Entertainment

Rayuela, painting by Théophile Emmanuel Duverger

Entertainment or entertainment is any activity that allows human beings to use their free time to have fun or recreate their mood with a distraction, avoiding boredom and temporarily escaping of his worries, rejoicing or delighting; for example, playing or reading.

Entertainment is part of the broad family of leisure; so that with the so-called "leisure culture" it has become a thriving sector of economic activity (theme and amusement parks, media and film, music, video game and sports industries, etc.) One aspect of it is called "entertainment industry" or "show business" (from English show business): the "show business".

However, it is not unique to current societies, nor is its use by contemporary powers and their critical perception: such was the meaning of the Roman expression panem et circenses and the Spanish "bread and bulls".

Other activities somewhat similar are not considered entertainment, such as public ceremonies (religious, military, or civil), private devotions, or volunteering.

Before is the obligation of devotion

Collective entertainment has as a requirement to obtain and maintain the attention of a more or less wide audience. The three classic functions of the mass media were to "inform, inform and entertain".

Flying I go / Flying I come /... ♪ By the way ♪ I entertain myself

Camarón de la Isla, Flying., The legend of time1979

Etymology

The term “entertainment” is of Latin origin. It began to be used in Europe at the end of the XV century in relation to the financial action of diverting property belonging to others for one's own benefit. Subsequently, this meaning gave way to that of "diverting attention" in general, later being associated with the idea of pleasure and leisure.^{[citation required]}

Intellectual reflection

The traditional opinion used to consider that entertaining, having fun or distracting oneself was, as the etymologies of these terms indicate, a deviation from the right path and an occasion to fall into all kinds of vices (children of idleness, as the cliché says)., although references to "honest entertainment" They are considered suitable for different types of people. On the contrary, the French philosopher Blaise Pascal produced a renowned study on entertainment published in Pensées (1670) in 1662, developing the contradictory idea that it is necessary for man to be distracted and, therefore,, stray from the essential.:

Chesterton also vindicates entertainment by noting that fun is not the opposite of seriousness, but rather boringness. Actually, the quote may be this, from 'On Mr. McCabe and a Divine Frivolity :

Other texts by Chesterton on the subject: for boredom and the bored, A Defense of Bores, 1902; for seriousness,Seriousness

From the work of Johan Huizinga Homo ludens (1938) the consideration of this aspect of the human being becomes more important, even defining a denomination for the study of games ("ludology").

The importance and repercussions of entertainment is the object of attention in different academic disciplines, such as pedagogy (Horacio already proposed as a method prodesse et delectare -"teach while delighting"-), psychology

From a psychological perspective, emphasis is placed on the gratifying or entertaining condition of entertainment, defining its function as "obtaining gratification" (the attainment of gratification, also translatable as "satisfaction" or "reward". The academic definition of "graficación" only includes meanings related to with the reward or economic remuneration, on the other hand, the one of "rewarding" is "that provides satisfaction". The one of "amenable" is "pleasant, pleasant, delectable"; that of "pleasant" is "savory, agreeable - gratuitous, gracious" without any other measurable benefit expected of it, even if it occurs in contexts in which that the activity that has provided the entertainment may have a derivative interest, such as sports, betting or education.The psychology of entertainment applies to marketing, advertising, the media or education (infotainment, edutainment).

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  The chess gameSofonisba Anguissola, 1555.

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  RayuelaThéophile Emmanuel Duverger, ca. 1901.

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  Relay of a tournament StarCraftSouth Korea, 2006.

Social gatherings, visits, appointments, walks and places of recreation

The meetings that characterize social life have entertainment as one of their functions. Although they can limit themselves to avoiding loneliness and obtain the pleasure of the visit, the company and the conversation, it is very common for the meetings to be enlivened with music, dancing, food and drink.

There are many types of catering establishments and other places for entertainment with or without the consumption of some type of product (taverns, wineries, bodegones and bodegoncillos de kick -the equivalent of modern food trucks >-, chigres, breweries, izakaya, botillerías, lodges, ice cream parlors, horchaterías, bars, cocktail bars, pubs, cafeterias, tea rooms, restaurants, casinos, clubs social, etc.) that would not make sense if it were not for the concurrence of clientele ("the parish").

