without, serving to "dramatise the differences between ordinary families and that of the ruler".[33] This is the case as much as for traditional courts as it is for contemporary ceremonials, such as the Hong Kong handover ceremony in 1997, at which an array of entertainments (including a banquet, a parade, fireworks, a festival performance and an art spectacle) were put to the service of highlighting a change in political power. Court entertainments were typically performed for royalty and courtiers as well as "for the pleasure of local and visiting dignitaries".[34] Royal courts, such as the Korean one, also supported traditional dances.[34] In Sudan, musical instruments such as the so-called "slit" or "talking" drums, once "part of the court orchestra of a powerful chief", had multiple purposes: they were used to make music; "speak" at ceremonies; mark community events; send long-distance messages; and call men to hunt or war.[35][36][37]
Courtly entertainments also demonstrate the complex relationship between entertainer and spectator: individuals may be either an entertainer or part of the audience, or they may swap roles even during the course of one entertainment. In the court at the Palace of Versailles, "thousands of courtiers, including men and women who inhabited its apartments, acted as both performers and spectators in daily rituals that reinforced the status hierarchy".[33]
Like court entertainment, royal occasions such as coronations and weddings provided opportunities to entertain both the aristocracy and the people. For example, the splendid 1595 Accession Day celebrations of Queen Elizabeth I offered tournaments and jousting and other events performed "not only before the assembled court, in all their finery, but also before thousands of Londoners eager for a good day's entertainment. Entry for the day's events at the Tiltyard in Whitehall was set at 12d".[38]
Public punishment[edit]
Ticket for the execution of Jonathan Wild (1725)
Although most forms of entertainment have evolved and continued over time, some once-popular forms are no longer as acceptable. For example, during earlier centuries in Europe, watching or participating in the punishment of criminals or social outcasts was an accepted and popular form of entertainment. Many forms of public humiliation also offered local entertainment in the past. Even capital punishment such as hanging and beheading, offered to the public as a warning, were also regarded partly as entertainment. Capital punishments that lasted longer, such as stoning and drawing and quartering, afforded a greater public spectacle. "A hanging was a carnival that diverted not merely the unemployed but the unemployable. Good bourgeois or curious aristocrats who could afford it watched it from a carriage or rented a room."[39] Public punishment as entertainment lasted until the 19th century by which time "the awesome event of a public hanging aroused the[ir] loathing of writers and philosophers".[39] Both Dickens and Thackeray wrote about a hanging in Newgate Prison in 1840, and "taught an even wider public that executions are obscene entertainments".[39]
Children[edit]
Main article: Play (activity)
Pieter Bruegel Children's Games (1560)
Children's entertainment is centred on play and is significant for their growth and learning. Entertainment is also provided to children or taught to them by adults and many activities that appeal to them such as puppets, clowns, pantomimes and cartoons are also enjoyed by adults.[40][41]
Children have always played games. It is accepted that as well as being entertaining, playing games helps children's development. One of the most famous visual accounts of children's games is a painting by Pieter Bruegel the Elder called Children's Games, painted in 1560. It depicts children playing a range of games that presumably were typical of the time. Many of these games, such as marbles, hide-and-seek, blowing soap bubbles and piggyback riding continue to be played.
Example of a rating system specifying age appropriateness (Israel)
Most forms of entertainment can be or are modified to suit children's needs and interests. During the 20th century, starting with the often criticised but nonetheless important work of G. Stanley Hall, who "promoted the link between the study of development and the 'new' laboratory psychology",[42] and especially with the work of Jean Piaget, who "saw cognitive development as being analogous to biological development",[43] it became understood that the psychological development of children occurs in stages and that their capacities differ from adults. Hence, stories and activities, whether in books, film, or video games were developed specifically for child audiences. Countries have responded to the special needs of children and the rise of digital entertainment by developing systems such as television content rating systems, to guide the public and the entertainment industry.
In the 21st century, as with adult products, much entertainment is available for children on the internet for private use. This constitutes a significant change from earlier times. The amount of time expended by children indoors on screen-based entertainment and the "remarkable collapse of children's engagement with nature" has drawn criticism for its negative effects on imagination, adult cognition and psychological well-being.[44][45][46]
Forms[edit]
Banquets[edit]
Banquets have been a venue for entertainment since ancient times, continuing until the 21st century, when they are still being used for many of their original purposes – to impress visitors, especially important ones (4, 6, 9); to show hospitality (2, 4, 8); as an occasion to showcase supporting entertainments such as music or dancing, or both (2, 3). They were an integral part of court entertainments (3, 4) and helped entertainers develop their skills (2, 3). They are also important components of celebrations such as coronations (9), weddings (7), birthdays (10) civic or political achievements (5), military engagements or victories (6) as well as religious obligations (1). In modern times, banquets are commercially available, for example, in restaurants (10) and combined with a performance in dinner theatres. Cooking by professional chefs has also become a form of entertainment as part of global competitions such as the Bocuse d'Or.
Banquets across 10 centuries and cultures
1 A banquet scene from Ancient Egypt (from a wall painting in Thebes)
2 Byzantine banquet showing musicians and various musical instruments (1204–1453)
3 Jean Fouquet, Banquet for Charles V of France (1455–1460)
4 A banquet including roast goose given for Babur by the Mirzas in 1507 (miniature c. 1590)
5 Bartholomeus van der Helst, Peace of Münster
Amsterdam (1648)
6 Victory banquet by Emperor Qian Long to greet the officers who attended the campaign against Taiwan. (late 18th century)
7 Landlords coming to the peasants' wedding banquet (late 18th century)
8 The banquet hall in the palace of King Sahle Selassie painting from a photo, Ethiopia (1852)
9 Coronation banquet of George IV in Westminster Hall (1821)
10 Chinese banquet in a banquet hall given as a birthday celebration (2012)
Music[edit]
Main article: Music
A full house at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, waiting for a musical entertainment to begin (1937)
Music is a supporting component of many kinds of entertainment and most kinds of performance. For example, it is used to enhance storytelling, it is indispensable in dance (1, 4) and opera, and is usually incorporated into dramatic film or theatre productions.[47]
Music is also a universal and popular type of entertainment on its own, constituting an entire performance such as when concerts are given (2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 ). Depending on the rhythm, instrument, performance and style, music is divided into many genres, such as classical, jazz, folk, (4, 5, 8), rock, pop music (6, 9) or traditional (1, 3). Since the 20th century, performed music, once available only to those who could pay for the performers, has been available cheaply to individuals by the entertainment industry, which broadcasts it or pre-records it for sale.
The wide variety of musical performances, whether or not they are artificially amplified (6, 7, 9, 10), all provide entertainment irrespective of whether the performance is from soloists (6), choral (2) or orchestral groups (5, 8), or ensemble (3). Live performances use specialised venues, which might be small or large; indoors or outdoors; free or expensive. The audiences have different expectations of the performers as well as of their own role in the performance. For example, some audiences expect to listen silently and are entertained by the excellence of the music, its rendition or its interpretation (5, 8). Other audiences of live performances are entertained by the ambience and the chance to participate (7, 9). Even more listeners are entertained by pre-recorded music and listen privately (10).
The instruments used in musical entertainment are either solely the human voice (2, 6) or solely instrumental (1, 3) or some combination of the two (4, 5, 7, 8). Whether the performance is given by vocalists or instrumentalists, the performers may be soloists or part of a small or large group, in turn entertaining an audience that might be individual (10), passing by (3), small (1, 2) or large (6, 7, 8, 9). Singing is generally accompanied by instruments although some forms, notably a cappella and overtone singing, are unaccompanied. Modern concerts often use various special effects and other theatrics to accompany performances of singing and dancing (7).
Musical entertainment – 10 types of audience engagement
1 Traditional instruments used to accompany dance (Tibet, 1949)
2 Children's choir providing musical entertainment (Russia, 1979)
3 Ensemble entertains travellers in the Paris Métro (2002)
4 Drummer playing Boduberu (Maldives, 2010)
5 Choir and orchestra in ecclesiastical setting (Italy, 2008)
6 Contemporary audience in ancient outdoor stadium (Greece, 2009)
7 A concert with a 3D enhanced stage (Singapore, 2010)
8 Concert hall audience (Netherlands, 2010)
9 Crowd surfing at a concert (France, 2011)
10 Woman listening privately to music through headphones (Russia, 2010)
Games[edit]
Main article: Game
Games are played for entertainment—sometimes purely for entertainment, sometimes for achievement or reward as well. They can be played alone, in teams, or online; by amateurs or by professionals. The players may have an audience of non-players, such as when people are entertained by watching a chess championship. On the other hand, players in a game may constitute their own audience as they take their turn to play. Often, part of the entertainment for children playing a game is deciding who is part of their audience and who is a player.
Equipment varies with the game. Board games, such as Go, Monopoly or backgammon need a board and markers. One of the oldest known board games is Senet, a game played in Ancient Egypt, enjoyed by the pharaoh Tutankhamun.[48] Card games, such as whist, poker and Bridge have long been played as evening entertainment among friends. For these games, all that is needed is a deck of playing cards. Other games, such as bingo, played with numerous strangers, have been organised to involve the participation of non-players via gambling. Many are geared for children, and can be played outdoors, including hopscotch, hide and seek, or Blind man's bluff. The list of ball games is quite extensive. It includes, for example, croquet, lawn bowling and paintball as well as many sports using various forms of balls. The options cater to a wide range of skill and fitness levels. Physical games can develop agility and competence in motor skills. Number games such as Sudoku and puzzle games like the Rubik's cube can develop mental prowess.
Video games are played using a controller to create results on a screen. They can also be played online with participants joining in remotely. In the second half of the 20th century and in the 21st century the number of such games increased enormously, providing a wide variety of entertainment to players around the world.[49][50] Video games are popular in East Asian countries such as South Korea.[51]
Games
Sofonisba Anguissola
The Chess Game (1555)
An intellectual game
Théophile Emmanuel Duverger (before 1901) Hopscotch
A physical game
Televised match of StarCraft (2006) South Korea
An electronic game
Reading[edit]
French poet Louise Labé (1520/1522–1566) wrote "a profound and timeless insight into reading's innate power". But the delight of what we once felt is dimly lost never to return and its memory is as distressing as the events themselves were then delectable ... But when we happen to put our thoughts in writing, how easily, later on, does our mind race through an infinity of events, incessantly alive, so that a long time afterwards when we take up those written pages we can return to the same place and to the same disposition in which we once found ourselves.
quoted in Fischer (2003)[52]
The young Saint Teresa of Ávila (1515–1582) read chivalrous novels and wrote about the "rapture" that books provided. I became accustomed to reading [novels] and that small fault made me cool my desire and will to do other tasks. I thought nothing of spending many hours a day and night in this vain exercise, hidden from my father. My rapture in this was so great, that unless I had a new book to read, it seemed to me that I could not be happy.
quoted in Fischer (2003)[53]
Reading has been a source of entertainment for a very long time, especially when other forms, such as performance entertainments, were (or are) either unavailable or too costly. Even when the primary purpose of the writing is to inform or instruct, reading is well known for its capacity to distract from everyday worries. Both stories and information have been passed on through the tradition of orality and oral traditions survive in the form of performance poetry for example. However, they have drastically declined. "Once literacy had arrived in strength, there was no return to the oral prerogative."[54] The advent of printing, the reduction in costs of books and an increasing literacy all served to enhance the mass appeal of reading. Furthermore, as fonts were standardised and texts became clearer, "reading ceased being a painful process of decipherment and became an act of pure pleasure".[55] By the 16th century in Europe, the appeal of reading for entertainment was well established.
Among literature's many genres are some designed, in whole or in part, purely for entertainment. Limericks, for example, use verse in a strict, predictable rhyme and rhythm to create humour and to amuse an audience of listeners or readers. Interactive books such as "choose your own adventure" can make literary entertainment more participatory.
Readers entertained by comic books (1971)
Comics and cartoons are literary genres that use drawings or graphics, usually in combination with text, to convey an entertaining narrative.[56] Many contemporary comics have elements of fantasy and are produced by companies that are part of the entertainment industry. Others have unique authors who offer a more personal, philosophical view of the world and the problems people face. Comics about superheroes such as Superman are of the first type.[57] Examples of the second sort include the individual work over 50 years of Charles M. Schulz[58] who produced a popular comic called Peanuts[59] about the relationships among a cast of child characters;[60] and Michael Leunig who entertains by producing whimsical cartoons that also incorporate social criticism. The Japanese Manga style differs from the western approach in that it encompasses a wide range of genres and themes for a readership of all ages. Caricature uses a kind of graphic entertainment for purposes ranging from merely putting a smile on the viewer's face, to raising social awareness, to highlighting the moral characteristics of a person being caricatured.
