Entertainment is art, and vice versa. Shade it anyway you want, it’s the truth. Whether they’re trying to please visual, aural, or other senses, art’s main purpose is to entertain and make money. Michaelangelo’s Sistine Chapel, Beethoven’s Fifth, Van Gogh’s Starry Night, Gone with the Wind, the Rolling Stone, etc. etc. etc. All of it done more or less to make money.

With that in mind, we have to look at what mainstream entertainment is today. Movies, music, TV shows, and video games. Now, that last one might trip people out. Games as art? Think of the work put into it. Even from the days of Pong, visual and audio effects had to be prepared, all to combine into one unique experience.

Times change, and so does the art/entertainment. Do the two reflect one another? The latest trend seem to be more and more what they can get away with. People will cite left and right Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas as a perfect example (if for no other reason than that whole “Hot Coffee” fiasco). The game was bad enough by “moral” standards, though the technology and effeort put into it was phenomenal. Indeed, it was one of the biggest money makers last year. Why? Because what they did, though a sequel, was more gritty than “Barbie Horse Adventures.”

That being said, is this a sign of the norm to come? Will the entertainment industry cater more to the “undesired” element of society? Or perhaps they’re just exploring new avenues of creativity given that so much out there has been done already? Or is the entertainment industry actually reflecting what we’re becoming anyway? We have so much of the “bad stuff” being so good for pockets, there has to be a reason.

What’s your take on this? Is the entertainment industry pushing the limits, have we redefined the limits, or are they simply trying out a new approach?