Entertainment Values How do we Assess Entertainment and Why does it Matter [Paperback]

This collection brings together the work of a range of scholars from around the world with different perspectives on one simple question: How can we assess the value of various entertainment products and forms?

Entertainment is everywhere. The industries that produce it earn billions of dollars each year and employ hundreds of thousands of people. Its pervasiveness means almost everyone has something to say about entertainment, too, whether it be our opinion on the latest Hollywood blockbuster, a new celebrity couple, or our concerns over its place in the world of politics. And yet, in spite of its significance, entertainment has too-often been dismissed with surprising ease within the academy as a mindless, lowbrow  even dangerous  form of culture, and therefore unworthy of serious appraisal (let alone praise).

Entertainment Values, challenges this assumption, offering a better understanding of what entertainment is, why we should take it seriously, as well as helping us to appreciate the significant and complex impact it has on our culture. 

1. How can we value entertainment? And, why does it matter? Stephen Harrington.- 2. What is Entertainment? The value of industry definitions: Christy Collis.-3. From toyetic to toyesis: the cultural value of merchandising: Jason Bainbridge.- 4. Screaming on a Ride To Nowhere: What Roller Coasters Teach Us about Being Human: Dana Anderson and Malcolm Burt.-5. Entertainment for the Mind, Body and Spirit: Tyrha M. Lindsey-Warren.-6. Talking Miley: The Value of Celebrity Gossip: Toija Cinque and Sean Redmond.- 7. MasterChef Australia: educating and empowering through entertainment: Katherine Kl³