In a more or less explicit way, in social gatherings it is important to approach more or less intimate interpersonal relationships (friendship, flirt, romantic date, courtship, courtship, marriages), which when they involve a sporadic economic transaction are called prostitution (street or in brothels). In pre-industrial society, the time that was not dedicated to work was usually devoted to meetings, either within the family, inside the houses, or in the street (especially in climates where this is favored, such as the Mediterranean): the fountain, the market, the agora, the forum or the square were spontaneous meeting places for all kinds of people, where the mere concurrence of people produced the entertainment of finding out all kinds of news and gossip (from the gossip of Madrid "news came out before events") or simply "see and be seen": the "walk", (with the same meaning, in some Spanish and Latin American cities use the concept "tontódromo", while in Hamburg it is called Jungfernstieg -"marriageable young women"-, and in cities with a beach façade, promenade, boardwalk or waterfront).

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  Young couple threatened by death or The walkAlberto Durero, ca. 1498.

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  Hortus Palatinus Heidelberg.

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  Palace, gardens and fountains of La Granja.

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  A walk to the shore of the Retreat Pondby José del Castillo, second half of the eighteenth century. From the same author, Naranjera and a majo next to the Fountain

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  The promenade publishesPhilibert-Louis Debucourt, 1792.

Sometimes the authorities were forced to institutionalize it, regulating the direction in which the carriages had to travel a circuit (Paseo del Prado in Madrid). Baroque urbanism sought to trace avenues with perspectives; The bourgeois urbanism of the XIX century multiplied the boulevards. The royal courts established outdoor entertainment venues, such as the Retiro Park for Felipe IV or the Versailles gardens for Louis XIV (one of the many palaces built in imitation throughout Europe bore the unmistakable name of Sanssouci -"no worries"-); in addition to the places reserved for specific shows (theatrical performances, autos-da-fé, bullfights, executions, etc.) Urban parks and the most pleasant natural environments are the most frequented places of recreation, sometimes as a place to walk (alamedas) have a meal or a snack (merenderos). The idealization of such environments by those who lived an urban life on a daily basis comes from classical literature (the topic of beatus ille and locus amoenus) and is imitated in modern literature (literature pastoral, pictorial genre Fête galante, etc.).

Entertainment venues

A saloon West of the United States in 1885.

Celebration of a wedding in a living room.

Semantic field and relevant views

• Party, act or set of events organized for the fun or enjoyment of a collectivity - gathering of people to celebrate something or have fun - fun or joy - chanza, joke"; "joy", "re-joy and -ijo - intense joy or joy - an act with which joy is manifested.
• Party hall, "local fun where drinks are served, usually equipped with a dance floor and in which, normally, a show is displayed"
• Flemish play: "In Andalusia, a bustling gathering where you sing, drink and dance flamenco"
• Banquet, "of the French banquetand this one from the Italian banchetto, diminutive bank 'banco' - food for many people to celebrate some event - splendid food... enjoy... be very fun"
• Banquet hall
• Dance, "festejo en que se juntan varios personas para baile - local o enclosure público dedicada a baile"
• Candil dance, "fest or fun in which the vulgar people, or who wanted to imitate it, rejoiced and rejoiced"
• Café singer, "establishment where, besides serving drinks and other consumptions, songs of a frivolous or light character are interpreted"
• Café teatro, "establishment where, in addition to serving drinks and other consumptions, a short theatrical work is represented"
• Cabaret, "local night where you drink and dance and where you offer shows of varieties"
• Discoteca, "local public where drinks are served and danced to the music of discos"
• Night club, "place of recreation where you drink and dance and where you usually offer musical shows, usually at night"
• Drink bar
• Hall, "in palaces, hotels and public buildings, large room where meetings and other events are held"
• Hall of celebrations (or weddings, baptisms and communions)

Public amusements

Roman Triumph, celebrated in Byzantine times by Basil II.

