Entertainment & Pop Culture
Entertainment and leisure activities have been a part of culture in one form or another since the ancient times. Dance performances, live music, and storytelling have a long tradition throughout history, even as the styles and available methods of delivery have shifted dramatically.
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Featured content, July 12, 2024
11 Famous Movie Monsters
Ghosts, ghouls, and things that go bump in the night.
Why Do People Eat Cereal with Milk?
Is it science? History? Or maybe something even more powerful?
Why Is Pizza So Popular in the U.S.?
Ti piace la pizza? Make sure you know its full history before you chow down on this Italian American staple.
7 Celebrities You Didn’t Know Were Inventors
All in a day’s work.
chamber music
Chamber music, music composed for small ensembles of instrumentalists. In its original sense, chamber music referred to music...
Latin American dance
Latin American dance, dance traditions of Mexico, Central America, and the portions of South America and the Caribbean colonized...
theatre
Theatre, in dramatic arts, an art concerned almost exclusively with live performances in which the action is precisely planned...
percussion instrument
Percussion instrument, any musical instrument belonging to either of two groups, idiophones or membranophones. Idiophones...
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Entertainment & Pop Culture Subcategories
![Jennifer Lawrence](https://cdn.britannica.com/66/172766-050-8AA054B7/Jennifer-Lawrence-Academy-Award-best-actress-2013.jpg?w=400&h=225&c=crop)
Acting is a performing art that involves much more than just being able to cry on command. Actors exercise supreme control over their voice, body, and facial movements so as to effectively and believably convey the emotional experience of the characters they represent. Although theatrical productions, television, and movies each carry unique technical demands for the actor, skilled actors can move from one medium to another without a diminution of talent, as is borne out by celebrated actors such as Laurence Olivier, Judi Dench, Dustin Hoffman, Meryl Streep, and Viola Davis.
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Katharine Hepburn
American actress
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Grace Kelly
American actress and princess of Monaco
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Penélope Cruz
Spanish actress
![Captain America: The First Avenger](https://cdn.britannica.com/30/182830-050-96F2ED76/Chris-Evans-title-character-Joe-Johnston-Captain.jpg?w=400&h=225&c=crop)
Spider-Man, Batman, Wonder Woman, Iron Man: in the early 21st century, superheroes such as these rose to staggering global prominence. Movies featuring characters from Marvel Comics or DC Comics regularly drew in high global box office earnings, and the likenesses of these characters could easily be spotted adorning clothing, toys, backpacks, and more. Prior to the rise of modern comic books, their precursor, the comic strip, held court. Early comic strips were produced in Europe before the form began appearing in American magazines in the late 19th century. In 1933 the first true comic books were released. Five years later, DC Comics introduced Superman, the character who truly launched the superhero genre.
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the Flash
comic-book character
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Charlie Brown
comic strip character
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Black Panther
fictional character
![Egyptian dancing](https://cdn.britannica.com/06/7906-050-157524C1/dancing-detail-Egyptian-tomb-painting-Shaykh-Abd-c-1400-bce.jpg?w=400&h=225&c=crop)
The world of dance is expansive and covers a wide variety of styles and forms, encompassing tap dancing, ballet, modern dance, line dances, and much more. Dance is a universal language that can communicate emotions directly and sometimes more powerfully than words.
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ballet
dance
- Korean performing arts
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George Balanchine
Russian-American choreographer
![Golden Globe statuettes](https://cdn.britannica.com/88/213488-050-B4DD1FEE/Golden-Globe-statuettes.jpg?w=400&h=225&c=crop)
There may be no business like show business, but that doesn't mean that the people of show biz wouldn't like to be recognized with an award every once in a while. Honors like the Academy Awards, Golden Globes, Emmys, and Tonys recognize outstanding work in film, television, and theater, whereas honors such as the Grammy Awards and the Juno Awards celebrate excellence in music. Additionally, annual film festivals around the world honor exceptional works and performances with awards such as the Cannes film festival's Palme d'Or and the Berlin International Film Festival's Golden Bear. Music festivals such as the Montreux Jazz Festival (in Switzerland) and Lollapalooza (in Chicago) feature performances by a variety of artists and groups.
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Golden Globe Award
entertainment award
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Academy Award
motion-picture award
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Juno Awards
Canadian music award
![beer](https://cdn.britannica.com/96/90096-050-514D5088/Glasses-beer-bar-Brussels.jpg?w=400&h=225&c=crop)
The necessity of food for survival is something that all humans have in common, but the trends of diet and food consumption can vary considerably from region to region. Find out more about the ingredients, dishes, and drinks that fuel people around the world.
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baking
cooking
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distilled spirit
alcoholic beverage
- origins of agriculture
![An international game](https://cdn.britannica.com/87/237587-050-8A4B9F08/Shohei-Ohtani-Los-Angeles-Angels-pitcher-baseball-player-2022.jpg?w=400&h=225&c=crop)
When it comes to free time, everyone has his or her own activity of choice. While some may like to repose with a nice game of bridge, poker, or chess, others may find bungee jumping or bullfighting to be more engaging, and still others would rather opt for hiking or archery. Luckily, there's no shortage of leisure activities available for those who have the time, resources, and inclination to pursue them.
