Entertainment Values: How Do We Assess Entertainment and Why Does It Matter?

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.

Author: Stephen Harrington
Publisher: Palgrave MacMillan
Published: 08/23/2017
Pages: 304
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.18lbs
Size: 8.27h x 5.83w x 0.75d
ISBN: 9781137472892

About the Author

Stephen Harrington is Associate Professor in Journalism, Media and Communication at the Queensland University of Technology, and has published widely on the transforming relationships between politics, journalism, and popular media.