Article,
It's all entertainment---sure. But what exactly is entertainment? Communication research, media psychology, and the explanation of entertainment experiences
Poetics, (2001)
Abstract
This paper attempts to systematize current theoretical perspectives and empirical research
on entertainment. Based on the notion that entertainment is a multidimensional construct
that primarily describes the pleasant experiences of users while spending time with the media,
less pleasant aspects of this sort of media usage are also taken into consideration. The proposition
to reconstruct entertainment as a form of play is made. This perspective regards
entertainment as a form of coping with reality and thereby encompasses the different functions,
such as compensations, gratifications, and self-realization. # 2001 Elsevier Science B.V.
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