Forms of Entertainment – What Makes Them Tick

Entertainment is a broad category of human activities that involves the pursuit of entertainment or gives pleasure and excitement to an audience. It can be a creative idea or an athletic activity, but is most often more often one of those activities or events which have evolved over thousands of years especially for the sole purpose of maintaining an audience’s interest. The word ‘entertainment’ itself is derived from the Latin ‘care’ meaning entertaining. The oldest form of entertainment was through theatrical plays and the popular ballroom dances of earlier times. In recent history there has also been the evolution of video games, dramatic productions and many more forms of entertainment.

Today entertainment can take the form in a number of different forms and arenas which are usually developed by creative industry leaders and marketers to target specific audiences, groups or communities. This is done through the creation of a fictional world, a cast of characters, a plot line and the themes depicted within that world. Then comes the development of the story, music, sounds, images and the use of various devices or apparatus to create a specific effect or outcome that makes the audience experience the story through the mediums created by the entertainer. These effects and outcomes are then expressed through the mass media into the form of performing arts and performances which are then transmitted or shown in venues all over the world.

The development of this mass media entertainment industry has created some huge opportunities for people working in the related fields. However, at the same time entertainment itself has become a highly competitive field with its various forms and genres competing against each other for maximum profit and visibility. Each form of entertainment has been tried and tested in front of an audience either to amuse them or entice them to take part in particular events or programs. But the most popular form of entertainment around the world is the musical theatre. From the very early times when the drama was developed and first used as a medium of mass entertainment, it has evolved into a versatile form which can entertain anyone from a child to an adult.

The evolution of the musical theatre is a great example of how entertainment has been developing since the ancient times. Musical theatre, plays and movies are developed on different levels depending on their themes and plots. During the early times, the drama was developed more on the basis of epics and epic plays where large cast of characters and an extensive plot line were used to engage the audience’s imagination and emotion. Nowadays, entertainment on many different levels including live entertainment has developed technologically. But still the impact of the form of dramatic acting art is felt and enjoyed by the people across the globe.

A musical play, for instance, starts off with a bang introducing the main characters and the setting that the story is set in. Then the main theme or storyline is pursued throughout the entire play progressing either in single episode or in serial form. In this way, the plot can be followed from start to finish. It can also be developed on different levels such as action/adventure, love, comedy, horror and other genres of live entertainment. It is quite common to find various kinds of theatrical productions, dramas, concerts, magic shows and other live entertainment in any given day and this has only increased with the advancements in technology.

There is no denying the fact that live entertainment today is no longer confined to mere forms of entertainment but is now a complete major industry. From the big screen to the smaller stage and from large screens to small screens, there seems to be no limit to the diversity and creativity of the forms of entertainment we watch today. This being said, it would be safe to conclude that entertainment has achieved its goal in making people realize their full potentials and this goes a long way in enriching human kind. Live entertainment has indeed succeeded in becoming a major form of business today. And the good thing about this is that one does not have to wait for a specific time of the day to experience the magical effects of entertainment.