Comedy[edit]
Main article: Comedy
Comedian Charlie Chaplin impersonating Hitler for comic effect in the satirical film The Great Dictator (1940)
Comedy is both a genre of entertainment and a component of it, providing laughter and amusement, whether the comedy is the sole purpose or used as a form of contrast in an otherwise serious piece. It is a valued contributor to many forms of entertainment, including in literature, theatre, opera, film and games.[61][62] In royal courts, such as in the Byzantine court, and presumably, also in its wealthy households, "mimes were the focus of orchestrated humour, expected or obliged to make fun of all at court, not even excepting the emperor and members of the imperial family. This highly structured role of jester consisted of verbal humour, including teasing, jests, insult, ridicule, and obscenity and non-verbal humour such as slapstick and horseplay in the presence of an audience."[32] In medieval times, all comic types – the buffoon, jester, hunchback, dwarf, jokester, were all "considered to be essentially of one comic type: the fool", who while not necessarily funny, represented "the shortcomings of the individual".[63][64]
Shakespeare wrote seventeen comedies that incorporate many techniques still used by performers and writers of comedy—such as jokes, puns, parody, wit, observational humor, or the unexpected effect of irony.[65][66] One-liner jokes and satire are also used to comedic effect in literature. In farce, the comedy is a primary purpose.
The meaning of the word "comedy" and the audience's expectations of it have changed over time and vary according to culture.[67] Simple physical comedy such as slapstick is entertaining to a broad range of people of all ages. However, as cultures become more sophisticated, national nuances appear in the style and references so that what is amusing in one culture may be unintelligible in another.[68]
Performance[edit]
Main article: Performance
Live performances before an audience constitute a major form of entertainment, especially before the invention of audio and video recording. Performance takes a wide range of forms, including theatre, music and drama. In the 16th and 17th centuries, European royal courts presented masques that were complex theatrical entertainments involving dancing, singing and acting. Opera is a similarly demanding performance style that remains popular. It also encompass all three forms, demanding a high level of musical and dramatic skill, collaboration and like the masque, production expertise as well.
Poster for a 1908 production of Verdi's 1871 opera Aida, performed by the Hippodrome Opera Company of Cleveland, Ohio
Audiences generally show their appreciation of an entertaining performance with applause. However, all performers run the risk of failing to hold their audience's attention and thus, failing to entertain. Audience dissatisfaction is often brutally honest and direct.
"Of course you all ought to know that while singing a good song or, or giving a good recitation ... helps to arrest the company's attention ... Such at least was the case with me – the publican devised a plan to bring my entertainment to an end abruptly, and the plan was, he told the waiter to throw a wet towel at me, which, of course, the waiter did ... and I received the wet towel, full force, in the face, which staggered me ... and had the desired effect of putting an end to me giving any more entertainments in the house." William McGonagall (Performance artist and poet)[69]
Storytelling[edit]
Main article: Storytelling
Storytelling is an ancient form of entertainment that has influenced almost all other forms. It is "not only entertainment, it is also thinking through human conflicts and contradictions".[16] Hence, although stories may be delivered directly to a small listening audience, they are also presented as entertainment and used as a component of any piece that relies on a narrative, such as film, drama, ballet, and opera. Written stories have been enhanced by illustrations, often to a very high artistic standard, for example, on illuminated manuscripts and on ancient scrolls such as Japanese ones.[70] Stories remain a common way of entertaining a group that is on a journey. Showing how stories are used to pass the time and entertain an audience of travellers, Chaucer used pilgrims in his literary work The Canterbury Tales in the 14th century, as did Wu Cheng'en in the 16th century in Journey to the West. Even though journeys can now be completed much faster, stories are still told to passengers en route in cars and aeroplanes either orally or delivered by some form of technology.
The power of stories to entertain is evident in one of the most famous ones—Scheherazade—a story in the Persian professional storytelling tradition, of a woman who saves her own life by telling stories.[71][72][73] The connections between the different types of entertainment are shown by the way that stories like this inspire a retelling in another medium, such as music, film or games. For example, composers Rimsky-Korsakov, Ravel and Szymanowski have each been inspired by the Scheherazade story and turned it into an orchestral work; director Pasolini made a film adaptation; and there is an innovative video game based on the tale. Stories may be told wordlessly, in music, dance or puppetry for example, such as in the Javanese tradition of wayang, in which the performance is accompanied by a gamelan orchestra or the similarly traditional Punch and Judy show.
Epic narratives, poems, sagas and allegories from all cultures tell such gripping tales that they have inspired countless other stories in all forms of entertainment. Examples include the Hindu Ramayana and Mahabharata; Homer's Odyssey and Iliad; the first Arabic novel Hayy ibn Yaqdhan; the Persian epic Shahnameh; the Sagas of Icelanders and the celebrated Tale of the Genji. Collections of stories, such as Grimms' Fairy Tales or those by Hans Christian Andersen, have been similarly influential. Originally published in the early 19th century, this collection of folk stories significantly influence modern popular culture, which subsequently used its themes, images, symbols, and structural elements to create new entertainment forms.[74]
Some of the most powerful and long-lasting stories are the foundation stories, also called origin or creation myths such as the Dreamtime myths of the Australian aborigines, the Mesopotamian Epic of Gilgamesh,[75] or the Hawaiian stories of the origin of the world.[76] These too are developed into books, films, music and games in a way that increases their longevity and enhances their entertainment value.
Telling stories
William Blake's painting of the pilgrims in The Canterbury Tales
Scheherazade telling her stories to King Shahryar in The Arabian Nights
Telling stories via Wayang golek puppets in Java
Tosa Mitsuoki illustrating her Tale of Genji
Theatre[edit]
Main article: Theatre
Saturday night audience at the Victoria Theatre, London (1872)
Theatre performances, typically dramatic or musical, are presented on a stage for an audience and have a history that goes back to Hellenistic times when "leading musicians and actors" performed widely at "poetical competitions", for example at "Delphi, Delos, Ephesus".[77] Aristotle and his teacher Plato both wrote on the theory and purpose of theatre. Aristotle posed questions such as "What is the function of the arts in shaping character? Should a member of the ruling class merely watch performances or be a participant and perform? What kind of entertainment should be provided for those who do not belong to the elite?"[78] The "Ptolemys in Egypt, the Seleucids in Pergamum" also had a strong theatrical tradition and later, wealthy patrons in Rome staged "far more lavish productions".[79][80]
Expectations about the performance and their engagement with it have changed over time (1).[81] For example, in England during the 18th century, "the prejudice against actresses had faded"[82] and in Europe generally, going to the theatre, once a socially dubious activity, became "a more respectable middle-class pastime"[83] in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when the variety of popular entertainments increased. Operetta and music halls became available, and new drama theatres such as the Moscow Art Theatre and the Suvorin Theatre in Russia opened.[84] At the same time, commercial newspapers "began to carry theatre columns and reviews" that helped make theatre "a legitimate subject of intellectual debate" in general discussions about art and culture.[84] Audiences began to gather to "appreciate creative achievement, to marvel at, and be entertained by, the prominent 'stars'."[84] Vaudeville and music halls, popular at this time in the United States, England, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, were themselves eventually superseded.[85]
Plays,[86] musicals,[87] monologues, pantomimes, and performance poetry are part of the very long history of theatre, which is also the venue for the type of performance known as stand-up comedy.[88] In the 20th century, radio and television, often broadcast live, extended the theatrical tradition that continued to exist alongside the new forms.
The stage and the spaces set out in front of it for an audience create a theatre. All types of stage are used with all types of seating for the audience, including the impromptu or improvised (2, 3, 6); the temporary (2); the elaborate (9); or the traditional and permanent (5, 7). They are erected indoors (3, 5, 9) or outdoors (2, 4, 6). The skill of managing, organising and preparing the stage for a performance is known as stagecraft (10). The audience's experience of the entertainment is affected by their expectations, the stagecraft, the type of stage, and the type and standard of seating provided.
Theatrical entertainment – stages, staging and stagecraft
1 Satirical representation of audience reaction (1809)
2 Improvised stage for a public performance at a fair (1642)
3 Improvised stage for domestic theatre
4 Outdoor stage before a show
5 Concert theatre ready for solo instrumentalist
6 Outdoor theatre created from Edinburgh castle forecourt
7 Traditional stage for Japanese Noh theatre
8 Stage for theatre in the round
9 Teatro Colón, a highly decorative, horseshoe theatre
10 Stagecraft – a locking rail backstage
Cinema and film[edit]
Main article: Film
Film audiences are typically seated in comfortable chairs arranged in close rows before a projection screen. Norway (2005)
Films are a major form of entertainment, although not all films have entertainment as their primary purpose: documentary film, for example, aims to create a record or inform,[89] although the two purposes often work together. The medium was a global business from the beginning: "The Lumière brothers were the first to send cameramen throughout the world, instructing them to film everything which could be of interest for the public."[90] In 1908, Pathé launched and distributed newsreels[90] and by World War I, films were meeting an enormous need for mass entertainment. "In the first decade of the [20th] century cinematic programmes combined, at random, fictions and newsfilms."[90] The Americans first "contrived a way of producing an illusion of motion through successive images," but "the French were able to transform a scientific principle into a commercially lucrative spectacle".[91] Film therefore became a part of the entertainment industry from its early days. Increasingly sophisticated techniques have been used in the film medium to delight and entertain audiences. Animation, for example, which involves the display of rapid movement in an art work, is one of these techniques that particularly appeals to younger audiences.[92] The advent of computer-generated imagery (CGI) in the 21st century made it "possible to do spectacle" more cheaply and "on a scale never dreamed of" by Cecil B. DeMille.[93] From the 1930s to 1950s, movies and radio were the "only mass entertainment" but by the second decade of the 21st century, technological changes, economic decisions, risk aversion and globalisation reduced both the quality and range of films being produced.[94] Sophisticated visual effects and CGI techniques, for example, rather than humans, were used not only to create realistic images of people, landscapes and events (both real and fantastic) but also to animate non-living items such as Lego normally used as entertainment as a game in physical form.[95] Creators of The Lego Movie "wanted the audience to believe they were looking at actual Lego bricks on a tabletop that were shot with a real camera, not what we actually did, which was create vast environments with digital bricks inside the computer."[95] The convergence of computers and film has allowed entertainment to be presented in a new way and the technology has also allowed for those with the personal resources to screen films in a home theatre, recreating in a private venue the quality and experience of a public theatre. This is similar to the way that the nobility in earlier times could stage private musical performances or the use of domestic theatres in large homes to perform private plays in earlier centuries.
Films also re-imagine entertainment from other forms, turning stories, books and plays, for example, into new entertainments.[96] The Story of Film, a documentary about the history of film, gives a survey of global achievements and innovations in the medium, as well as changes in the conception of film-making. It demonstrates that while some films, particularly those in the Hollywood tradition that combines "realism and melodramatic romanticism",[97] are intended as a form of escapism, others require a deeper engagement or more thoughtful response from their audiences. For example, the award winning Senegalese film Xala takes government corruption as its theme. Charlie Chaplin's film The Great Dictator was a brave and innovative parody, also on a political theme. Stories that are thousands of years old, such as Noah, have been re-interpreted in film, applying familiar literary devices such as allegory and personification with new techniques such as CGI to explore big themes such as "human folly", good and evil, courage and despair, love, faith, and death – themes that have been a main-stay of entertainment across all its forms.[98]
As in other media, excellence and achievement in films is recognised through a range of awards, including ones from the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, the Cannes International Film Festival in France and the Asia Pacific Screen Awards.
Dance[edit]
Main article: Dance
Play media
Dancers creating their own entertainment at a ball.
Peterborough (2008) (silent video)
The many forms of dance provide entertainment for all age groups and cultures. Dance can be serious in tone, such as when it is used to express a culture's history or important stories; it may be provocative; or it may put in the service of comedy. Since it combines many forms of entertainment – music, movement, storytelling, theatre – it provides a good example of the various ways that these forms can be combined to create entertainment for different purposes and audiences.
Dance is "a form of cultural representation" that involves not just dancers, but "choreographers, audience members, patrons and impresarios ... coming from all over the globe and from vastly varied time periods."[99] Whether from Africa, Asia or Europe, dance is constantly negotiating the realms of political, social, spiritual and artistic influence."[100] Even though dance traditions may be limited to one cultural group, they all develop. For example, in Africa, there are "Dahomean dances, Hausa dances, Masai dances and so forth."[101] Ballet is an example of a highly developed Western form of dance that moved to the theatres from the French court during the time of Louis XIV, the dancers becoming professional theatrical performers.[102] Some dances, such as the quadrille, a square dance that "emerged during the Napoleonic years in France"[103] and other country dances[104] were once popular at social gatherings like balls,[105][106] but are now rarely performed. On the other hand, many folk dances (such as Scottish Highland dancing and Irish dancing), have evolved into competitions, which by adding to their audiences, has increased their entertainment value. "Irish dance theatre, which sometimes features traditional Irish steps and music, has developed into a major dance form with an international reputation."[107]
