Entertainment can be defined as moment on focusing on an activity provides pleasure, especially the kind of the pleasure according to the Oxford English Dictionary that recognizes amusement. When referring to entertainment, it can be defined as an activity or the social context in which the activity occurs. (Stromberg, 2009, p. 5). Entertainment is not just a theory of communication but rather a strategy used to disseminate ideas to bring about behavioral and social change. (Singhal, A & Roger, E.M. 2002, p. 117) The impacts of these changes can either be constructive or damaging on an individual or societal level.
Entertainment is making an increasing impression on people’s personal lives. Many perceive entertainment as trivial in content and insignificant in its effects, mainly amounting to taking up large amounts of the daily time of individuals, but not representing an important force for human behavior change. (Singhal.A & Roger.E.M. 2002, p. 120) However, entertainment does play a vital role; for example, many teenagers are greatly influenced by watching restricted movies which in turn may lead to violent and aggressive behavior such as Inglorious Bastards. If you stripped away the humor in the movie, it emphasizes the instinctive pleasure of revenge. This particular form of entertainment is not just idle fun, but a social and cultural process through which values and commitments are generated. (Stromberg, 2009, p. 13)
On the other hand, entertainment does have its benefits as well to an individual’s lifestyle. For instance many video games often have a negative influence; there are a few games that actually do stimulate the mind. A good example of this type of gaming is Brain Age for Nintendo DS. Brain Age is a mind trainer that teaches you to combine logic with creativity. There are also movies such as High School Musical 3: Senior Year that encourage teenagers to think about tertiary education and making the right choices to ensure a bright future. The truth is that the same ideology would apply to all clean forms of entertainment that would have positive moral and social impacts on an individual.
In addition, the entertainment industry pacakages experiences. Entertainment is an important element to society because a large proportion of human activity is centred around it. This is achieved by providing access to ideas and emotions outside the usual norm. A really big phenomenon at the moment is branded entertainment. The purpose of branded entertainment is to give the brand the opportunity to promote their brand image to their target audience by creating positive links between the brand and the entertainment activity (King.C & Sayre.S, 2010). This can be seen as a negative because branded entertainments can sometimes portray contradictory messages. A good example of branded entertainment is Mcdonalds being a major sponser of the Olympic Games. Even though Mcdonalds striving for healthier options on their menu, it is still viewed as the most unhealthy fast food restaurant in the United States of America and consuming food from Mcdonalds on a regular basis leads to numerous health problems. So it leads back to the same question - is McDonald’s an appropriate sponsor for global fitness contests of the likes of the Olympics Games? Branded entertainment has a massive impact on a societal level as a lot of these brands attach to entertainment activities such as sport which promote an active healthy lifestyle, but it will not be successful if the brand is conflicting with the message.
However entertainment on a societal level can have positive impact such as transmedia entertainment. Transmedia entertainment is the flow of stories, image, characters and information across various media platforms to deepen our sensory experiences. (King.C & Sayre.S, 2010, p. 26). An example of transmediated information involves news delivery. With advances in technology, the potential for news delivery is limitless, from print to audio to visual which transform how we experience media. The 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan had a much bigger impact on society due to the visuals that were broadcasted. Transmediated entertainment is a benefit to society because it can reach a large audience on the platform that they are most comfortable with using without restrictions.
To conclude, entertainment has both beneficial and destructive impacts at an individual and societal level. Entertainment is considered powerful communication tool and various entertainment activities can stimulate behavioral and social changes and is constructive to our lifestyles. Because of this daily bombardment, we as individuals and a society need to make a resolve to more cautious about engaging different entertainment activities available and being attentive to its impacts. Bibliography
King, C. & Sayre, S. 2010, Entertainment and Society. Influences, Impacts and Innovations. Routlegde, New York, p. 26.
Singhal.A & Roger.E.M. 2002, “A Theoretical Agenda for Entertainment”, Communication Theory, vol 12, no. 2, June, p. 120.
Stromberg, P. 2009. Caught in Play: How entertainment works on you. Standford University Press. Standford.