Only Entertainment (Hardcover)

Everyone knows what entertainment is, yet we still find it hard to define. In "Only Entertainment", Richard Dyer argues that we have to start any analysis of entertainment by understanding it "as entertainment", as part of a "common sense" or cultural awareness which is always historically and culturally constructed. In a series of essays, Dyer investigates the social construction as well as the aesthetics and ideology of entertainment. All of the essays relate to current debates in gender studies, lesbian and gay studies, and the turn towards cultural studies. Dyer's subjects range from classical ballet to disco, from star pin-ups to pornography, and from classic TV serials to camp. His introduction places the writings in the context of current cultural debates, and the concluding essay links ideas of pleasure to the politics of sexuality.