Since dance is often "associated with the female body and women's experiences",[100] female dancers, who dance to entertain, have in some cases been regarded as distinct from "decent" women because they "use their bodies to make a living instead of hiding them as much as possible".[108] Society's attitudes to female dancers depend on the culture, its history and the entertainment industry itself. For example, while some cultures regard any dancing by women as "the most shameful form of entertainment",[109] other cultures have established venues such as strip clubs where deliberately erotic or sexually provocative dances such as striptease are performed in public by professional women dancers for mostly male audiences.
Various political regimes have sought to control or ban dancing or specific types of dancing, sometimes because of disapproval of the music or clothes associated with it. Nationalism, authoritarianism and racism have played a part in banning dances or dancing. For example, during the Nazi regime, American dances such as swing, regarded as "completely un-German", had "become a public offense and needed to be banned".[110] Similarly, in Shanghai, China, in the 1930s, "dancing and nightclubs had come to symbolise the excess that plagued Chinese society" and officials wondered if "other forms of entertainment such as brothels" should also be banned. Banning had the effect of making "the dance craze" even greater.[111] In Ireland, the Public Dance Hall Act of 1935 "banned – but did not stop – dancing at the crossroads and other popular dance forms such as house and barn dances."[107] In the US, various dances were once banned, either because like burlesque, they were suggestive,[112] or because, like the Twist, they were associated with African Americans.[113] "African American dancers were typically banned from performing in minstrel shows until after the Civil War."[114]
Dances can be performed solo (1, 4); in pairs, (2, 3); in groups, (5, 6, 7); or by massed performers (10). They might be improvised (4, 8) or highly choreographed (1, 2, 5, 10); spontaneous for personal entertainment, (such as when children begin dancing for themselves); a private audience, (4); a paying audience (2); a world audience (10); or an audience interested in a particular dance genre (3, 5). They might be a part of a celebration, such as a wedding or New Year (6, 8); or a cultural ritual with a specific purpose, such as a dance by warriors like a haka (7). Some dances, such as traditional dance in 1 and ballet in 2, need a very high level of skill and training; others, such as the can-can, require a very high level of energy and physical fitness. Entertaining the audience is a normal part of dance but its physicality often also produces joy for the dancers themselves (9).
Dance – 10 types across 10 cultures
1 Traditional dancer (Thailand)
2 Harlequin and Columbine (Denmark)
3 Ballroom dancing (Czech Republic)
4 Belly dancer (Morocco)
5 Morris dancing (England)
6 Highland wedding (Scotland, 1780)
7 Warrior dancers (Papua New Guinea)
8 Fire Dragon dance for Chinese New Year
9 Bhangra dancers at the International Children's Festival
10 Children in Mass Games (North Korea)
Animals[edit]
Animals have been used for the purposes of entertainment for millennia. They have been hunted for entertainment (as opposed to hunted for food); displayed while they hunt for prey; watched when they compete with each other; and watched while they perform a trained routine for human amusement. The Romans, for example, were entertained both by competitions involving wild animals and acts performed by trained animals. They watched as "lions and bears danced to the music of pipes and cymbals; horses were trained to kneel, bow, dance and prance ... acrobats turning handsprings over wild lions and vaulting over wild leopards." There were "violent confrontations with wild beasts" and "performances over time became more brutal and bloodier".[115]
Animals that perform trained routines or "acts" for human entertainment include fleas in flea circuses, dolphins in dolphinaria, and monkeys doing tricks for an audience on behalf of the player of a street organ. Animals kept in zoos in ancient times were often kept there for later use in the arena as entertainment or for their entertainment value as exotica.[116]
Many contests between animals are now regarded as sports – for example, horse racing is regarded as both a sport and an important source of entertainment. Its economic impact means that it is also considered a global industry, one in which horses are carefully transported around the world to compete in races. In Australia, the horse race run on Melbourne Cup Day is a public holiday and the public regards the race as an important annual event. Like horse racing, camel racing requires human riders, while greyhound racing does not. People find it entertaining to watch animals race competitively, whether they are trained, like horses, camels or dogs, or untrained, like cockroaches.
The use of animals for entertainment is often controversial, especially the hunting of wild animals. Some contests between animals, once popular entertainment for the public, have become illegal because of the cruelty involved. Among these are blood sports such as bear-baiting, dog fighting and cockfighting. Other contests involving animals remain controversial and have both supporters and detractors. For example, the conflict between opponents of pigeon shooting who view it as "a cruel and moronic exercise in marksmanship, and proponents, who view it as entertainment" has been tested in a court of law.[117] Fox hunting, which involves the use of horses as well as hounds, and bullfighting, which has a strong theatrical component, are two entertainments that have a long and significant cultural history. They both involve animals and are variously regarded as sport, entertainment or cultural tradition. Among the organisations set up to advocate for the rights of animals are some whose concerns include the use of animals for entertainment.[118] However, "in many cases of animal advocacy groups versus organisations accused of animal abuse, both sides have cultural claims."[119]
Animals used for entertainment
‘Ala’ud-Din and Mahima Dharma hunting an Indian tiger, 1790.
Trained monkey performing for an audience of children (1900–20).
Crowd watches Pharlap win the Melbourne Cup in Australia, 1930.
Crowd watches a bullfight in Mexico, 2010.
Circus[edit]
Main article: Circus
Children entertained by a stilt walker performing in a circus act
A circus, described as "one of the most brazen of entertainment forms",[120] is a special type of theatrical performance, involving a variety of physical skills such as acrobatics and juggling and sometimes performing animals. Usually thought of as a travelling show performed in a big top, circus was first performed in permanent venues. Philip Astley is regarded as the founder of the modern circus in the second half of the 18th century and Jules Léotard is the French performer credited with developing the art of the trapeze, considered synonymous with circuses.[121] Astley brought together performances that were generally familiar in traditional British fairs "at least since the beginning of the 17th century": "tumbling, rope-dancing, juggling, animal tricks and so on".[120] It has been claimed that "there is no direct link between the Roman circus and the circus of modern times. ... Between the demise of the Roman 'circus' and the foundation of Astley's Amphitheatre in London some 1300 years later, the nearest thing to a circus ring was the rough circle formed by the curious onlookers who gathered around the itinerant tumbler or juggler on a village green."[122]
Magic[edit]
Main article: Magic (illusion)
The form of entertainment known as stage magic or conjuring and recognisable as performance, is based on traditions and texts of magical rites and dogmas that have been a part of most cultural traditions since ancient times. (References to magic, for example, can be found in the Bible, in Hermeticism, in Zoroastrianism, in the Kabbalistic tradition, in mysticism and in the sources of Freemasonry.)[123]
Stage magic is performed for an audience in a variety of media and locations: on stage, on television, in the street, and live at parties or events. It is often combined with other forms of entertainment, such as comedy or music and showmanship is often an essential part of magic performances. Performance magic relies on deception, psychological manipulation, sleight of hand and other forms of trickery to give an audience the illusion that a performer can achieve the impossible. Audiences amazed at the stunt performances and escape acts of Harry Houdini, for example, regarded him as a magician.[124][125][126]
Fantasy magicians have held an important place in literature for centuries, offering entertainment to millions of readers. Famous wizards such as Merlin in the Arthurian legends have been written about since the 5th and 6th centuries, while in the 21st century, the young wizard Harry Potter became a global entertainment phenomenon when the book series about him sold about 450 million copies (as at June 2011), making it the best-selling book series in history.[127][128]
Street performance[edit]
Didgeridoo player entertaining passers by in the street
Street entertainment, street performance or "busking" are forms of performance that have been meeting the public's need for entertainment for centuries.[129] It was "an integral aspect of London's life", for example, when the city in the early 19th century was "filled with spectacle and diversion".[130] Minstrels or troubadours are part of the tradition. The art and practice of busking is still celebrated at annual busking festivals.[131]
There are three basic forms of contemporary street performance. The first form is the "circle show". It tends to gather a crowd, usually has a distinct beginning and end, and is done in conjunction with street theatre, puppeteering, magicians, comedians, acrobats, jugglers and sometimes musicians. This type has the potential to be the most lucrative for the performer because there are likely to be more donations from larger audiences if they are entertained by the act. Good buskers control the crowd so patrons do not obstruct foot traffic. The second form, the walk-by act, has no distinct beginning or end. Typically, the busker provides an entertaining ambience, often with an unusual instrument, and the audience may not stop to watch or form a crowd. Sometimes a walk-by act spontaneously turns into a circle show. The third form, café busking, is performed mostly in restaurants, pubs, bars and cafés. This type of act occasionally uses public transport as a venue.
Parades[edit]
Main article: Parade
Parades are held for a range of purposes, often more than one. Whether their mood is sombre or festive, being public events that are designed to attract attention and activities that necessarily divert normal traffic, parades have a clear entertainment value to their audiences. Cavalcades and the modern variant, the motorcade, are examples of public processions. Some people watching the parade or procession may have made a special effort to attend, while others become part of the audience by happenstance. Whatever their mood or primary purpose, parades attract and entertain people who watch them pass by. Occasionally, a parade takes place in an improvised theatre space (such as the Trooping the Colour in 8) and tickets are sold to the physical audience while the global audience participates via broadcast.
One of the earliest forms of parade were "triumphs" – grand and sensational displays of foreign treasures and spoils, given by triumphant Roman generals to celebrate their victories. They presented conquered peoples and nations that exalted the prestige of the victor. "In the summer of 46 B.C.E. Julius Caesar chose to celebrate four triumphs held on different days extending for about one month."[132] In Europe from the Middle Ages to the Baroque the Royal Entry celebrated the formal visit of the monarch to the city with a parade through elaborately decorated streets, passing various shows and displays. The annual Lord Mayor's Show in London is an example of a civic parade that has survived since medieval times.
Many religious festivals (especially those that incorporate processions, such as Holy Week processions or the Indian festival of Holi) have some entertainment appeal in addition to their serious purpose. Sometimes, religious rituals have been adapted or evolved into secular entertainments, or like the Festa del Redentore in Venice, have managed to grow in popularity while holding both secular and sacred purposes in balance. However, pilgrimages, such as the Christian pilgrimage of the Way of St. James, the Muslim Hajj and the Hindu Kumbh Mela, which may appear to the outsider as an entertaining parade or procession, are not intended as entertainment: they are instead about an individual's spiritual journey. Hence, the relationship between spectator and participant, unlike entertainments proper, is different. The manner in which the Kumbh Mela, for example, "is divorced from its cultural context and repackaged for Western consumption – renders the presence of voyeurs deeply problematic."[133]
Parades generally impress and delight often by including unusual, colourful costumes (7, 10). Sometimes they also commemorate (5, 8) or celebrate (1, 4, 6, 8, 9). Sometimes they have a serious purpose, such as when the context is military (1, 2, 5), when the intention is sometimes to intimidate; or religious, when the audience might participate or have a role to play (6, 7, 10). Even if a parade uses new technology and is some distance away (9), it is likely to have a strong appeal, draw the attention of onlookers and entertain them.
Parades – 10 types, six cultures
1 Triumph of Caesar, Andreani (1588/9)
2 Alfred Jacob Miller Cavalcade by the Snake Indians (1858–60)
3 Parade from the onlooker perspective (1816)
Play media
4 Inauguration parade of US President McKinley (1897)
5 Respectful crowd at motorcade in Canada (1945)
6 Ganesh Visarjan, Mumbai (2007)
7 Costumes in West Indian Day parade (2008)
8 Celebratory parade in London before seated audience (2008)
9 Flypast (2012)
10 Festive parade in Brazil (2014)
Fireworks[edit]
Main article: Fireworks
Spectators at Bicentennial fireworks in Colombia
Fireworks are a part of many public entertainments and have retained an enduring popularity since they became a "crowning feature of elaborate celebrations" in the 17th century. First used in China, classical antiquity and Europe for military purposes, fireworks were most popular in the 18th century and high prices were paid for pyrotechnists, especially the skilled Italian ones, who were summoned to other countries to organise displays.[134][135] Fire and water were important aspects of court spectacles because the displays "inspired by means of fire, sudden noise, smoke and general magnificence the sentiments thought fitting for the subject to entertain of his sovereign: awe fear and a vicarious sense of glory in his might. Birthdays, name-days, weddings and anniversaries provided the occasion for celebration."[136] One of the most famous courtly uses of fireworks was one used to celebrate the end of the War of the Austrian Succession and while the fireworks themselves caused a fire,[137] the accompanying Music for the Royal Fireworks written by Handel has been popular ever since. Aside from their contribution to entertainments related to military successes, courtly displays and personal celebrations, fireworks are also used as part of religious ceremony. For example, during the Indian Dashavatara Kala of Gomantaka "the temple deity is taken around in a procession with a lot of singing, dancing and display of fireworks".[138]