Children and older contemplate the puppets of the script.

Since Antiquity, parades, processions, fireworks, luminaries and all kinds of public entertainment have been held, programmed by the authorities, both at the local and state level, for different types of celebrations.

Their purpose is also the entertainment of the spectator public that congregates to witness the street shows and those that are held in specialized venues (theatres, movie theaters and/or sports stadiums).

Travel, excursions and tourism

Among the multiple motivations for travel is entertainment (pleasure or recreational travel). The means of transport themselves can be used as a means of entertainment in itself, for the pleasure of using them and not for the destination they lead to.

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  Trekking in India.

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  Japanese tourists in Switzerland.

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  Tourists contemplating the Niagara Falls.

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  Tourists contemplating Rio de Janeiro from the Christ of the Corcovado.

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  Touring a stretch of the Chinese wall.

History

Throughout history, forms of entertainment have been maintained and evolved; being some of them similar in all civilizations, times and places, and others remarkably different.

And it came to pass, when the evil spirit of God came upon Saul, that David took the harp and tagged it with his hand. And Saul found relief and felt better. Thus the evil spirit departed from him.

I Samuel 16: 14-23

Old Age

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  Details of the standard of Ur, ca. XXVI century B.C. The seated characters hold cups while one of them standing touches the lira.

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  Taurocatapsia Fresco, Knossos Palace, Crete, ca. 1450 a. C.

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  Serving beer. Egyptian Fresco.

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  Touching the lira. Idem.

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  Danzarina. Idem.

In Ancient Greece, the activity of the aedos (the recitation of traditional epic poems, their alteration or composition additions and personal creations, or improvisation and suddenness) was the Hellenic form of entertainment shared by all cultures of the world: storytelling. From certain religious rituals the Greek theater was created; in the same way that games and gladiator combat were created from certain funerary rituals.

... Acquileo stopped the people and made him sit, forming a great circus; and at the moment he brought out of the ships, for the reward of those who overcome in the games, boilers, tripods, horses, mules, oxen of sturdy head, women of beautiful waist, and bright iron.

Iliad, games in honor of Patroclo, Song XXIII, verses 249 and ss.

Public amusements in Ancient Rome were a matter of decisive political importance, paid for by politicians who aspired to please the people (panem et circenses); and even after the Roman decline (despite the imposition of Christianity as the official religion, which put an end to other manifestations considered pagan) they continued to be so at the beginning of the Byzantine Empire, so much so that the confrontation between rival chariot racing hobbies was in the center of a revolt that could overthrow Justinian I (Nika riots, 532).

For a Roman citizen, going to the baths (as the Arabs and Turks would later do with their baths) was a widespread custom, differentiated by sex, which allowed the day to be spent pleasantly dedicated to all kinds of pleasures and social relationships. Reserved for the great wealth of aristocrats, one of the purposes of Roman villas was to distract from urban life. Literally the concept of otium was defined against that of negotium. For everyone, the passage of time was regulated by the calendar of festivities (fasti), among which stood out the lupercalia (February, which with Christianization became the Candelaria festival) the liberalia or Bacchanalia (March, very restricted since 186 BC, Christianized as Carnival) and Saturnalia (before the end of the year, Christianized as Christmas parties).

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  Achilles and Ayax playing dice in an athic amphora of black figures, from Exequias, ca. 530 a. C.

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  Athphore of black figures, ca. 500 B.C., from Vulci, which represents a biga (door two horses) turning around thermal which marks the end of the circuit in the Greek racetrack or in the Roman circus.

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  Epidauro Theatre.

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  Roman dice.

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  Comic scene with street musicians, mosaic of Dioscorides de Samos, ca. 100 a. C., Villa de Cicerón, Pompeya.