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Everleigh sisters
American madams
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tennis
sport
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Hanlon Brothers
acrobatic troupe and pantomime producers
![subcategory placeholder](https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel/resources/encyclopedia-placeholder.jpg?w=400&h=225&c=crop)
There's always been a certain sense of magic surrounding the movies. Good movies are remarkably effective at conveying drama and evoking emotion, and they allow spectators to immerse themselves in the world of the film. Emerging at the end of the 19th century, this art form became one of the most popular and influential media and was perhaps the first truly mass form of entertainment.
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- history of film
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Slumdog Millionaire
film by Boyle [2008]
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The Hurt Locker
film by Bigelow [2008]
![Kathryn Bigelow](https://cdn.britannica.com/87/204587-050-C6D7882E/Kathryn-Bigelow-2010.jpg?w=400&h=225&c=crop)
invisible" to the audience in plays, shows, and movies (Alfred Hitchcock and his film cameos being one notable exception), they play an important role by controlling the evolution of the theatrical or dramatic performance. When there are actors involved, the director often oversees and shapes their performances as well. Although the auteur theory holds that the director is the major creative force in a performance, the role of the director actually varies a great deal, not only according to the medium in question but also according to the extent to which he works with actors.
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Alfred Hitchcock
English-born American director
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Robert Altman
American director
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Penny Marshall
American actress and director
![Louis Armstrong](https://cdn.britannica.com/27/125427-050-28FB4BA8/Louis-Armstrong-1953.jpg?w=400&h=225&c=crop)
Hey, what's that sound? Music pervades many aspects of contemporary everyday life; it appears in commercials, blares from speakers in stores and restaurants, accompanies commuters on the way to work, and energizes gym-goers when their motivation is flagging. Music festivals such as Lollapalooza (in Chicago) and the Sziget Festival (in Budapest) attract enormous crowds by featuring an extensive lineup of musicians over several days. Today's music can be divided into any number of categories and subcategories, encompassing genres such as pop, jazz, rock, alternative, country, electronic, rap, and much more.
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Rick Rubin
American record producer
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Michael Bublé
Canadian singer
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Christina Aguilera
American pop singer
![subcategory placeholder](https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel/resources/encyclopedia-placeholder.jpg?w=400&h=225&c=crop)
sound strong and driving rather than leisurely and soothing? The answer can be found by turning to music theory, the study of the concepts and compositional methods involved in the creation of music. Music theory examines musical qualities such as timbre, tone, pitch, and texture, as well as compositional elements such as rhythm, dynamics, tempo, and more.
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tuning and temperament
music
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instrumentation
music
- musical notation
![subcategory placeholder](https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel/resources/encyclopedia-placeholder.jpg?w=400&h=225&c=crop)
Not everyone is gifted with an exceptional singing voice. That's where instruments come in! The principal types of musical instruments are percussion, stringed, keyboard, wind, and electronic instruments. Musical instruments have been used since the earliest times, and modern technology has in many cases simplified or improved the construction of instruments, while mechanization has made possible the mass production of instruments of all kinds. It remains true, however, that the production of an instrument of the highest quality still demands the highest degree of individual skill.
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guitar
musical instrument
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percussion instrument
musical instrument
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bell chime
musical instrument
![Seinfeld](https://cdn.britannica.com/93/100193-050-8F6D02A0/Scene-Seinfeld-actors-Jason-Alexander-Julia-Louis-Dreyfus.jpg?w=400&h=225&c=crop)
Is it true that video killed the radio star? When broadcast radio came into prominence early in the 20th century, it delighted the public by providing news and entertainment with an immediacy that had been unimaginable beforehand. Radio developed into the first electronic mass medium, but broadcast radio's popularity was eclipsed by television, which appeared about 1945. Television, which was originally conceived as a potential medium for education and interpersonal communication, ultimately evolved into a vibrant broadcast medium that offered a diverse slate of news and entertainment to people all over the world. By the early 21st century, the Internet made it possible to watch TV anywhere, anytime, on small portable devices.
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HBO
American company
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Communications Act of 1934
United States
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Public Broadcasting Service
American organization
![subcategory placeholder](https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel/resources/encyclopedia-placeholder.jpg?w=400&h=225&c=crop)
There's no business like show business! Nothing quite matches the immediacy and electricity of a live dramatic performance, a fact which may help explain why the art form has persevered from its ancient origins up through the present day. During the 20th century, live theater demonstrated an unexpected tenacity in the face of tough competition from film, television, video, the Internet, and other media.
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- Korean performing arts
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Broadway
street and district, New York City, New York, United...
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Western theatre
art
![Shonda Rhimes](https://cdn.britannica.com/81/202181-050-102C3F8F/Shonda-Rhimes-2017.jpg?w=400&h=225&c=crop)
Before the director can call “Action!” for the first time, there’s a lot that must be done to get a movie, television show, or theatrical production ready for production or rehearsal. Screenwriters, producers, and distributors all come into play before a project moves on to the process of hiring the cast and crew, designing and building sets and costumes, creating storyboards, and more. Cinematographers, animators, and special-effects artists are among those who may be called upon to shape the look and feel of a production, ensuring its maximal success when it hits theaters or screens.
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John Bury
British set designer
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J.J. Abrams
American writer, director, and producer
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Julian Fellowes
British actor, producer, novelist, and screenwriter