The "fire, sudden noise and smoke" of fireworks is still a significant part of public celebration and entertainment. For example, fireworks were one of the primary forms of display chosen to celebrate the turn of the millennium around the world. As the clock struck midnight and 1999 became 2000, firework displays and open-air parties greeted the New Year as the time zones changed over to the next century. Fireworks, carefully planned and choreographed, were let off against the backdrop of many of the world's most famous buildings, including the Sydney Harbour Bridge, the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt, the Acropolis in Athens, Red Square in Moscow, Vatican City in Rome, the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, the Eiffel Tower in Paris, and Elizabeth Tower in London.
Sport[edit]
Main article: Sport
Audience engagement from a crowd of Italian sport fans
Audience engagement by individual South African fans at the 2010 FIFA World Cup
Sporting competitions have always provided entertainment for crowds. To distinguish the players from the audience, the latter are often known as spectators. Developments in stadium and auditorium design, as well as in recording and broadcast technology, have allowed off-site spectators to watch sport, with the result that the size of the audience has grown ever larger and spectator sport has become increasingly popular. Two of the most popular sports with global appeal are association football and cricket. Their ultimate international competitions, the World Cup and test cricket, are broadcast around the world. Beyond the very large numbers involved in playing these sports, they are notable for being a major source of entertainment for many millions of non-players worldwide.[139] A comparable multi-stage, long-form sport with global appeal is the Tour de France, unusual in that it takes place outside of special stadia, being run instead in the countryside.[140]
Aside from sports that have world-wide appeal and competitions, such as the Olympic Games, the entertainment value of a sport depends on the culture and country where people play it. For example, in the United States, baseball and basketball games are popular forms of entertainment; in Bhutan, the national sport is archery; in New Zealand, it is rugby union; in Iran, it is freestyle wrestling. Japan's unique sumo wrestling contains ritual elements that derive from its long history.[141] In some cases, such as the international running group Hash House Harriers, participants create a blend of sport and entertainment for themselves, largely independent of spectator involvement, where the social component is more important than the competitive.
The evolution of an activity into a sport and then an entertainment is also affected by the local climate and conditions. For example, the modern sport of surfing is associated with Hawaii and that of snow skiing probably evolved in Scandinavia. While these sports and the entertainment they offer to spectators have spread around the world, people in the two originating countries remain well known for their prowess. Sometimes the climate offers a chance to adapt another sport such as in the case of ice hockey—an important entertainment in Canada.
Fairs, expositions, shopping[edit]
Main articles: Fair and World's fair
Fairs and exhibitions have existed since ancient and medieval times, displaying wealth, innovations and objects for trade and offering specific entertainments as well as being places of entertainment in themselves.[142] Whether in a medieval market or a small shop, "shopping always offered forms of exhilaration that took one away from the everyday".[143] However, in the modern world, "merchandising has become entertainment: spinning signs, flashing signs, thumping music ... video screens, interactive computer kiosks, day care .. cafés".[143]
By the 19th century, "expos" that encouraged arts, manufactures and commerce had become international. They were not only hugely popular but affected international ideas. For example, the 1878 Paris Exposition facilitated international cooperation about ideas, innovations and standards. From London 1851 to Paris 1900, "in excess of 200 million visitors had entered the turnstiles in London, Paris, Vienna, Philadelphia, Chicago and a myriad of smaller shows around the world."[142][144] Since World War II "well over 500 million visits have been recorded through world expo turnstiles".[145] As a form of spectacle and entertainment, expositions influenced "everything from architecture, to patterns of globalisation, to fundamental matters of human identity"[145] and in the process established the close relationship between "fairs, the rise of department stores and art museums",[146] the modern world of mass consumption and the entertainment industry.
Entertainment in expositions and shops
Advertisement for 1889 Paris Universal Exposition
Audience queuing for Qatar's World Exposition Pavilion at the 2010 Shanghai World Expo
Ball pit of the type provided for children's entertainment in shopping malls
Safety[edit]
Some entertainments, such as at large festivals (whether religious or secular), concerts, clubs, parties and celebrations, involve big crowds. From earliest times, crowds at an entertainment have associated hazards and dangers, especially when combined with the recreational consumption of intoxicants such as alcohol. The Ancient Greeks had Dionysian Mysteries, for example, and the Romans had Saturnalia. The consequence of excess and crowds can produce breaches of social norms of behaviour, sometimes causing injury or even death, such as for example, at the Altamont Free Concert, an outdoor rock festival. The list of serious incidents at nightclubs includes those caused by stampede; overcrowding; terrorism, such as the 2002 Bali bombings that targeted a nightclub; and especially fire. Investigations, such as that carried out in the US after The Station nightclub fire often demonstrate that lessons learned "regarding fire safety in nightclubs" from earlier events such as the Cocoanut Grove fire do "not necessarily result in lasting effective change".[147] Efforts to prevent such incidents include appointing special officers, such as the medieval Lord of Misrule or, in modern times, security officers who control access; and also ongoing improvement of relevant standards such as those for building safety. The tourism industry now regards safety and security at entertainment venues as an important management task.[148]
Industry[edit]
Although kings, rulers and powerful people have always been able to pay for entertainment to be provided for them and in many cases have paid for public entertainment, people generally have made their own entertainment or when possible, attended a live performance. Technological developments in the 20th century meant that entertainment could be produced independently of the audience, packaged and sold on a commercial basis by an entertainment industry.[149][150] Sometimes referred to as show business, the industry relies on business models to produce, market, broadcast or otherwise distribute many of its traditional forms, including performances of all types.[151] The industry became so sophisticated that its economics became a separate area of academic study.[152]
The film industry is a part of the entertainment industry. Components of it include the Hollywood[153] and Bollywood[154] film industries, as well as the cinema of the United Kingdom and all the cinemas of Europe, including France, Germany, Spain, Italy and others.[155] The sex industry is another component of the entertainment industry, applying the same forms and media (for example, film, books, dance and other performances) to the development, marketing and sale of sex products on a commercial basis.
Amusement parks entertain paying guests with rides, such as roller coasters, ridable miniature railways, water rides, and dark rides, as well as other events and associated attractions. The parks are built on a large area subdivided into themed areas named "lands". Sometimes the whole amusement park is based on one theme, such as the various SeaWorld parks that focus on the theme of sea life.
One of the consequences of the development of the entertainment industry has been the creation of new types of employment. While jobs such as writer, musician and composer exist as they always have, people doing this work are likely to be employed by a company rather than a patron as they once would have been. New jobs have appeared, such as gaffer or special effects supervisor in the film industry, and attendants in an amusement park.
Prestigious awards are given by the industry for excellence in the various types of entertainment. For example, there are awards for Music, Games (including video games), Comics, Comedy, Theatre, Television, Film, Dance and Magic. Sporting awards are made for the results and skill, rather than for the entertainment value.
The entertainment industry
Packaged entertainment
35mm film reels in boxes
Choosing music from a record store (Germany, 1988)
Ticket showing electronic barcode (Valencia, 2005)
Architecture[edit]
Architecture for entertainment[edit]
Purpose-built structures as venues for entertainment that accommodate audiences have produced many famous and innovative buildings, among the most recognisable of which are theatre structures.[156] For the ancient Greeks, "the architectural importance of the theatre is a reflection of their importance to the community, made apparent in their monumentality, in the effort put into their design, and in the care put into their detail."[157] The Romans subsequently developed the stadium in an oval form known as a circus. In modern times, some of the grandest buildings for entertainment have brought fame to their cities as well as their designers. The Sydney Opera House, for example, is a World Heritage Site and The O₂ in London is an entertainment precinct that contains an indoor arena, a music club, a cinema and exhibition space. The Bayreuth Festspielhaus in Germany is a theatre designed and built for performances of one specific musical composition.
Two of the chief architectural concerns for the design of venues for mass audiences are speed of egress and safety. The speed at which the venue empty is important both for amenity and safety, because large crowds take a long time to disperse from a badly designed venue, which creates a safety risk. The Hillsborough disaster is an example of how poor aspects of building design can contribute to audience deaths. Sightlines and acoustics are also important design considerations in most theatrical venues.
In the 21st century, entertainment venues, especially stadia, are "likely to figure among the leading architectural genres".[158] However, they require "a whole new approach" to design, because they need to be "sophisticated entertainment centres, multi-experience venues, capable of being enjoyed in many diverse ways".[159] Hence, architects now have to design "with two distinct functions in mind, as sports and entertainment centres playing host to live audiences, and as sports and entertainment studios serving the viewing and listening requirements of the remote audience".[159]
Architecture for entertainment
Colosseum (70–80 AD) Roman venue for mass entertainment
The Grand Foyer in the Palais Garnier, Paris (1875), influenced architecture around the world.
Maracanã, Rio de Janeiro, at inauguration (1950) the world's largest stadium by capacity
The O₂ entertainment precinct (2007) London
Architecture as entertainment[edit]
Inauthentic castle in Disneyland amusement park
Architects who push the boundaries of design or construction sometimes create buildings that are entertaining because they exceed the expectations of the public and the client and are aesthetically outstanding. Buildings such as Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, designed by Frank Gehry, are of this type, becoming a tourist attraction as well as a significant international museum. Other apparently usable buildings are really follies, deliberately constructed for a decorative purpose and never intended to be practical.
On the other hand, sometimes architecture is entertainment, while pretending to be functional. The tourism industry, for example, creates or renovates buildings as "attractions" that have either never been used or can never be used for their ostensible purpose. They are instead re-purposed to entertain visitors often by simulating cultural experiences. Buildings, history and sacred spaces are thus made into commodities for purchase. Such intentional tourist attractions divorce buildings from the past so that "the difference between historical authenticity and contemporary entertainment venues/theme parks becomes hard to define".[160] Examples include "the preservation of the Alcázar of Toledo, with its grim Civil War History, the conversion of slave dungeons into tourist attractions in Ghana, [such as, for example, Cape Coast Castle] and the presentation of indigenous culture in Libya".[161] The specially constructed buildings in amusement parks represent the park's theme and are usually neither authentic nor completely functional.
Arthur Sullivan on recording music
1888 wax cylinder recording of composer Arthur Sullivan speaking about his reaction to Thomas Edison's invention of the phonograph. ... I am astonished and somewhat terrified at the results of this evening's experiment – astonished at the wonderful power you have developed, and terrified at the thought that so much hideous and bad music may be put on record forever. But all the same, I think it is the most wonderful thing that I have ever experienced, and I congratulate you with all my heart on this wonderful discovery.
Problems playing this file? See media help.
Magazine advertisement for crystal radio (1922)
Television tower in Almaty, Kazakhstan (constructed 1983)
Effects of developments in electronic media[edit]
Globalisation[edit]
By the second half of the 20th century, developments in electronic media made possible the delivery of entertainment products to mass audiences across the globe. The technology enabled people to see, hear and participate in all the familiar forms – stories, theatre, music, dance – wherever they live. The rapid development of entertainment technology was assisted by improvements in data storage devices such as cassette tapes or compact discs, along with increasing miniaturisation. Computerisation and the development of barcodes also made ticketing easier, faster and global.
Obsolescence[edit]
