Providing an overview of the entertainment industry, this study includes entertainment economics, theories of entertainment, entertainment research, & covers different types of entertainment including media, sports, gaming, theme entertainment, travel & tourism, & live performance.

"This reference provides a review of the academic and popular literature on the relationship between communications and media studies, cinema, advertising, public relations, religion, food tourism, art, sports, technology, culture, marketing, and entertainment practices"--

Television entertainment rules supreme, one of the world’s most important disseminators of information, ideas, and amusement. More than a parade of little figures in a box, it is deeply embedded in everyday life, in how we think, what we think and care about, and who we think and care about it with. But is television entertainment art? Why do so many love it and so many hate or fear it? Does it offer a window to the world, or images of a fake world? How is it political and how does it address us as citizens? What powers does it hold, and what powers do we have over it? Or, for that matter, what is television these days, in an era of rapidly developing technologies, media platforms, and globalization? Written especially for students, Television Entertainment addresses these and other key questions that we regularly ask, or should ask. Jonathan Gray offers a lively and dynamic, thematically based overview with examples from recent and current television, including Lost, reality television, The Sopranos, The Simpsons, political satire, Grey’s Anatomy, The West Wing, soaps, and 24.

This book presents a side of Russian life that is largely unknown to the West - the world of popular culture. By surveying detective and science fiction, popular songs, jokes, box office movie hits, stage, radio and television, Professor Richard Stites introduces the people and cultural products that are household words to Russian people. Spanning the entire twentieth century, the author examines the subcultures that draw upon and enrich Russian popular culture. He explores the relationship between popular culture and the national and social values of the masses, including their heroes and myths, and assesses the phenomenon of the celebrity from the silent screen star to the latest rock music idol. Richard Stites pays particular attention to the dramatic battle between elite and popular culture and to the intervention of revolutions, wars, and the state in the production and control of this culture.

Entertainment & Society: Audiences, Trends, & Impact is the first comprehensive, theory and research-based text for upper-division courses in entertainment studies. The book provides an overview of leisure and travel in our society in a way that no other textbook accomplishes. The first of its kind, it is an intelligent tourist's guide to entertainment in modern life. The reader is treated to discussions about audiences of live and mediated performance, sports, and tourism. The use of theming is presented for its contribution to our postmodern society. The authors focus on examples that illustrate how everything in life--from driving our cars to shopping for food--is crafted to provide an entertaining experience. They demonstrate how dramatic tension has been introduced into all of our experiences for both learning and enjoyment. The book confirms that modern Americans define ourselves not by what we own but what we do. Also appropriate for general education programs, this text is directed at undergraduate courses involving media, culture, psychology, sociology, American Studies and entertainment.

Providing an overview of the entertainment industry, this study includes entertainment economics, theories of entertainment, entertainment research, & covers different types of entertainment including media, sports, gaming, theme entertainment, travel & tourism, & live performance.

Focusing mainly on the development of newspapers, film, radio, television, and the Internet in the United States and Western Europe, Media and Society in the Twentieth Century fills a critical need for students and scholars by offering a historical introduction to the mass media in our time. Provides an up-to-date, readable, and informative survey of the history of mass media in the twentieth century. Offers a historical and comparative perspective to emphasize the importance of contemporary media and to explain why particular media systems exist. Focuses on the development of newspapers, film, radio, and television for purposes of entertainment, information, and persuasion. Explores recent media developments, including the Internet and globalization, from a historical perspective.