Friday, October 19, 2012

Private Entertainment

Just putting this out there for everyone else, but there is a similarity between the Roman and later periods in Europe regarding private entertainment, in that both involved poetry and song, as is usually the norm with other cultures, but here we can see how Roman remnants haven't quite yet vanished. In Rome, the wealthier families usually held lavish banquets, where performers sang lines and lyrics. Likewise, later in Europe, Jangleurs, or jugglers, who reflected a similar attribute to Roman private entertainers of being multi-talented, would sing lyrics for the court families and nobility.

3 comments:

Ian J said...

I believe this can be seen in many other cultures also, for example the Islamic, Indian, and Chinese cultures. Some of their original poetry eventually evolved into the modern day literature we see today. And, actually, a lot of it's remnants are seen in the present day literature, whether it's poetry, short stories, or novels. These themes persist in a lot of cultures and may not necessarily change a whole lot over time. It may just be the stories surrounding these overlying themes that change to fit the different societies.

TSHAH said...

As far as Roman entertainment goes, i think the reason that Roman still is pretty widespread is due to the fact that Roman entertainment was so available to the public during the Roman Era. The emperor's rule was justified by his ability to provide entertainment for the public at his own cost at the bath houses. Given this, more Romans were able to be influenced by the entertainment of the time and thus carrying in on for future generations.

Laura N said...

Why is it, that entertainment (in any form) is cross cultural? Roman and Asian, songs, poems, epics, and other media are a way of not only relaxing and exercising creativity, but another way of communicating social issues and emotions. The way a society entertains themselves is quite telling of their values. Romans had epic and songs but they also had gladiators and chariot races and kind of violent things like that. American mainstream music and movies have a lot of violence and drugs and things, and football is a pretty brutal sport, gotta say. Maybe sports are a way of releasing that aggressive side of our nature? Artistic forms of entertainment are usually edifying and a luxury because you have to have the time for it.