In the 1940s, radio was the electronic medium for family entertainment and information.[162][163][164] In the 1950s, it was television that was the new medium and it rapidly became global, bringing visual entertainment, first in black and white, then in colour, to the world.[165] By the 1970s, games could be played electronically, then hand-held devices provided mobile entertainment, and by the last decade of the 20th century, via networked play. In combination with products from the entertainment industry, all the traditional forms of entertainment became available personally. People could not only select an entertainment product such as a piece of music, film or game, they could choose the time and place to use it. The "proliferation of portable media players and the emphasis on the computer as a site for film consumption" together have significantly changed how audiences encounter films.[166] One of the most notable consequences of the rise of electronic entertainment has been the rapid obsolescence of the various recording and storage methods. As an example of speed of change driven by electronic media, over the course of one generation, television as a medium for receiving standardised entertainment products went from unknown, to novel, to ubiquitous and finally to superseded.[167] One estimate was that by 2011 over 30 percent of households in the US would own a Wii console, "about the same percentage that owned a television in 1953".[168] Some expected that halfway through the second decade of the 21st century, online entertainment would have completely replaced television—which didn't happen. The so-called "digital revolution" has produced an increasingly transnational marketplace that has caused difficulties for governments, business, industries, and individuals, as they all try to keep up.[169][170][171][172] Even the sports stadium of the future will increasingly compete with television viewing "...in terms of comfort, safety and the constant flow of audio-visual information and entertainment available."[173] Other flow on effects of the shift are likely to include those on public architecture such as hospitals and nursing homes, where television, regarded as an essential entertainment service for patients and residents, will need to be replaced by access to the internet. At the same time, the ongoing need for entertainers as "professional engagers" shows the continuity of traditional entertainment.[174]
Convergence[edit]
By the second decade of the 21st century, analogue recording was being replaced by digital recording and all forms of electronic entertainment began to converge.[175] For example, convergence is challenging standard practices in the film industry: whereas "success or failure used to be determined by the first weekend of its run. Today, ... a series of exhibition 'windows', such as DVD, pay-per-view, and fibre-optic video-on-demand are used to maximise profits."[176] Part of the industry's adjustment is its release of new commercial product directly via video hosting services. Media convergence is said to be more than technological: the convergence is cultural as well.[177] It is also "the result of a deliberate effort to protect the interests of business entities, policy institutions and other groups".[166] Globalisation and cultural imperialism are two of the cultural consequences of convergence.[178] Others include fandom and interactive storytelling as well as the way that single franchises are distributed through and affect a range of delivery methods.[179] The "greater diversity in the ways that signals may be received and packaged for the viewer, via terrestrial, satellite or cable television, and of course, via the Internet" also affects entertainment venues, such as sports stadia, which now need to be designed so that both live and remote audiences can interact in increasingly sophisticated ways – for example, audiences can "watch highlights, call up statistics", "order tickets and merchandise" and generally "tap into the stadium's resources at any time of the day or night".[159]
The introduction of television altered the availability, cost, variety and quality of entertainment products for the public and the convergence of online entertainment is having a similar effect. For example, the possibility and popularity of user-generated content, as distinct from commercial product, creates a "networked audience model [that] makes programming obsolete".[180] Individuals and corporations use video hosting services to broadcast content that is equally accepted by the public as legitimate entertainment.
While technology increases demand for entertainment products and offers increased speed of delivery, the forms that make up the content are in themselves, relatively stable. Storytelling, music, theatre, dance and games are recognisably the same as in earlier centuries.
See also[edit]
Book: Entertainment
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Entertainment.
Wikiquote has quotations related to: Entertainment
Entertainment during the Great Depression
Entertainment in the 16th century
Entertainment law
List of basic entertainment topics
List of entertainment industry topics
Mass media
Outline of entertainment
Radio programming
References[edit]
Jump up ^ The Oxford English Dictionary (Oxford University Press, 1971, Vol 1 pp. 213–14) gives Latin and French origins for the word, including inter (among) + tenir (to hold) as derivations, giving translations of "to hold mutually" or "to hold intertwined" and "to engage, keep occupied, the attention thoughts or time (of a person)". It also provides words like "merry-making", "pleasure", "delight", as well as "to receive as a guest and show hospitality to". It cites a 1490 usage by William Caxton.
Jump up ^ For example, the application of psychological models and theories to entertainment is discussed in Part III of Bryant, Jennings; Vorderer, Peter (2006). Psychology of Entertainment. Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. pp. 367–434. ISBN 0-8058-5238-7.
Jump up ^ Sayre, Shay; King, Cynthia (2010). Entertainment and Society: Influences, Impacts, and Innovations (Google eBook) (2nd ed.). Oxon, New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-99806-9. p. 22.
Jump up ^ Frost, Warwick, ed. (2011). Conservation, Education, Entertainment?. Channel View Publication. ISBN 978-1-84541-164-0.
Jump up ^ Macleod, Suzanne; Watson, Sheila (2007). Knell, Simon J., ed. Museum Revolutions. Oxon, New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-203-93264-1. CS1 maint: Uses authors parameter (link)
Jump up ^ Zillmann, Dolf; Vorderer, Peter (2000). Media Entertainment – the psychology of its appeal. Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. Taylor & Francis e-library (2009). pp. vii. ISBN 0-8058-3324-2.
Jump up ^ For example, marketers mix commercial messages with non-commercial messages in entertainments on radio, television, films, videos and games. Shrum, L. J. J. (2012). The Psychology of Entertainment Media (2nd ed.). Routledge. ISBN 978-1-84872-944-5.
Jump up ^ Singhal, Arvind; Cody, Michael J.; Rogers, Everett; Sabido, Miguel, eds. (2008). Entertainment-Education and Social Change: History, Research, and Practice. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 1-4106-0959-6. CS1 maint: Uses editors parameter (link)
Jump up ^ de Freitas, Sara; Maharg, Paul, eds. (2011). Digital Games and Learning. London, New York: Continuum International Publishing Group. ISBN 978-1-4411-9870-9.
Jump up ^ Irwin, William, ed. (2002). The Matrix and Philosophy. Peru, Illinois: Carus Publishing Company. p. 196. ISBN 0-8126-9502-X.
Jump up ^ IMDb The Matrix worldwide release dates
Jump up ^ Jones, Peter (1975). Philosophy and the Novel. Oxford, Clarendon.
Jump up ^ Simpson, M. J. (2005). The Pocket Essential Hitchhiker's Guide (2nd ed.). Pocket Essentials. p. 120. ISBN 1-904048-46-3.
Jump up ^ Joll, Nicholas, ed. (2012). Philosophy and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire; New York: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-230-29112-6.
Jump up ^ Gakhar, Sonia (2007). The influence of storytelling on pre-service students' attitudes and intentions (MSc Thesis). Iowa State University.
^ Jump up to: a b c Kuhns, Richard Francis (2005). Decameron and the Philosophy of Storytelling: Author as Midwife and Pimp. New York; Chichester West Sussex: Columbia University Press. p. 7. ISBN 0-231-13608-0.
^ Jump up to: a b Carlsen, Spike (2009). A Splintered History of Wood. New York: Harper Perennial. p. 170. ISBN 978-0-06-137356-5.
Jump up ^ Dunkle, Roger (2008), Gladiators: violence and spectacle in ancient Rome, Harlow, England; New York: Pearson/Longman, ISBN 9781405807395
Jump up ^ Wiseman, Douglas C. (1977), Medieval Sport: Quest for Survival, Distributed by ERIC Clearinghouse Microfiche
Jump up ^ Potter, David Stone; Mattingly, David J. (1999). Life, Death, and Entertainment in the Roman Empire. University of Michigan Press. p. 308. ISBN 0-472-10924-3.
Jump up ^ Roshwald, Aviel; Stites, Richard (2002). European Culture in the Great War: The Arts, Entertainment and Propaganda, 1914–1918. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-57015-8.
Jump up ^ Heinrich, Anselm (2007). Meech, Tony, ed. Heinrich, Entertainment, propaganda, education: regional theatre in Germany and Britain between 1918 and 1945. Hatfield, England: University of Hertfordshire Press. ISBN 978-1-902806-74-7.
Jump up ^ Arthur, Max (2001). When this bloody war is over: soldiers' songs from the First World War. London: Piatkus. ISBN 0-7499-2252-4.
Jump up ^ Laing, Dave; Oliver, Paul; Wicke, Peter (2003). Horn, David, ed. Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World Part 1 Media, Industry, Society. Continuum. ISBN 0-8264-6321-5. CS1 maint: Uses authors parameter (link)
Jump up ^ McReynolds, Louise (2003). Russia at Play: Leisure Activities at the End of the Tsarist Era. Cornell University. ISBN 0-8014-4027-0.
Jump up ^ McDonald Walton (2007), p. 51.
Jump up ^ Walthall, Anne, ed. (2008). Servants of the Dynasty: Palace Women in World History. London, England: University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-25443-5. pp. 4–5.
Jump up ^ Allen, Charles; Dwivedi, Sharada (1984). Lives of the Indian Princes. London: Century Publishing. p. 210. ISBN 0-7126-0910-5.
Jump up ^ Van Zile, Judy (2001). Perspectives on Korean Dance. Middletown, Connecticut: Wesleyan University Press. ISBN 0-8195-6494-X. p. 36.
Jump up ^ Van Zile (2001), p. 9.
Jump up ^ Van Zile (2001), p. 69.
^ Jump up to: a b Garland, Lynda (2006). Byzantine Women: Varieties of Experience 800–1200. Aldershot, Hampshire: Ashgate Publishing Limited. pp. 177–78. ISBN 978-0-7546-5737-8.
^ Jump up to: a b Walthall (2008).
^ Jump up to: a b Van Zile (2001), p. 6.
Jump up ^ McGregor, Neil. "Episode 94: Sudanese Slit Drum (Transcript)". History of the World in 100 Objects. BBC Radio 4/British Museum. Retrieved 6 February 2013.
Jump up ^ McGregor, Neil (2010). A History of the World in 100 objects. London: Allen Lane. pp. 613–. ISBN 978-1-84614-413-4.
Jump up ^ British Museum catalogue image of Sudanese slit drum
Jump up ^ Holbrook, Peter (1998). Bevington, David, ed. The Politics of the Stuart Court Masque. Cambridge University Press. pp. 42–43. ISBN 0-521-59436-7.
^ Jump up to: a b c Gay, Peter (2002). Schnitzler's Century – The making of middle-class culture 1815–1914. New York, London: W.W. Norton & Co. p. 121. ISBN 0-393-32363-3.
Jump up ^ O'Brien, John (2004). Harlequin Britain: Pantomime and Entertainment, 1690–1760. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 0-8018-7910-8.
Jump up ^ Geipel, John (1972). The cartoon: a short history of graphic comedy and satire. Newton Abbot: David & Charles. ISBN 0-7153-5328-4.
Jump up ^ Thompson, Dennis; Hogan, John D.; Clark, Philip M. (2012). Developmental Psychology in Historical Perspective. Malden, Massachusetts; Oxford, UK: Wiley-Blackwell. p. 18. ISBN 978-1-4051-6747-5.
Jump up ^ Thompson (2012), p. 114.
Jump up ^ Cobb, Edith (1977). The ecology of imagination in childhood. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-03870-4.
Jump up ^ Louv, Richard (c. 2005). Last Child in the Woods: saving our children from nature-deficit disorder. Chapel Hill, North Carolina: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill. ISBN 1-56512-391-3.
Jump up ^ Monbiot, George (19 November 2012). "If children lose contact with nature they won't fight for it". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 November 2012.
Jump up ^ Griffiths, Paul (2006). A concise history of western music. New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-84294-5.
Jump up ^ Botermans, Jack (2008). The Book of Games: Strategy, Tactics & History. Sterling Pub Co Inc. ISBN 1-4027-4221-5.
Jump up ^ Bryce, Jo (2006). Rutter, Jason, ed. Understanding Digital Games. London, California, New Delhi: Sage Publications. ISBN 1-4129-0033-6.
Jump up ^ Newman, James (2004). Videogames. London, New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-203-64290-2.
Jump up ^ Jin, Dal Yong (2010). Korea's Online Gaming Empire. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. ISBN 978-0-262-01476-2.
Jump up ^ Fischer, Steven Roger (2003). A history of reading. London: Reaktion Books. p. 236. ISBN 1-86189-160-1.
Jump up ^ Fischer (2003), pp. 234–35.
Jump up ^ Fischer (2003), p. 215.
Jump up ^ Fischer (2003), p. 212.
Jump up ^ Chapman, James (2011). British comics: a cultural history. London: Reaktion Books. ISBN 978-1-86189-855-5.
Jump up ^ Benton, Mike (c. 1992). Superhero comics of the Golden Age: the illustrated history. Dallas, Texas: Taylor Publishing. ISBN 0-87833-808-X.
Jump up ^ "Charles M. Schulz on Cartooning", Hogan's Alley #1, 1994
Jump up ^ Films have been made of the Peanuts cartoons, including one released in 2015 to celebrate the 65th anniversary of the comic strip.
Jump up ^ The philosophical and theological implications of Schulz's work were explored in: Short, Robert L. (1965). The Gospel According to Peanuts. Westminster: John Knox Press. ISBN 0-664-22222-6.
Jump up ^ Roston, Murray (2011). The comic mode in English literature: from the Middle Ages to today. London: Continuum. ISBN 978-1-4411-9588-3.
Jump up ^ Grindon, Leger (2011). The Hollywood romantic comedy: conventions, history, controversies. Malden, Massachusetts: Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 978-1-4051-8266-9.
Jump up ^ Hokenson, Jan Walsh (2006). The Idea of Comedy: History, Theory, Critique. Cranbury, New Jersey: Rosemont Publishing and Printing Corp. pp. 150–51. ISBN 0-8386-4096-6.
Jump up ^ Hornback, Robert (2009). The English clown tradition from the middle ages to Shakespeare. Woodbridge Suffolk, Rochester, New York: D.S. Brewer. ISBN 978-1-84384-200-2.
Jump up ^ Gay, Penny (2008). The Cambridge introduction to Shakespeare's comedies. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-85668-3.
Jump up ^ Ellis, David (c. 2007). Shakespeare's practical jokes: an introduction to the comic in his work. Lewisburg, Pennsylvania: Bucknell University Press. ISBN 0-8387-5680-8.
Jump up ^ Thorpe, Ashley (c. 2007). The role of the chou ("clown") in traditional Chinese drama: comedy, criticism, and cosmology on the Chinese stage. Lewiston, New York: Edwin Mellen Press. ISBN 0-7734-5303-2.
Jump up ^ Charney, Maurice, ed. (2005). Comedy: A Geographic and Historical Guide. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 0-313-32706-8.
Jump up ^ McGonagall, William (1890) (1992). "Reminiscences" in Collected Poems. Edinburgh: Birlinn. p. 13. ISBN 1-874744-01-7.
Jump up ^ Watanabe, Masako (2011). Storytelling in Japanese Art. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art. ISBN 978-0-300-17590-5.
Jump up ^ Yamanaka, Yuriko; Nishio, Tetsuo (2006). The Arabian nights and orientalism: perspectives from East & West. London, New York: I.B. Tauris.
Jump up ^ Burton, Sir Richard (1821–1890) (in English) (1958). Arabian nights. A plain and literal translation of the Arabian nights' entertainments: now entitled The book of the thousand and one nights. London: Barker.
Jump up ^ Caracciolo, Peter L., ed. (1988). The Arabian nights in English literature : studies in the reception of The thousand and one nights into British culture. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Macmillan. ISBN 0-333-36693-X.
Jump up ^ Rankin, Walter (2007). Grimm pictures: fairy tale archetypes in eight horror and suspense films. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Co. ISBN 978-0-7864-3174-8.
Jump up ^ The epic of Gilgamesh: the Babylonian epic poem and other texts in Akkadian and Sumerian (English – translated from Akkadian and Sumerian by Andrew George). London: Allen Lane. 1999. ISBN 0-7139-9196-8.
Jump up ^ Thompson, Vivian Laubach; Kahalewai, Marilyn (1966). Hawaiian Myths of Earth, Sea, and Sky. University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 0-8248-1171-2.
Jump up ^ McDonald, Marianne and Walton, J. Michael, eds. (2007). The Cambridge companion to Greek and Roman theatre. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-83456-2. CS1 maint: Uses editors parameter (link) p. 26.
Jump up ^ McDonald & Walton (2007), p. 93.
Jump up ^ McDonald & Walton (2007), p. 26.
