The word “entertain” is derived from the medieval Latin intertenere, meaning to hold inside. It also carries the Indo-European root ten, which means “stretch.” This stretching, whether of ideas or images, is part of what makes entertainment so appealing. It has the ability to cross different media and creates a seemingly endless number of interpretations.
Bates and Ferri (2010) define entertainment as an activity understood objectively, that communicates between text and audience from external stimulus, offers pleasure to the consumer, requires an audience and occurs in a passive form. Read the Fall 2011 issue of TEN for more on the theme of Entertaiment.