Middle Ages

The great rooms of the Germanic hall housed a type of banquets and entertainment that, from what is reflected in literary testimonies such as Beowulf and the sagas, were similar those reflected by Homer in the Iliad (the pre-Hellenic and Hellenic megaron). Later on, the castles hosted banquets that were enlivened by music and the recitation of epic songs by the minstrels. In the High Middle Ages, the religious legitimization of feudalism would mean that the entertainment patterns of lords and serfs should not differ substantially, beyond the standard of living of one and the other; but that changed in the final centuries. The martial arts of the nobility ended up being regulated in tournaments. The leisure of the students and the monks was reflected in the goliardesque atmosphere. The aristocratic way of life of the court of Provence was idealized by the troubadours and spread in imitation throughout Europe. The refinement of the Burgundian court of the late 14th century and early XV was studied by Johan Huizinga (The Autumn of the Middle Ages). The same author theorized about Homo ludens. For all social groups, the distractions of the carnival functioned as an escape valve from tensions and conflicts, since unlike other celebrations, where rank inequalities were manifestly expressed, in this one all class or wealth differences were dissolved with the purpose of restarting the cycle of a new world, in which the structures remained intact.

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  Banquet represented in the Bayeux tapestry, the eleventh century.

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  Kublai Khan hunting with falcon, in a Chinese painting ca. 1280.

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  Musicians or players represented in the Cantigas de Santa Maria13th century.

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  The square of Yamaa the Fna of Marrakech continues to offer at present typical entertainments of the medieval Muslim cities, such as the charming of snakes.

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  Tournament in which he found the death Juan de Beaumont, 1342.

Modern Age

16th and 17th centuries

The nobility could commission artists and artisans of all specialties for works of art, music, theater, opera (at shows they occupied the best seats, away from the mob of "musketeers" that thronged the lower part of the comedy pens) and the necessary paraphernalia for their extravagant festivities, balls, banquets, hunts, falconry, horsemanship. In England, cricket was identified with the nobility. In 1563, Lawrence Humphrey considered the five sports) of ancient Greece worthy of the nobles: whirling, leaping, casting the darte, wrestling, running and ridiculed dauncing, fayninge to instrumentes, playe at dise, chesse, or tennes.

The middle class of merchants and artisans could sometimes emulate the aristocracy by enjoying the arts and theater. "blood sports" with animals (cockfights, bear fights, dog fights or bullfights -not only in Spain, but in other places in Europe, such as England-, as well as mixed confrontations -dogs against bulls or bears, etc.-) troupes of actors brought together the population of the towns they visited; some businessmen settled down and built stable theaters (such as the Globe Theater in London or the Spanish comedy theaters); The first indoor building was built in Italy: the Olympic Theatre in Vicenza. Much of Spanish classical theater was performed at the Real Coliseo del Buen Retiro in Madrid (since 1640), and French classical theater was performed at the Comedie Française in Paris (since 1680).).

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  Representation of the art comedy company I Gelosi (1571-1604).

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  Card playersCaravaggio, 1595.

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  Execution of Ravaillac, Paris, 27 May 1610.

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  Cane set in Plaza Mayor de Madrid, 1623.

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  The dream of the gentlemanAntonio de Pereda, ca. 1650-1660.

The underprivileged, who could not afford a good theater ticket, had to attend standing up. Executions were seen as a form of entertainment open to all audiences, as well as attending public humiliation in stocks. Very popular were the punishments for witches, which could be ordeals such as the test of water or their death at the stake.

Around 1529, Hernán Cortés presented to Carlos V the game of the stick executed by American Indians, who also performed a demonstration in the papal court, which was graphically reflected by Christoph Weiditz.

Given the scarcity of a literate public, public readings were common, such as those of La Celestina or El Quixote (in a famous anecdote, Felipe III guesses that it is the the work of Cervantes that a student reads between laughs).