Jump up ^ Milling, Jane; Donohue, Joseph W.; Thomson, Peter, eds. (2005). The Cambridge History of British Theatre. Cambridge University Press (3 volumes). ISBN 0-521-82790-6. CS1 maint: Uses editors parameter (link)
Jump up ^ Kenrick, John (c. 2008). Musical theatre: a history. London: Continuum. ISBN 0-8264-2860-6.
Jump up ^ Ackroyd, Peter (2000). London: The Biography. New York: Anchor Books. ISBN 0-385-49771-7. p. 620.
Jump up ^ Frame, Murray (2000). The St. Petersburg Imperial Theaters: Stage and State in Revolutionary Russia, 1900–1920. McFarland & Co, Inc. Publishers. ISBN 978-0-7864-4330-7. pp. 65–66.
^ Jump up to: a b c Frame (2000).
Jump up ^ Bailey, Peter (1998). Popular Culture and Performance in the Victorian City. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-57417-X.
Jump up ^ Mordden, Ethan (2007). All that glittered: the golden age of drama on Broadway. New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-33898-8.
Jump up ^ Stempel, Larry (c. 2010). Showtime: a history of the Broadway musical theater. New York: W.W. Norton & Co. ISBN 978-0-393-06715-6.
Jump up ^ Robinson, Peter M. (c. 2010). The dance of the comedians: the people, the president, and the performance of political standup comedy in America. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press. ISBN 978-1-55849-733-7.
Jump up ^ Wyver, John (1989). The Moving Image: An International History of Film, Television, and Video. John Wiley & Sons, Limited. ISBN 0-631-16821-4.
^ Jump up to: a b c Paris, Michael, ed. (1999). The First World War and popular Cinema. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 0-8135-2824-0. p. 9.
Jump up ^ Paris (1999), p. 115.
Jump up ^ Cavalier, Stephen (c. 2011). The world history of animation. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-26112-7.
Jump up ^ Byrnes, Paul. "Pompeii, Noah and Exodus: The sword giveth again". Film. The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 30 March 2014.
Jump up ^ Byrnes, Paul (12 December 2015). "Losing the plot". The Sydney Morning Herald. pp. 12–13.
^ Jump up to: a b Maddox, Garry. "The Lego Movie: Hit off the old block". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 30 March 2014.
Jump up ^ Rothwell, Kenneth S. (1999). A History of Shakespeare on Screen: A Century of Film and Television. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-59404-9.
Jump up ^ Paris (1999), p. 17.
Jump up ^ Byrnes, Paul. "Noah review: Moments of brilliance but can't shake sinking feeling". Review. The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 30 March 2014.
Jump up ^ Albright, Ann Cooper (2001). Dils, Ann, ed. Moving History/Dancing Cultures: A Dance History Reader. Durham, North Carolina: Wesleyan University Press. ISBN 0-8195-6412-5. p. xviii.
^ Jump up to: a b Dils & Albright (2001), p. 96.
Jump up ^ Dils & Albright (2001), p. 34.
Jump up ^ Clarke, Mary (1981). The history of dance. New York: Crown Publishers. ISBN 0-517-54282-X. p. 98.
Jump up ^ Clarke (1981), p. 97.
Jump up ^ Wilson, Thomas (1808). An Analysis of Country Dancing. W. Calvert.
Jump up ^ Fullerton, Susannah; Le Faye, Deirdre (2012). A Dance with Jane Austen: How a Novelist and Her Characters Went to the Ball. Pgw. ISBN 0-7112-3245-8.
Jump up ^ Wilson, Thomas (1816). The Treasures of Terpsichore: or, A Companion for the Ball-Room. London: Sherwood, Neely and Jones.
^ Jump up to: a b Wulff, Helena (2007). Dancing at the Crossroads: Memory and Mobility in Ireland. Berghahn Books. p. 137. ISBN 978-1-84545-328-2.
Jump up ^ Dils & Albright (2001), p. 142.
Jump up ^ van Nieuwkerk, Karin. "Changing Images and Shifting Identities: Female Performers in Egypt" in Dils & Albright (2001). p. 141.
Jump up ^ Karina, Lilian; Kant, Marion (1999). Hitler's Dancers: German Modern Dance and the Third Reich. Translated by Jonathan Steinberg (English language ed.). Berghahn Books. p. 174. ISBN 1-57181-300-4.
Jump up ^ Field, Andrew David (2010). Shanghai's Dancing World: Cabaret Culture and Urban Politics, 1919–1954. Sha Tin, Hong Kong: The Chinese University of Hong Kong. p. 169. ISBN 978-962-996-373-6.
Jump up ^ Butters, Gerald R. (2007). Banned in Kansas: Motion Picture Censorship, 1915–1966. Columbia: University of Missouri Press. p. 230. ISBN 978-0-8262-1749-3.
Jump up ^ Pruter, Robert (1991). Chicago Soul. University of Illinois. p. 191. ISBN 0-252-06259-0.
Jump up ^ Hill, Constance Valis (2010). Tap Dancing America: A Cultural History. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 12. ISBN 978-0-19-539082-7.
Jump up ^ St Leon, Mark (2011). Circus: the Australian story. Melbourne: Melbourne Books. p. 3. ISBN 978-1-877096-50-1.
Jump up ^ Hancocks, David (c. 2001). A different nature: the paradoxical world of zoos and their uncertain future. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-23676-9.
Jump up ^ An extensive discussion of the legal and cultural issues can be found in Bronner, Simon J. (2008). Killing Tradition: Inside Hunting and Animal Rights Controversies. The University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 978-0-8131-2528-2.
Jump up ^ Examples include: The League against Cruel Sports, UK; People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), multinational; and Showing Animals Respect and Kindness (SHARK), US.
Jump up ^ Bronner 2008.
^ Jump up to: a b Stoddart, Helen (2000). Rings of Desire: Circus History and Representation. Manchester, UK & New York: Manchester University Press. p. 13. ISBN 0-7190-5233-5.
Jump up ^ Diamond, Michael (2003). Victorian sensation, or, The spectacular, the shocking, and the scandalous in nineteenth-century Britain. London: Anthem Press. ISBN 1-84331-076-7.
Jump up ^ St Leon (2011).
Jump up ^ Lévi, Éliphas (2001). The History of Magic (originally published in 1860 as Histoire de la Magie English edition, translated by A. E. Waite in 1913). Boston, Massachusetts: Red Wheel/Weiser. ISBN 0-87728-929-8.
Jump up ^ Gresham, William Lindsay (1959), Houdini: the man who walked through walls, Holt
Jump up ^ Epstein, Beryl; Epstein, Sam (1971), The Great Houdini: magician extraordinary, Folkestone: Bailey Brothers and Swinfen (Reprint. Originally published: New York : Dutton, c1920), ISBN 0561000948
Jump up ^ Houdini, Harry, 1874–1926 (1981), Miracle mongers and their methods: a complete exposé, Buffalo, N.Y.: Prometheus Books, ISBN 0879751436 CS1 maint: Multiple names: authors list (link) (Reprint. Originally published: New York: Dutton, c1920)
Jump up ^ "Rowling 'makes £5 every second'". BBC News. 3 October 2008. Retrieved 27 February 2013.
Jump up ^ "Harry Potter series to be sold as e-books". BBC News. 23 June 2011. Retrieved 27 February 2013.
Jump up ^ Cohen, David; Greenwood, Ben (c. 1981). The buskers: a history of street entertainment. Newton Abbot; North Pomfret, Vermont: David & Charles. ISBN 0-7153-8026-5.
Jump up ^ Ackroyd (2000), p. 346 (caption to plate following text pages).
Jump up ^ For example, 2012 Coffs Harbour International Buskers and Comedy Festival.
Jump up ^ Gurval, Robert Alan (1995). Actium and Augustus: The Politics and Emotions of Civil War. University of Michigan. p. 20. ISBN 0-472-10590-6.
Jump up ^ Maclean, Kama (2008). Pilgrimage and Power: The Kumbh Mela in Allahabad, 1765–1954. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 52. ISBN 978-0-19-533894-2.
Jump up ^ Casanova, Giacomo Chevalier de Seingalt (1997). History of My Life, Volumes 9–10 Vol 10. Baltimore, Maryland; London: Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 333. ISBN 0-8018-5666-3.
Jump up ^ Kelly, Jack (2005). Gunpowder: Alchemy, Bombards, and Pyrotechnics: The History of the Explosive that Changed the World. Basic Books. ISBN 0-465-03722-4.
Jump up ^ Sagarra, Eda (2003). A Social History of Germany 1648–1914. Transaction Publishers. p. 31. ISBN 978-0-7658-0982-7.
Jump up ^ Hogwood, Christopher (2005). Handel: Water Music and Music for the Royal Fireworks. Cambridge University Press. p. 80. ISBN 978-0-521-83636-4.
Jump up ^ Varadpande, Manohar Laxman (1992). History of Indian Theatre (vol. 2). New Delhi: Shakti Malik Abhinav Publications. p. 286. ISBN 81-7017-278-0.
Jump up ^ Hardy, Stephen; Sutton, William Anthony (2007). Mullin, Bernard James, ed. Sport Marketing. Human Kinetics. ISBN 978-0-7360-6052-3. CS1 maint: Uses authors parameter (link)
Jump up ^ Thompson, Christopher S. (2008). The Tour de France: A Cultural History. Berkeley, Los Angeles, London: University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-25630-9.
Jump up ^ Kubota, Makoto (1999). Sumo. Chronicle Books Llc. ISBN 0-8118-2548-5.
^ Jump up to: a b Wilson, Robert (2007). Great Exhibitions: The World Fairs 1851–1937. National Gallery of Victoria. pp. 10–11. ISBN 978-0-7241-0284-6.
^ Jump up to: a b Moss, Mark Howard (2007). Shopping as an Entertainment Experience. Lanham, Maryland; Plymouth, UK: Lexington Books. p. 3. ISBN 978-0-7391-1680-7.
Jump up ^ "World's Colombian Exposition of 1893". Chicago Illinois Institute of Technology. Retrieved 15 November 2012.
^ Jump up to: a b Rydell, Robert; Boisseau, T. J.; Markwyn, Abigail M.; Rydell, Robert W. (2010). Boisseau, T. J., ed. Gendering the Fair: Histories of Women and Gender at World's Fairs. Chicago, Illinois: University of Illinois. p. viii. ISBN 978-0-252-03558-6. CS1 maint: Uses authors parameter (link)
Jump up ^ Rydell, Robert W. (1993). World of Fairs: The Century-of-Progress Expositions. Chicago, Illinois: University of Chicago Press. p. 15. ISBN 0-226-73236-3.
Jump up ^ Tubbs, Jeffrey; Meacham, Brian (2007). Egress Design Solutions: A Guide to Evacuation and Crowd Management Planning. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. p. 83. ISBN 978-0-471-71956-4.
Jump up ^ Mansfeld, Yoel; Pizam, Abraham (c. 2006), Tourism, security and safety: from theory to practice, Burlington, Mass.: Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann, ISBN 0750678984
Jump up ^ Stein, Andi; Evans, Beth Bingham (2009). An Introduction to the Entertainment Industry. New York: Peter Lang Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4331-0341-4.
Jump up ^ Walmsley, Ben (ed.). Key issues in the arts and entertainment industry. Woodeaton, Oxford: Goodfellow Publishers. ISBN 1-906884-20-X.
Jump up ^ Sickels, Robert C. The Business of Entertainment. Greenwood Publishing (Three Volumes).
Jump up ^ Vogel, Harold L. (2007). Entertainment industry economics: a guide for financial analysis (7th ed.). Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-87485-8.
Jump up ^ "Hollywood News". Mid Day. Retrieved 28 April 2014.
Jump up ^ "Bollywood News". Mid Day. Retrieved 28 April 2014.
Jump up ^ Casper, Drew (2007). Postwar Hollywood, 1946–1962. Oxford: Blackwell. ISBN 978-1-4051-5074-3.
Jump up ^ Newhouse, Victoria (c. 2012). Site and sound: the architecture and acoustics of new opera houses and concert halls. New York: Monacelli Press. ISBN 978-1-58093-281-3.
Jump up ^ Green, J. R. "The Theatre of Paphos and the Theatre of Alexandria: Some First Thoughts" in MacLeod, Roy, ed. (2002). The Library of Alexandria. Cairo, Egypt: The American University in Cairo Press. ISBN 977-424-710-8. p. 115.
Jump up ^ Sheard, Rod (2001). Sports Architecture. London: Spon Press. ISBN 0-419-21220-5. p. xvi.
^ Jump up to: a b c Sheard (2001), p. xvi.
Jump up ^ Lasansky, D. Medina; McLaren, Brian (2004). Architecture and Tourism: Perception, Performance and Place (English ed.). Berg Publishers. ISBN 1-85973-709-9. p. xvii.
Jump up ^ Lasansky (2004), p. xvii, Part II, Ch. 4, 5, 6.
Jump up ^ Garratt, G. R. M. (c. 1994). The early history of radio: from Faraday to Marconi. London: Institution of Electrical Engineers, in association with the Science Museum. ISBN 0-85296-845-0.
Jump up ^ Hilmes, Michele; Loviglio, Jason, eds. (2002). Radio reader: essays in the cultural history of radio. New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-92820-6.
Jump up ^ Cox, Jim (2007). The great radio sitcoms. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Co. ISBN 978-0-7864-3146-5.
Jump up ^ Spigel, Lynn (1992). Make room for TV: television and the family ideal in postwar America. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-76966-6.
^ Jump up to: a b Tryon, Chuck (2009). Reinventing Cinema: Movies in the Age of Media Convergence. Rutgers University Press. pp. 6, 9. ISBN 978-0-8135-4546-2.
Jump up ^ Spigel, Lynn; Olsson, Jan, eds. (2004). Television after TV: Essays on a Medium in Transition. Duke University Press. ISBN 0-8223-3383-X. CS1 maint: Uses editors parameter (link)
Jump up ^ Cogburn, Jon; Silcox, Mark (2002). Philosophy Through Video Games. New York, Oxon: Routledge. p. i. ISBN 0-415-98857-8.
Jump up ^ Doyle, Gillian (2002). Media Ownership: The Economics and Politics of Convergence and Concentration in the UK and European Media. (Google eBook): SAGE. ISBN 0-7619-6680-3.
Jump up ^ Ellis, John (January 2000). "Scheduling: the last creative act in television?". Media Culture Society. Bournemouth University/Large Door Productions. 22 (1): 25–38. doi:10.1177/016344300022001002.
Jump up ^ For example, in the UK: Tryhorn, Chris (21 December 2007). "Government thinktank to tackle media convergence issues". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 21 November 2012. Retrieved 22 November 2012.
Jump up ^ And for example, in Australia: "Convergence Review". Australian Government: Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy. 30 April 2012. Archived from the original on 21 November 2012. Retrieved 23 November 2012.
Jump up ^ Sheard (2001), p. 49.
Jump up ^ Power, Julie (3 August 2013). "Laughter and music better than drugs for dementia patients". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 3 August 2013.
Jump up ^ Dwyer, Tim (2010). Media Convergence. Maidenhead, Berkshire, England and New York: Open University Press McGraw-Hill Education. ISBN 978-0-335-22873-7.
Jump up ^ Sayre & King (2010), p. 156.
Jump up ^ Sayre & King (2010), pp. 22, 30 ff.
Jump up ^ Sayre & King (2010), p. 30.
Jump up ^ Jenkins, Henry (2006). Convergence culture: where old and new media collide. New York: New York University Press. ISBN 0-8147-4281-5.
Jump up ^ Sayre & King (2010), p. 536.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Entertainment&oldid=849788324"
Categories:
Concepts in aesthetics
Entertainment
Hidden categories:
CS1 maint: Uses authors parameter
CS1 maint: Uses editors parameter
CS1 maint: Multiple names: authors list
Use dmy dates from April 2013
Use British English from April 2013
Articles with hAudio microformats
Good articles
Articles containing video clips
Navigation menu
Personal tools
Not logged in
Talk
Contributions
Create account
Log in
Namespaces
Article
Talk
Variants
Views
Read
Edit
View history
More
Search
Navigation
Main page
Contents
Featured content
Current events
Random article
Donate to Wikipedia
Wikipedia store
Interaction
Help
About Wikipedia
Community portal
Recent changes
Contact page
Tools
What links here
Related changes
Upload file
Special pages
Permanent link
Page information
Wikidata item
Cite this page
Print/export
Create a book
Download as PDF
Printable version
In other projects
Wikimedia Commons
Wikiquote
Languages
አማርኛ
العربية
Asturianu
Azərbaycanca
Bamanankan
বাংলা
Беларуская
भोजपुरी
Български
Bosanski
Català
Čeština
Cymraeg
Dansk
Eesti
Ελληνικά
Español
فارسی
Føroyskt
Français
Frysk
Furlan
Gaeilge
Gaelg
Galego
한국어
Հայերեն
हिन्दी
Bahasa Indonesia
Interlingua
Íslenska
Italiano
עברית
ಕನ್ನಡ
Қазақша
Kiswahili
Kreyòl ayisyen
ລາວ
Latgaļu
Latina
Latviešu
Lietuvių
Македонски
മലയാളം
मराठी
Bahasa Melayu
Nederlands
日本語
Norsk
Norsk nynorsk
ਪੰਜਾਬੀ
پښتو
Polski
Português
Română
Русский
Саха тыла
संस्कृतम्
Scots
Shqip
Sicilianu
සිංහල
Simple English
Slovenčina
Slovenščina
Српски / srpski
Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски
Suomi
Svenska
Tagalog
தமிழ்
తెలుగు
ไทย
Türkçe
Українська
اردو
Tiếng Việt
Võro
吴语
ייִדיש
Yorùbá
粵語
Žemaitėška
中文
75 more
Edit links
This page was last edited on 11 July 2018, at 10:26 (UTC).
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
Privacy policy
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Contact Wikipedia
Developers
Cookie statement
Mobile view
Enable previews

