Frivolous is what insubstantial or light. This adjective, which comes from the Latin frivŏlusallows qualifying certain shows, publications, texts and songs, where the sensual and the form instead of the content. Also qualified as frivolous are people who adopt light behaviors and superficial.

Frivolity is usually associated with stupidity or to one form of unconsciousness. The person who is frivolous does not commit to reality and limits himself to staying with what banal. However, frivolity is an inherent and, for many, necessary part of life. human conduct.

There are those who say that time and space are needed for frivolity and lack of commitment. In these cases, the frivolous is associated with the fun and the revelry, and is a kind of break from everyday problems. Of course, excessive frivolity implies a lack of attention to reality and represents a problem, whether personal (not attending to one’s own issues) or social (lack of solidarity with the problems of others).

The frivolous in the media

In the same way, we also find ourselves with the fact that within the media sector the term “frivolous” is used to refer to certain types of publications. In this case, the most frequent is to use that to describe what are the gossip magazines, that is, those publications that address issues related to the private lives of famous people in society, whether they are singers, actors or models.

Among the most important fictional characters in the world of culture that have also been qualified with that adjective is, for example, Dorian Gray. This is the protagonist of the novel that Óscar Wilde wrote in 1890 with the title “The Picture of Dorian Gray”. He appears to us as an attractive young man whose only concern in life is his physical appearance and also enjoying all kinds of pleasures, mainly of a sexual nature, regardless of whether they are well regarded by society or not. .

It is precisely interesting to note that within the history of television in Spain there was a program called “History of frivolity.” The great director and creative Narciso Ibáñez Serrador was in charge of creating this space where, through humor, the viewer was told some of the events or historical situations where eroticism or being frivolous have been present: the life of Adam and Eve, the discovery of America or the figure of the biblical Salome.

See also: Acquisition