Which is what the one who reads it will see or the one who will hear it read

Title of Chapter LXVI The Quixote

18th century

The diffusion of cafés in European cities (since the Turkish withdrawal from the siege of Vienna) and gatherings in aristocratic salons of French tradition (in the English custom, drinking tea) were characteristic. to argue that the fact that alcohol ceased to have the monopoly of the drinks used to socialize was a stimulus for intellectual production. The differentiation between classical or cultured music and popular music was accentuated; which did not limit the first to the minority public of chamber music: in the most important cities, successful composers such as Handel or Mozart had enormous success; and theaters suitable for staging operas and complex stage plays were built throughout Europe (the Príncipe, de la Cruz and Caños del Peral theaters in Madrid, the Haymarket in London, the Burgtheater in Vienna, the Odéon in Paris) and above all in Italy (the Regio in Turin, the San Carlo in Naples, La Fenice in Venice, La Scala in Milan). The illustrated ones tried to reform the customs, including the popular diversions that they considered "backward"; In this context, debates took place about the convenience or inconvenience of maintaining the bullfighting festival in Spain. Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos wrote a notable Memory for the police arrangement of public shows and amusements and about its origin in Spain. The custom of undertaking pleasure trips, an unprecedented concept until then, began as a common practice in the British upper class, calling it the Grand Tour which toured the cultural destinations of France and Italy praised by connoisseurs and dilletanti; as a witness of their stay they could take a veduta; It is the origin of tourism.

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  The gin alleyWilliam Hogarth, ca. 1750.

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  The Tribune of the UffiziJohan Zoffany, 1772-1778.

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  Frederick William II of Prussia himself amenizes the evening in the palace of Sanssouci. History of Adolph von Menzel.

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  Naip playersGoya, 1777-1778

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  The guitar masterby Ramon Bayeu, 1786.

Contemporary Age

The spread of literacy, with great differences between countries, urban and rural areas and social classes, allowed the reading of newspapers and serialized novels to be a very popular entertainment. The large audience that attended theater and opera performances made them a propitious place for their political use: the battle of Hernani (1830), the boycott of Emperor Franz Joseph and Empress Sissi at La Scala in Milan (1849). Walking through nature had always been a leisure activity -topic locus amoenus-, and climbing mountains had been so at least since Petrarch -ascent to Mont Ventoux, 1336-; but mountaineering and hiking were born in the XIX century as a consequence of industrial society. The practice of "taking baths" in spas and sea bathing, to which the upper classes undergo, began as a medical prescription (the Roman and Arab practice of bathing had been greatly restricted in Europe since the Middle Ages) and became social customs whose purpose was to The main thing is entertainment.

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  The walker on the sea of cloudsCaspar David Friedrich, 1818.

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  View of the Plaza de la Constitución de Madrid during the actual bullfights verified in October 1846 in celebrity of the wedding of S. M. Queen Isabel II.

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  Peace concludedJohn Everett Millais, 1856.

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  Théâtre du Gymnase in ParisMenzel, 1856.

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  BallsouperMenzel, 1878.

The practice of sport (sport -from disport, "look for fun"-) began to be a leisure alternative to the forms of increasingly sedentary life; while sporting events became massive gatherings that were followed both live and in their broadcasts and in the journalistic chronicles. The differentiation between amateur sport and professional sport maintained a separation, initially based on class (the rich dedicated themselves to sport from university -for example, the Oxford-Cambridge regattas- and later in their leisure time, while the poor, forced to work long and exhausting days, could not do the same unless they were paid to dedicate themselves to sport as a trade), but that was maintained in the Olympic games until the end of the century XX.

Two technological innovations of the late 19th century, the cinema and the automobile, spread rapidly. The cinema became the first great global mass spectacle; later, it was the radio (since the 1920s) and television (second half of the XX century). Other innovations allowed new forms of individual and family entertainment: the reproduction of sound through the phonograph and record player, and of the image through instant photography (previously photography was essentially a professional activity). The touring car added to its other functions by being an entertainment option in its own right. In developed countries, the increase in the standard of living and the generalization of vacations (in France, two weeks paid since 1936) encouraged mass tourism. In addition to resorts or tourist complexes and organized holidays, camping and caravaning (using caravans or motorhomes) were immediately successful due to its autonomy and low cost.

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  Baignade en mer ("baño de mar"), frame of one of the first films presented in public by the Lumiére brothers, December 28, 1895.

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  Walk on the shores of the seaJoaquín Sorolla, 1909.

