Entertaiment is the art of keeping people amused. The clown at the birthday party, the Broadway show, the stadium rock concert, your friends fighting over the last potato chip—these are all forms of entertainment. From the Old French entretenement (“to entertain”), it’s a term that’s been around for a long time. Today, it’s a highly-contested concept that’s used in many different ways: from a business perspective, as audience-centered commercial culture that keeps people engaged and diverted; from a psychological point of view, as an activity that provides pleasure, distraction, and even escape; and through an aesthetic system that values things like speed, vulgarity, and story.