values: mw-page-base noprint

values: mw-head-base noprint

values: This is a good article. Follow the link for more information.

attrs: class id

values: firstHeading firstHeading en

values: siteSub noprint

values: mw-jump-link #mw-head

values: mw-jump-link #p-search

attrs: href class title

values:
/wiki/Entertainment_(disambiguation)
mw-disambig
Entertainment (disambiguation)

values:
note
hatnote navigation-not-searchable

attrs: alt src width height class srcset data-file-width data-file-height

attrs: class style

values:
/wiki/Entertainment_industry
mw-redirect
Entertainment industry

values: position: absolute; top: 0px; left: 110px; right: 0px; bottom: 0px; height: 0px; width: 0px;

values: left: 50%; top: 50%; margin-left: -35px; margin-top: -27.5px;

values: width:220px width: 220px; position: relative;

values:
/wiki/Cavalleria_Rusticana
mw-redirect
Cavalleria Rusticana

values:
/wiki/Before_common_era
mw-redirect
Before common era

values: Phrases from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

values:
/wiki/Philosophical_method
mw-redirect
Philosophical method

values:
/wiki/Carbon-fiber-reinforced_polymer
mw-redirect
Carbon-fiber-reinforced polymer

values:
/wiki/Russian_revolution
mw-redirect
Russian revolution

values:
/wiki/Accession_Day
mw-redirect
Accession Day

values: History of the English penny (1485–1603)

values:
/wiki/Piggy-back_(transportation)
mw-redirect
Piggy-back (transportation)

values:
/wiki/Television_content_rating_systems
mw-redirect
Television content rating systems

values: display:table-row;vertical-align:top display:block;font-size:94%;padding:0px min-height:6.1em;width:187px;line-height:1.3em;padding:2px 6px 1px 6px;margin:0px;border:none;border-width:0px

values: 3 Jean Fouquet, Banquet for Charles V of France (1455–1460)

values:
/wiki/Emperor_Qian_Long
mw-redirect
Emperor Qian Long

values: 9 Coronation banquet of George IV in Westminster Hall (1821)

values:
/wiki/Westminster_Hall
mw-redirect
Westminster Hall

values: 1 Traditional instruments used to accompany dance (Tibet, 1949)

values: display:table-row;vertical-align:top display:block;font-size:94%;padding:0px min-height:4.6em;width:187px;line-height:1.3em;padding:2px 6px 1px 6px;margin:0px;border:none;border-width:0px

values: 3 Ensemble entertains travellers in the Paris Métro (2002)

values: 4 Drummer playing Boduberu (Maldives, 2010)

values: 5 Choir and orchestra in ecclesiastical setting (Italy, 2008)

values: 7 A concert with a 3D enhanced stage (Singapore, 2010)

values: 8 Concert hall audience (Netherlands, 2010)

values: 9 Crowd surfing at a concert (France, 2011)

values:
/wiki/Children%27s_game
mw-redirect
Children's game

values:
/wiki/Hide_and_seek
mw-redirect
Hide and seek

values:
/wiki/Blind_man%27s_bluff_(game)
mw-redirect
Blind man's bluff (game)

values:
/wiki/Lawn_bowling
mw-redirect
Lawn bowling

values:
/wiki/Rubik%27s_cube
mw-redirect
Rubik's cube

values: Sofonisba Anguissola The Chess Game (1555)  An intellectual game

values: float: right; clear: right; margin: 0.5em 0 0.8em 1.4em; width:20em; padding: 10px; border: 1px solid #aaa; font-size: 85%; background-color: #F9F9F9; position: relative; text-align: left;

values:
/wiki/Choose_your_own_adventure
mw-redirect
Choose your own adventure

values:
/wiki/Observational_humor
mw-redirect
Observational humor

values:
/wiki/One-liner_joke
mw-redirect
One-liner joke

values:
/wiki/Myth_of_origin
mw-redirect
Myth of origin

values:
/wiki/The_Arabian_Nights
mw-redirect
The Arabian Nights

values: Telling stories via Wayang golek puppets in Java

values: Tosa Mitsuoki illustrating her Tale of Genji

values: 1 Satirical representation of audience reaction (1809)

values: 2 Improvised stage for a public performance at a fair (1642)

values:
/wiki/File:The_stage.jpg
image
3 Improvised stage for domestic theatre

values: 5 Concert theatre ready for solo instrumentalist

values: 6 Outdoor theatre created from Edinburgh castle forecourt

values:
/wiki/Edinburgh_castle
mw-redirect
Edinburgh castle

values: 7 Traditional stage for Japanese Noh theatre

values:
/wiki/File:Music_Circus_Stage_2011.jpg
image
8 Stage for theatre in the round

values: 9 Teatro Colón, a highly decorative, horseshoe theatre

values: 10 Stagecraft –  a locking rail backstage

values:
/wiki/Literary_devices
mw-redirect
Literary devices

values: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

values: British Academy of Film and Television Arts

values: File:Peterborough Snow Ball 2008 silent video.ogv

values: <video id="mwe_player_2" poster="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/ba/Peterborough_Snow_Ball_2008_silent_video.ogv/640px--Peterborough_Snow_Ball_2008_silent_video.ogv.jpg" controls="" preload="none" autoplay="" style="width:640px;height:480px" class="kskin" data-durationhint="105" data-startoffset="0" data-mwtitle="Peterborough_Snow_Ball_2008_silent_video.ogv" data-mwprovider="wikimediacommons"><source src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/b/ba/Peterborough_Snow_Ball_2008_silent_video.ogv/Peterborough_Snow_Ball_2008_silent_video.ogv.480p.webm" type="video/webm; codecs="vp8, vorbis"" data-title="SD WebM (480P)" data-shorttitle="WebM 480P" data-transcodekey="480p.webm" data-width="640" data-height="480" data-bandwidth="1034488" data-framerate="30"/><source src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/ba/Peterborough_Snow_Ball_2008_silent_video.ogv" type="video/ogg; codecs="theora, flac"" data-title="Original Ogg file, 640 × 480 (1.51 Mbps)" data-shorttitle="Ogg source" data-width="640" data-height="480" data-bandwidth="1506842" data-framerate="30"/><source src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/b/ba/Peterborough_Snow_Ball_2008_silent_video.ogv/Peterborough_Snow_Ball_2008_silent_video.ogv.160p.webm" type="video/webm; codecs="vp8, vorbis"" data-title="Low bandwidth WebM (160P)" data-shorttitle="WebM 160P" data-transcodekey="160p.webm" data-width="214" data-height="160" data-bandwidth="204688" data-framerate="30"/><source src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/b/ba/Peterborough_Snow_Ball_2008_silent_video.ogv/Peterborough_Snow_Ball_2008_silent_video.ogv.240p.webm" type="video/webm; codecs="vp8, vorbis"" data-title="Small WebM (240P)" data-shorttitle="WebM 240P" data-transcodekey="240p.webm" data-width="320" data-height="240" data-bandwidth="375608" data-framerate="30"/><source src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/b/ba/Peterborough_Snow_Ball_2008_silent_video.ogv/Peterborough_Snow_Ball_2008_silent_video.ogv.360p.webm" type="video/webm; codecs="vp8, vorbis"" data-title="WebM (360P)" data-shorttitle="WebM 360P" data-transcodekey="360p.webm" data-width="480" data-height="360" data-bandwidth="677816" data-framerate="30"/></video>

values:
/wiki/Ball_(dance)
mw-redirect
Ball (dance)

values:
/wiki/Strip_clubs
mw-redirect
Strip clubs

values:
/wiki/African_American
mw-redirect
African American

values:
/wiki/Solo_(dance)
mw-redirect
Solo (dance)

values: 8 Fire Dragon dance for Chinese New Year

values: 9 Bhangra dancers at the International Children's Festival

values: ‘Ala’ud-Din and Mahima Dharma hunting an Indian tiger, 1790.

