[Sazerac]

Ok, here is my take on the situation:

Entertainment is vital because it consists of a simulation of life's struggles and triumphs, or failures.

Take pro sports, which was the initial reason I started this thread because of the "football" thread. You have two tribes on a field, fighting, or, in the case of tennis, two people fighting each other 1-on-1. Even though there is no real "death", it is a struggle to the death, i.e., the end of the game. The fan is on the edge of their seat, rooting...it becomes all-or-nothing to them, because it is a simulation of the primal struggle of life and death in a world that is now for a large part removed from that struggle on a day-to-day existence.

So Entertainment is metaphor for life and death. What else does it do?

It stimulates the imagination, which leads to higher forms of thought and creativity. Children learn best through play and experience, not by rote memorization. Watch a child of any species playing, and they are involved in a complex learning experience. Through their interactions with their environment, they learn to control their surroundings and their responses to their surroundings. This same principle extends well on into adulthood, even though the form of "play" changes, the principle remains the same. So, in effect, entertainment still simulates struggle and ultimate triumph, albeit on a higher thought level.

The same goes for theatres, plays, movies, and other forms of entertainment such as opera, music, ballet, and concerts. In watching a play, we identify with the actors and actresses' characters, their crises, and their ultimate resolution. We are able, in a way, to relieve some of our own problems and tension by watching the outpicturing of that of others' on stage or screen. Even the ancient Greeks used theatre in this way, called catharsis, to bring the audience to an emotional climax in order for them to release hidden tensions and stress. One feels rejeuvinated after such experiences, and able to face the world again.

With drama, this is done outwardly; with music, inwardly and on a highly subjective emotional level. Music is no less powerful than drama in precipitating emotional response, and in many instances can be more powerful since it affects us on a primal subconscious level.

So what is the ultimate payoff of entertainment; why do it? What is the payoff? Well, again I claim it's all about learning. We are all looking for heros to emulate. We all want to be as graceful as that ballerina, as perfect in our decisions and execution as that quarterback, as talented as that artist, as powerful as our character in a computer game. That satisfying feeling we get, at the end of any artistic performance, is really a form of "oh, so THAT's how it's done!"

We may never be able to emulate what we saw, but we are nevertheless a little bit wiser about the patterns of the world. And we need to be wise about the patterns of the world; the way that actions and emotions fit together.

Cheers,
-Sazerac

[ 06-03-2002, 11:01 AM: Message edited by: Sazerac ]