Articles

Entertaiment is an activity that is understood objectively, communicates between text and audience from an external stimulus, satisfies pleasure, requires an audience to exist and happens in a passive form. Oliver and Barstsch (2010) add that it also involves consumer activity and requires an investment of resources, but it is not work.

Entertainment is often associated with amusement, but it can have a serious purpose, as in the case of ceremonies, celebrations or religious festivals. It may also be a means of learning or achieving insight, as in the case of satire. Interestingly, many activities that were once considered entertaining, such as fencing or archery, have become serious sports and even professions for their participants, while simultaneously becoming entertainment for larger audiences. From Middle French entretenement, from medieval Latin inter tenere, to hold inside.