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You are probably thinking about "high culture" when you mention "culture". Culture is everything humans do to express themselves, from literature to theatre to

You are probably thinking about "high culture" when you mention "culture". Culture is everything humans do to express themselves, from literature to theatre to entertainment to dancing to philosophy and religion.

trabant00 5y ago
The two terms are not interchangeable. Entertainment is included in culture, but the article is about entertainment only but used culture in the title.
lm28469 5y ago
Entertainment would be low culture then (?). A lot of modern media (marvel, netflix, most of youtube, anything trending basically) is made to be consumed once and forgotten. They're templated products made to generate the maximum amount of revenues from the least amount of work. Yet this is what people think about when you talk about culture these days (and definitely what they "consume" the most), culture has been made global and is all about marketing (go watch the top 1 movie on netflix right now, red notice, it's objectively bad on almost all aspects yet it cumulated 150 million hours of streaming) Modern "culture" is almost entirely based on entertainment and pass time. How many times have I recommended a book and a movie to be told it's "too hard", "too serious", "not entertaining"... There is a reason why Marvel movies are always in the top of the charts, unplug your brain, grab you favorite sugary snacks and teleport yourself 3 hours in the future. We call it "content" for a reason, shapeless and tasteless content to fill up the mere containers we became.
- dredmorbius 5y ago
  Mass media tends to low culture, yes, for the reason that it has to appeal to common (in both senses of the word) elements and drives: sex, violence, fear, broad humour, etc. "High culture" is narrower, and of course there's the inevitable discussion of whether or not it is better. I'll note that one era's low or broad culture can become another's high (simple distance in space and time contributes heavily to this, with Shakespeare being a notable case). One of the strong functions of high culture is as a strong signaling / credible signaling device --- if you appreciate or participate in high culture, you're demonstrating that you've put in the time required to learn its nuances and backstory. This serves as an accessible indicator of attributes which are otherwise difficult to assess. (This shows up in all kinds of cultural, faddish, or in-group behaviour, even in the name they go by, Shibboleths.) Mass media has become a delivery system for advertising and propaganda (the latter has long been a function). Mass appeal means mass advertising markets, and explains much of the push for it. That said, "high culture" affords a cultural segmentation potentially identifying a more selective, and affluent, market segment --- one with stronger appeal to at least some advertisers. The practice of adtech and interactively-targeted advertising ... somewhat subverts this relationship.
PeterisP 5y ago
What would be the distinction between entertainment and literature, theatre and dancing? Let's add poetry, orchestras, opera and folk songs to the list as well - those are decent examples of "culture" while being "entertainment".

trabant00 5y ago

The two terms are not interchangeable. Entertainment is included in culture, but the article is about entertainment only but used culture in the title.

lm28469 5y ago

Entertainment would be low culture then (?). A lot of modern media (marvel, netflix, most of youtube, anything trending basically) is made to be consumed once and forgotten. They're templated products made to generate the maximum amount of revenues from the least amount of work. Yet this is what people think about when you talk about culture these days (and definitely what they "consume" the most), culture has been made global and is all about marketing (go watch the top 1 movie on netflix right now, red notice, it's objectively bad on almost all aspects yet it cumulated 150 million hours of streaming) Modern "culture" is almost entirely based on entertainment and pass time. How many times have I recommended a book and a movie to be told it's "too hard", "too serious", "not entertaining"... There is a reason why Marvel movies are always in the top of the charts, unplug your brain, grab you favorite sugary snacks and teleport yourself 3 hours in the future. We call it "content" for a reason, shapeless and tasteless content to fill up the mere containers we became.

dredmorbius 5y ago
Mass media tends to low culture, yes, for the reason that it has to appeal to common (in both senses of the word) elements and drives: sex, violence, fear, broad humour, etc. "High culture" is narrower, and of course there's the inevitable discussion of whether or not it is better. I'll note that one era's low or broad culture can become another's high (simple distance in space and time contributes heavily to this, with Shakespeare being a notable case). One of the strong functions of high culture is as a strong signaling / credible signaling device --- if you appreciate or participate in high culture, you're demonstrating that you've put in the time required to learn its nuances and backstory. This serves as an accessible indicator of attributes which are otherwise difficult to assess. (This shows up in all kinds of cultural, faddish, or in-group behaviour, even in the name they go by, Shibboleths.) Mass media has become a delivery system for advertising and propaganda (the latter has long been a function). Mass appeal means mass advertising markets, and explains much of the push for it. That said, "high culture" affords a cultural segmentation potentially identifying a more selective, and affluent, market segment --- one with stronger appeal to at least some advertisers. The practice of adtech and interactively-targeted advertising ... somewhat subverts this relationship.

PeterisP 5y ago

What would be the distinction between entertainment and literature, theatre and dancing? Let's add poetry, orchestras, opera and folk songs to the list as well - those are decent examples of "culture" while being "entertainment".