Only Entertainment

From a well-known scholar of film and cultural studies, Only Entertainment presents an investigation into the social construction, aesthetics and ideology of entertainment. From classical ballet to disco, from start pin-ups to pornography and from classic serials to camp, in a series of lucid and provocative essays, 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 historically and culturally constructed. Dyer’s clear introduction places the writings in the context of current cultural debates, and the concluding essays link ideas of pleasure to the politics of sexuality. A must-read for any student of media & cultural studies, and of definite benefit to gender studies students too.