What Is Entertaiment?

Entertainment is a broad field. It can include a clown at a child’s birthday party, a Broadway show, stadium rock music or your friends fighting over the last potato chip. It evolves over time. Activities that were once necessary skills, such as cooking or fencing, have become entertainment in their own right for professionals and spectators alike. Some, like the tale of Scheherazade from Persian professional storytelling tradition, have inspired a series of orchestral works by Rimsky-Korsakov and others, films by Pasolini and modern video games.

Entertaiment improves life by encouraging exploration and discovery, providing stress relief, connecting people, fostering personal growth and eliciting joy. But the way it improves one’s quality of life is nuanced, and personal preferences influence what forms entertainment take.