Article
The word Entertaiment is derived from the French entretenement and means agreeable occupation for the mind or diversion. It can be a personal activity like playing a game or doing a crossword puzzle, or a public event such as a performance. It can also be a business, as in a theatre or a sports arena, and at the largest scale it could mean a concert for thousands or even the world.
Entertainment can touch on many emotions, from sadness to joy, but also fear and anxiety. The best entertainment often hits on points that our brains were evolved to react deeply to, in order to understand the world. One classic example is Scheherazade – the story of a Persian professional storyteller who kept her husband from killing her by telling him stories. It inspired Rimsky-Korsakov and other composers to make orchestral works, Pasolini to direct a film adaptation, and recently there was an innovative video game based on the tale.
