Hello
OK! lets start with definitions.
First one by the Longman dictionary:
Then lets see what is entertainment and media industry: (vault.com)
The media and entertainment industry consists of film, print, radio, and television. These segments include movies, TV shows, radio shows, news, music, newspapers, magazines, and books.
The top 10 media and entertainment companies are The Walt Disney Company, 21st Century Fox, Direct Group Holdings (DIRECTV), Time Warner Inc., NBC Universal, National Amusements Inc., CBS Corporation, Viacom Inc., News Corporation, and TEGNA Inc.
Back to the question: Aren't we entertained enough? Why is this industry still on the rise? What's the purpose?
I guess Wikipedia's definition might help: (which is based on the Oxford English Dictionary's definition)
Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and interest of an audience, or gives pleasure and delight. It can be an idea or a task, but is more likely to be one of the activities or events that have developed over thousands of years specifically for the purpose of keeping an audience's attention.
"holds the attention" and "gives pleasure". It should give you something (pleasure) when it takes something from you (attention). And it makes lots of money for those who create it, so why not push a bit further every year to gain more money. But is that all? all this just for money? (yeah, some people even kill for that much money but still...)
What they gain is our attention and our money. But which is more valuable? I go for attention.
Because by having our attention, they can sell us more products, tell us what to believe and what not to believe, shape our culture, change our opinion and direct us where they want.
How can we counter all these effects? How can we form our own set of believes and opinion in this situation?
I guess we can't (but not in a bad way). All the information we get, will affect our opinion but it's important to do a research and find the possible motives of the provider. I think While watching movies and TV series, we should pay much attention to the message, small messages hidden in action and drama and think why it was there. The easiest thing to do is to examine the product placement. Another one is to find out what the villain (super hero) is associated with.
So there are ways to counter the bad effects (to be affected) but it needs effort and time, which might change and entertainment activity into a hassle. And that's the thing in this life; all the good things need a good amount of effort
and I guess that's the whole point:
To make a great thing you need to put a great deal of effort and time into it (but no necessarily money)
All photos are taken by me, except noted.