values:
/wiki/Indian_tiger
mw-redirect
Indian tiger

values: Crowd watches Pharlap win the Melbourne Cup in Australia, 1930.

values: Crowd watches a bullfight in Mexico, 2010.

values:
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/big_top
extiw
wikt:big top

values:
/wiki/Arthurian_legends
mw-redirect
Arthurian legends

values:
/wiki/List_of_book_series
mw-redirect
List of book series

values:
/wiki/Magician_(illusion)
mw-redirect
Magician (illusion)

values:
/wiki/Royal_Entry
mw-redirect
Royal Entry

values:
/wiki/Way_of_St._James
mw-redirect
Way of St. James

values: 2 Alfred Jacob Miller Cavalcade by the Snake Indians (1858–60)

values: 3 Parade from the onlooker perspective (1816)

values: File:William McKinley 1897 inauguration.ogv

values: <video id="mwe_player_4" poster="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/49/William_McKinley_1897_inauguration.ogv/400px--William_McKinley_1897_inauguration.ogv.jpg" controls="" preload="none" autoplay="" style="width:400px;height:288px" class="kskin" data-durationhint="74.6746" data-startoffset="0" data-mwtitle="William_McKinley_1897_inauguration.ogv" data-mwprovider="wikimediacommons"><source src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/49/William_McKinley_1897_inauguration.ogv" type="video/ogg; codecs="theora, vorbis"" data-title="Original Ogg file, 400 × 288 (503 kbps)" data-shorttitle="Ogg source" data-width="400" data-height="288" data-bandwidth="503135" data-framerate="29.97002997003"/><source src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/4/49/William_McKinley_1897_inauguration.ogv/William_McKinley_1897_inauguration.ogv.160p.webm" type="video/webm; codecs="vp8, vorbis"" data-title="Low bandwidth WebM (160P)" data-shorttitle="WebM 160P" data-transcodekey="160p.webm" data-width="222" data-height="160" data-bandwidth="199128" data-framerate="29.97002997003"/><source src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/4/49/William_McKinley_1897_inauguration.ogv/William_McKinley_1897_inauguration.ogv.240p.webm" type="video/webm; codecs="vp8, vorbis"" data-title="Small WebM (240P)" data-shorttitle="WebM 240P" data-transcodekey="240p.webm" data-width="334" data-height="240" data-bandwidth="314152" data-framerate="29.97002997003"/></video>

values: 5 Respectful crowd at motorcade in Canada (1945)

values:
/wiki/File:Anant_Chaturdashi.jpg
image
6 Ganesh Visarjan, Mumbai (2007)

values:
/wiki/Ganesh_Visarjan
mw-redirect
Ganesh Visarjan

values: 7 Costumes in West Indian Day parade (2008)

values: 8 Celebratory parade in London before seated audience (2008)

values:
/wiki/File:Red_Arrows_over_the_Mall.JPG
image
9 Flypast (2012)

values:
/wiki/Giza_Necropolis
mw-redirect
Giza Necropolis

values:
/wiki/Elizabeth_Tower
mw-redirect
Elizabeth Tower

values: Edit section: Fairs, expositions, shopping

values: Advertisement for 1889 Paris Universal Exposition

values:
/wiki/Norm_(social)
mw-redirect
Norm (social)

values:
/wiki/Security_officers
mw-redirect
Security officers

values: International Organization for Standardization

values:
/wiki/Roller_coasters
mw-redirect
Roller coasters

values:
/wiki/Water_rides
mw-redirect
Water rides

values: Packaged entertainment35mm film reels in boxes

values: Choosing music from a record store (Germany, 1988)

values: Ticket showing electronic barcode (Valencia, 2005)

values: Edit section: Architecture for entertainment

values:
/wiki/Theatre_(structure)
mw-redirect
Theatre (structure)

values:
/wiki/World_Heritage_Site
mw-redirect
World Heritage Site

values:
/wiki/The_O%E2%82%82_(London)
mw-redirect
The O₂ (London)

values: Colosseum (70–80 AD) Roman venue for mass entertainment

values:
/wiki/Est%C3%A1dio_do_Maracan%C3%A3
mw-redirect
Estádio do Maracanã

values: The O₂ entertainment precinct (2007) London

values: Edit section: Architecture as entertainment

values: File:Arthur Sullivan - wax cylinder recording.ogg

values: Edit section: Effects of developments in electronic media

values:
/wiki/Data_storage_device
mw-redirect
Data storage device

values:
/wiki/Handheld_video_game
mw-redirect
Handheld video game

values:
/wiki/Digital_revolution
mw-redirect
Digital revolution

values:
/wiki/Analogue_recording
mw-redirect
Analogue recording

values:
/wiki/Video_hosting_service
mw-redirect
Video hosting service

values: Entertainment during the Great Depression

values: Category:CS1 maint: Uses authors parameter

values: Category:CS1 maint: Uses editors parameter

values:
nofollow
http://www.league.org.uk/
external text

values:
nofollow
http://www.peta.org/
external text

values:
nofollow
http://www.sharkonline.org/
external text

values: Category:CS1 maint: Multiple names: authors list

values:
nofollow
http://www.coffsharbourbuskers.com/
external text

values:
nofollow
http://columbus.gl.iit.edu/
external text

values: Category:Use British English from April 2013

values: Category:Articles with hAudio microformats

values: Category:Articles containing video clips

values: Discussion about edits from this IP address [ctrl-alt-n]

values: A list of edits made from this IP address [ctrl-alt-y]

values: You are encouraged to create an account and log in; however, it is not mandatory

values: You're encouraged to log in; however, it's not mandatory. [ctrl-alt-o]

values:
/wiki/Entertainment
View the content page [ctrl-alt-c]
c

values: Discussion about the content page [ctrl-alt-t]

values: p-namespaces navigation vectorTabs p-namespaces-label

values:
p-variants
navigation
vectorMenu emptyPortlet
p-variants-label

values: Past revisions of this page [ctrl-alt-h]

values: p-views navigation vectorTabs p-views-label

values:
p-cactions
navigation
vectorMenu emptyPortlet
p-cactions-label

values:
mw-wiki-logo
/wiki/Main_Page
Visit the main page

values:
/wiki/Main_Page
Visit the main page [ctrl-alt-z]
z

values: Featured content – the best of Wikipedia

values: Find background information on current events

values:
/wiki/Special:Random
Load a random article [ctrl-alt-x]
x

values: portal navigation p-navigation p-navigation-label

values: Guidance on how to use and edit Wikipedia

values: About the project, what you can do, where to find things

values: A list of recent changes in the wiki [ctrl-alt-r]

values: portal navigation p-interaction p-interaction-label

values: List of all English Wikipedia pages containing links to this page [ctrl-alt-j]

values: Recent changes in pages linked from this page [ctrl-alt-k]

values:
/wiki/Wikipedia:File_Upload_Wizard
Upload files [ctrl-alt-u]
u

values: A list of all special pages [ctrl-alt-q]

values: Permanent link to this revision of the page

values: Link to connected data repository item [ctrl-alt-g]

values: Printable version of this page [ctrl-alt-p]

values: portal navigation p-wikibase-otherprojects p-wikibase-otherprojects-label

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-am
display: none;

values: ترفيه – Arabic

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-ast
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-az
display: none;

values:
https://bm.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulon
Tulon – Bambara
bm
bm
interlanguage-link-target

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-bm
display: none;

values: বিনোদন – Bangla

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-bn
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-be
display: none;

values: मनोरंजन – Bhojpuri

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-bh
display: none;

values: Развлечение – Bulgarian

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-bg
display: none;

values:
https://bs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zabava
Zabava – Bosnian
bs
bs
interlanguage-link-target

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-bs
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-ca
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-cs
display: none;

values:
https://cy.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adloniant
Adloniant – Welsh
cy
cy
interlanguage-link-target

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-cy
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-da
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-et
display: none;

values: Ψυχαγωγία – Greek

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-el
display: none;

values: سرگرمی – Persian

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-fa
display: none;

values:
https://fo.wikipedia.org/wiki/Undirhald
Undirhald – Faroese
fo
fo
interlanguage-link-target

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-fo
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-fr
display: none;

values:
https://fy.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermaak
Fermaak – Western Frisian
fy
fy
interlanguage-link-target

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-fy
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-fur
display: none;

values:
https://ga.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oirfide
Oirfide – Irish
ga
ga
interlanguage-link-target

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-ga
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-gv
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-gl
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-ko
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-hy
display: none;

values: मनोरंजन – Hindi

values:
https://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiburan
Hiburan – Indonesian
id
id
interlanguage-link-target

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-ia
display: none;

values:
https://is.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skemmtun
Skemmtun – Icelandic
is
is
interlanguage-link-target

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-is
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-it
display: none;

values: בידור – Hebrew

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-he
display: none;

values: ಮನೋರಂಜನೆ – Kannada

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-kn
display: none;

values: Бейғам тынығу – Kazakh

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-kk
display: none;

values:
https://sw.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burudani
Burudani – Swahili
sw
sw
interlanguage-link-target

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-sw
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-ht
display: none;

values: ການບັນເທີງ – Lao

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-lo
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-ltg
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-la
display: none;

values:
https://lv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Izklaide
Izklaide – Latvian
lv
lv
interlanguage-link-target

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-lv
display: none;

values:
https://lt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pramoga
Pramoga – Lithuanian
lt
lt
interlanguage-link-target

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-ml
display: none;

values: मनोरंजन – Marathi

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-mr
display: none;

values:
https://ms.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiburan
Hiburan – Malay
ms
ms
interlanguage-link-target

values:
https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amusement
Amusement – Dutch
nl
nl
interlanguage-link-target

values: エンターテインメント – Japanese

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-ja
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-nn
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-pa
display: none;

values: وختتېری – Pashto

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-ps
display: none;

values:
https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rozrywka
Rozrywka – Polish
pl
pl
interlanguage-link-target

values: Развлечение – Russian

values: Аралдьыйыы – Sakha

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-sah
display: none;

values: मनोरञ्जनं – Sanskrit

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-sa
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-sco
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-scn
display: none;

values: විනෝදාස්වාදය – Sinhala

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-si
display: none;

values:
https://sl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zabava
Zabava – Slovenian
sl
sl
interlanguage-link-target

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-sl
display: none;

values: Забава – Serbian

values:
https://sh.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zabava
Zabava – Serbo-Croatian
sh
sh
interlanguage-link-target

values:
https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viihde
Viihde – Finnish
fi
fi
interlanguage-link-target

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-fi
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-sv
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-tl
display: none;

values: மகிழ்கலை – Tamil

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-ta
display: none;

values: వినోదము – Telugu

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-te
display: none;

values: การบันเทิง – Thai

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-th
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-tr
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-uk
display: none;

values: تفریح – Urdu

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-vi
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-fiu-vro
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-wuu
display: none;

values: פארוויילונג – Yiddish

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-yi
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-yo
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-zh-yue
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-bat-smg
display: none;

values: All languages (initial selection from common choices by you and others)

values: /static/images/wikimedia-button-1.5x.png 1.5x, /static/images/wikimedia-button-2x.png 2x

values: /static/images/poweredby_mediawiki_132x47.png 1.5x, /static/images/poweredby_mediawiki_176x62.png 2x

values:
suggestions
display: none; font-size: 13px;

values: mediawiki ltr sitedir-ltr mw-hide-empty-elt ns-0 ns-subject page-Entertainment rootpage-Entertainment skin-vector action-view