Albert Guillaume. Au Theatre. By 1942 (probably 1920s). Wikimedia Commons
“Honest to God, this is the absolute best kind of moment. The auditorium lights are off except for ones over the stage, and we’re all bright eyed and giggle-drunk. I fall a little bit in love with everyone.”
Becky Albertalli, Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda
The category of entertainment is a broad one, encompassing visits to art galleries, reading, theatre, literature, cinema, dancing, sport, television, and many other forms of leisure activities.
What are the main benefits to us of entertainment?
- It can enhance our quality of life
Young Women Dancing The Cancan, Paris. 1905-1920. Julius Paulsen. Wikimedia Commons
“Entertainment is there to improve people’s quality of life. After your basic needs, there’s entertainment.”
Satoru Iwata
This writer describes entertainment as being quite close to our ‘basic needs.’ What might he mean?
He is likely referring to the enormous relaxation and distraction from the pressures of everyday life that entertainment of all kinds can provide us with. We are helped to ‘unplug’ ourselves from inner and outer stresses, to escape from the daily grind, to temporarily climb out of the responsibilities and constraints of work and life in general.
Whatever the form of entertainment we choose- whether it be television, theatre, or wandering round an art gallery, we have the choice to devote time and space to losing ourselves in other worlds.
Stories and novels can be wonderfully immersive, taking us into alternative time periods, different worlds, offering new ideas, and stimulating our own creativity.
In theatre or film, the suspension of disbelief which is often necessary to fully partake in the story provides an opportunity to flee from the everyday, as we wander into fictional universes.
Below are some examples of the kinds of entertainment that can enhance our sense of psychological wellbeing:
Art
Escaping criticism-by Pere Borrel del Caso. 1875. Wikimedia Commons
“Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.”
Pablo Picasso
“Entertainment and art are not isolated.”
In addition, as the great Picasso reminds us, art can refresh and ‘cleanse’ our souls, providing pleasure, insight, and, of course, escape.
Lisa in Sunlight. Robert Falk. 1907. Wikimedia Commons
“To send light into the darkness of men’s hearts – such is the duty of the artist.”
Schumman
Art can, indeed, light up our hearts, relieving darkness and providing a welcome comfort and a distraction from mental and physical pain. It can enhance our mood and relieve stress, inspiring us with its technical skill and its magical ability to move us emotionally.
Hombres Leyendo. Men Reading. Goya. 1820-23. Wikimedia Commons
“Without art, the crudeness of reality would make the world unbearable.”
George Bernard Shaw
Art inspires us, stimulating our own creativity. How many of us have been inspired to paint after viewing Monet’s wonderful recreations of nature…
Claude Monet. Water Lilies. 1915. Wikimedia Commons
“What art offers is space – a certain breathing room for the spirit.”
John Updike
Music
Music, too, of course, can have a similar effect on us, its majestic chords and soaring crescendos offering us inspiration, solace and peace as we navigate the thorny paths of life’s struggles.
Edgar Degas – The Orchestra at the Opera.c.1870. Wikimedia Commons
“The transformative power of music is due to its ability to influence the brain, promoting neuroplasticity, and bringing about changes that can benefit health and wellbeing. From pregnancy to old age, music can improve cognitive, emotional, physical, and social domains, making it a valuable tool for promoting health and treating disease.”
(In: Brain Behav Immun Health. 2023 Dec. The transformative power of music: Insights into neuroplasticity, health, and disease
Muriel T Zaatar, Kenda Alhakim, Mohammad Enayeh, Ribal Tamer.)
Such stimulating forms of entertainment allow us to laugh and to cry, to feel a wide range of emotions, providing a catalyst through which we can get in touch with and release feelings and begin to relax and unwind.
Sport
Diálogo en el campo de sport – Aurelio Arteta. 1913-15. Wikioo
“Sport has the power to change the world. It has the power to inspire. It has the power to unite people in a way that little else does. It speaks to youth in a language they understand. Sport can create hope where once there was only despair.”
Nelson Mandela
Watching sport gives many people a powerful sense of belonging, of community, of joining and sharing with others. It provides a kind of escape, with its spectacular competitiveness, its thrills and spills, its highs and lows. Research has indicated that ‘watching sport can enhance people’s sense of wellbeing, social interaction and emotional experience.’
Angelo Jank – Pferderennen. 1911. Wikimedia Commons
Theatre
Stephanie Glax – V gledališču. (‘video theatre’ in Slovenian) c. 1922.
Theatre, and sometimes cinema, can be a social event. These experiences connect us, as we watch, and this creates further bonds as we share our thoughts and feelings with others.
Sarah Bernhardt as Hamlet 1899. Wikimedia Commons
Theatre can also stretch our minds and widen our ways of thinking. It offers an escape from old rigidities, stale ways of thinking. Shakespearean plays in modern dress, men playing women or vice- versa, such as a female Hamlet, all these challenge us to think differently and not to categorise or restrict innovation and different ways of seeing and being.
Casting black actors in roles that have traditionally been filled by white people often causes great consternation and debate… but why? Instead of seeing this as a way of being creative and inclusive, some people cannot tolerate the departing from ‘tradition.’
Why make race the most important aspect, when an actor of whatever race can amply fulfil their role in relation to quality of acting and interpretation of the part, filling it with understanding of their character and their struggles? Such casting can often infuse a drama with new energy and fresh perspectives, with the issues of race being peripheral.
Projecting our self into characters and identification with them can enable us to see the world and ourselves from different viewpoint and to gain fresh perspectives.
- Entertainment of all kinds promotes learning
Reading
Pierre-Auguste Renoir – Girl Reading. 1890. Wikimedia Commons
“Books are the perfect entertainment: no commercials, no batteries, hours of enjoyment for each dollar spent. What I wonder is why everybody doesn’t carry a book around for those inevitable dead spots in life.”
Stephen King
Entertainment helps to make learning more acceptable, more enjoyable, and more digestible. Globally, books are the most common and popular kind of entertainment. Being high portable, with some books on our smartphones in the form of ebooks, they can offer us an escape from the daily busy-ness of the world any time, and any place we choose. Books provide learning, new perspectives, and they enhance our own vocabulary, writing-style and knowledge.
Whilst waiting for the dentist, for a medical or legal appointment, or when alone in a restaurant, many people choose to read to lessen tension and help remove themselves from the anxiety often inherent in such experiences.
“To acquire the habit of reading is to construct for yourself a refuge from almost all the miseries of life.”
W. Somerset Maugham
Paul Gustav Fischer, An Evening at the Royal Theatre, ca. 1887 -1888.Wikimedia Commons
Entertainment is actually a crucial part of all our lives; it is much, much more than a way of spending time. In our busy and pressurised world, it is not an indulgence to make space in our lives to be entertained, it is a kind of investment towards our psychological wellbeing. Through making entertainment an integral part of our lives, we will help ourselves to be happier, more relaxed and more creative.
“The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.”
Bertrand Russell
© Linda Berman