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  Campers at your shop in Canada, ca. 1907.

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  Beach scene in Oregon.

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  Young people using a Kodak Brownie camera.

During the Great Depression of the 1930s it was very difficult for a large part of the population to spend money on entertainment, although they could legally do so on alcohol, after the end of Prohibition (1933). The public assistance programs of the New Deal included the use of artists and entertainers, with free shows that allowed many to escape their problems for a while.

Some of the most important American film productions in history, in the maturity of black and white talkies, are from this era (The Angels of Hell -1930-, The Public Enemy and Frankenstein -1931-, Farewell to Arms and Freaks -1932-, King Kong -1933-, It happened one night -1934-, A night at the opera and Anna Karenina -1935-, The charge of the Light Brigade -1936-, The Stagecoach, Gone with the Wind, The Wizard of Oz -the three from 1939, the last two, among the first color productions), and many of them are considered escape films, such as Walt Disney's cartoons (The Three Little Pigs -1933-, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs -1937-) or musical cinema (the Broadway Melodies -1929, 1936, 1938, 1940-). Later came the best productions of social cinema (Mr. Smith Goes to Washington -1939-, The Grapes of Wrath -1940-, How Green Was My valley -1941-).

Listening to the radio was a widespread form of free entertainment, and there were broadcasts for every type of audience. The children's program Little Orphan Annie was very famous in the United States. of the time have been represented in the film O Brother, Where Art Thou?), the radiophonic theater (soap operas), sports broadcasts and the broadcast of sermons and programs religious. Orson Welles' radio dramatization The War of the Worlds (October 30, 1938) had a great impact.

The harshness of dance competitions was portrayed in They Shoot Horses, Don't They?. The diffusion of American music and dance in Nazi Germany, in Rebels of Swing.

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  Emergency relief claimants, all of them black, ironically aligned to an ad in which a happy white family by car represents the "highest standard of living in the world - There is no way of life [way also means "carretera" as the American way of life, 1937. ]]

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  Leni Riefenstahl, athlete, filmmaker and Nazi propagandist, cover of the magazine Time1936. ]]

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  Young aesthetics hippie pushing a Volkswagen van on the way to a music festival, United States, 1974. ]]

From the Second World War, and especially with the economic expansion of the middle decades of the 20th century, the so-called American way of life (" way of life in the United States"), including its patterns of consumption and entertainment, especially among youth (social movements of 1968) and in "environments" segmented by subcultures. Despite the ideological differences, they also spread to the countries of the Eastern bloc (communist, Soviet or "of really existing socialism"), especially in the period before their final crisis (fall of the Wall of Berlin, 1989).

Post-industrial society of the late 20th century and early XXI, while incorporating new information and communication technologies into entertainment, with notable consequences for social uses, it maintains or even promotes entertainment linked to more or less traditions. less old or reinvented, which spread throughout the world as a consequence of globalization; which is also criticized for the trivialization and distortion that involves separating them from their religious origins (or any other circumstance that constitutes their genuine essence) and for what they suppose of cultural appropriation.

The promotion of connectivity, the development of computing have led to a takeoff of computing encouraging entertainment -hobbies- on the Internet. We are moving towards a Free Web in which Know-How plays a leading role in competitiveness and where showing knowledge, the experiences lived throughout the Process becomes a new way of developing the art of "learning to teach".

Entertainment -hobbies-, jobs, constitute efforts that bring together people with common interests, becoming a formative and active part of these individuals throughout their lives, they almost always flourish, in the early ages, developing with a deep sense of belonging rooted in the growth and improvement of these individuals.

Today there are countless associations on the web that bring together friends with common interests and who dedicate their free time to different entertainments, professions and trades, forming an inseparable part of their existence.

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  Discoteca Pachá, Ibiza.

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  Crupier and black jack players at a Vegas casino.

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  Coffee shop, Amsterdam (in spite of the name, are local where weed consumption is tolerated)

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  A crowd is witnessing a baseball game at Shea Stadium, New York

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  A group of young people take turns to perform maneuvers skateboarding and contemplate those who perform them.