What is Entertaiment?

Entertaiment is anything that amuses or distracts. The clown at the birthday party, the Broadway show, your friends fighting over a potato chip—they are all forms of entertainment. The word comes from the Middle English entretenement, which means support or maintenance. Bates and Ferri (2010) define entertainment as an activity that can be understood objectively, communicates between text and audience from an external stimulus, offers pleasure to the audience, and requires consumer activity. It can be categorized as theatrical, visual, or audio.