Abstract
Fun is a vital part of entertainment as a cultural system, but academic writers have tended to value it negatively. In this chapter McKee demonstrates that writers in the aesthetic tradition have excluded fun from their consideration of cultural value or even demonised it as a dangerous distraction from what is truly worthwhile in life (self-improvement, political struggle). Media effects research hasn’t considered fun as an important analytical term. Important intellectual traditions on both pleasure and happiness do exist, but neither of these map comfortably on to ‘fun’ as the word is commonly used. By contrast, in entertainment and in vernacular working-class philosophies, fun has been given a central position and is valued highly.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
References
Adams, D. (1992 [1979]). The Hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy: A trilogy in four parts. London: Pan Books.
Althusser, L. (2006 [1971]). Ideology and ideological state apparatuses [Notes towards an investigation]. In A. Sharma & A. Gupta (Eds.), The anthropology of the state: A reader (pp. 86–111). Malden, MA: Blacwell Publishing.
Archer, M. S. (2000). Being human: The problem of agency. Cambridge: Cambridge Univeristy Press.
Arnold, M. (1878). Equality (address delivered at the Royal Institution). The Fortnightly Review, XXIII(135), 313–334.
Arnold, M. (2006 [1869]). Culture and anarchy. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Bailey, P. (1998). Popular culture and performance in the Victorian City. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Blackburn, S. (Ed.). (2008). The Oxford dictionary of philosophy (2nd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Bloomfield, P. (2014). The virtues of happiness: A theory of the good life. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Bosshart, L., & Macconi, I. (1998). Defining “entertainment”. Communication Research Trends, 18(3), 3–6.
Brandt, R. B. (1979). A theory of the good and the right. Oxford: Clarendon.
Bryant, J., & Vorderer, P. (2006). Psychology of entertainment. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Bryant, J., & Zillmann, D. (1994). Media effects: Advances in theory and research. Hillsdale, NJ: L Erlbaum Associates.
Cahn, S. M. (2014). Foreword. In C. Vitrano (Ed.), The nature and value of happiness (p. ix). Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
Cohen, D. X. w., & Muzquiz, R. d. (2012). Free will hunting. Futurama. Los Angeles, CA.
Delle Fave, A. (2013). The exploration of happiness: Present and future perspectives. In A. Delle Fave (Ed.), The exploration of happiness (pp. 3–14). Dordrecht: Springer.
Feldman, F. (1997). Utilitarianism, hedonism and desert. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Fieser, J., & Lillegard, N. (2002). A historical introduction to philosophy: Texts and interactive guides. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Garnett, J. (2006). Introduction. In J. Garnett (Ed.), Culture and anarchy (pp. vii–xxviii). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Gosling, J. (2000). Hedonism. In E. Craig (Ed.), Concise Routledge encyclopedia of philosophy (p. 336). London: Routledge.
Greve, B. (2012). Happiness. London: Routledge.
Hoggart, R. (1998 [1957]). The uses of literacy. New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers.
Horkheimer, M., & Adorno, T. W. (1972 [1944]). Dialectic of enlightenment. New York, NY: Continuum.
Huizinga, J. (1970 [1949]). Homo Ludens: A study of the play element in culture. London: Temple Smith.
Jeffreys, S. (2009). The Industrial Vagina: The political economy of the global sex trade. London: Routledge.
Keeler, K. a. D. X. C. w., & Carey-Hill, D. d. (2008). Bender’s big score. Futurama. Los Angeles, Ca: Fox Home Entertainment.
Liu, C. (2005). Art escapes criticism, or Adorno’s museum. Cultural Critique, 60, 217–244.
Martin, M. W. (2013). Paradoxes of Happiness. In A. Delle Fave (Ed.), The exploration of happiness: Present and future perspectives (pp. 31–46). Dordrecht: Springer.
McKee, A. (2003). Textual analysis: A beginner’s guide. London: Sage.
McKee, A. (2007a). The fans of cultural theory. In J. Gray, C. Sandvoss, & C. L. Harrington (Eds.), Fandom: Identities and communities in a mediated world (pp. 88–97). New York, NY: New York University Press.
McKee, A. (2007b). Introduction. In A. McKee (Ed.), Beautiful things in popular culture (pp. 1–14). Malden, MA: Blackwells.
McLaughlin, T. (1996). Streets smarts and critical theory: Listening to the vernacular. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.
Millbank, L. (2012). Under duress: Agency, power and consent, part two: "yes". A Radical Transfeminist. Retrieved January 30, 2012, from http://radtransfem.wordpress.com/2012/01/23/under-duress-agency-power-and-consent-part-two-yes/.
Moore, A. (2013). Hedonism. In E. N. Zalta (Ed.), The Standord encyclopedia of philosophy (Winter 2013 ed.).
Myerson, R. B. (1991). Game theory: Analysis of conflict. Boston, MA: Harvard University Press.
Onfray, M. (2002). L’Invention du plaisir. Fragments cyrenaiques [The Invention of Pleasure: Cyreniac Fragments]. Paris: Le Livre de Poche.
Peiss, K. (1986). Cheap amusements: Working women and leisure in turn-of-the-century New York. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.
Porter, B. F. (2001). The good life: Alternatives in ethics. Cumnor Hill: Rowan & Littlefield Publishers Inc.
Shrum, L. J. (Ed.). (2012). The psychology of entertainment media: Blurring the lines between entertainment and persuasion (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Routledge.
Vorderer, P., Klimmt, C., & Ritterfield, U. (2004). Enjoyment: At the heart of media entertainment. Communication Theory, 14(4), 388–408.
Weitzman, E. (2008). No fun: Aporias of pleasure in Adorno’s aesthetic theory. German Quarterly, 81(2), 185–220.
Whisnant, R. (2004). Confronting pornography: Some conceptual basics. In C. Stark & R. Whisnant (Eds.), Not for sale: Feminists resisting prostitution and pornography (pp. 15–27). Melbourne, VIC: Spinifex Press.
Zillmann, D., & Vorderer, P. (2000a). Preface. In D. Zillmann & P. Vorderer (Eds.), Media entertainment: The psychology of its appeal (pp. vi–x). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Zillmann, D., & Vorderer, P. (Eds.). (2000b). Media entertainment: The psychology of its appeal. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2016 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
McKee, A. (2016). In Defence of Fun. In: FUN!. Palgrave Entertainment Industries. Palgrave Pivot, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-49179-4_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-49179-4_4
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Pivot, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-137-49178-7
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-49179-4
eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media StudiesLiterature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)