Music videos, films, TV shows, songs and books create, for us, another world; an alternate reality that we can use to escape our own realities and pretend that everything we dream of or wish for will come true.
However, sad this may make the human race seem I genuinely believe that without this form of positive escapism individuals would not be able to cope. Melodramatic though it seems, everyday life is demanding, challenging, overwhelming and stressful for the most part and without this release of escapism where we are free to imagine a world in which we can achieve everything we strive for both in ambition and in general life then individuals really wouldn't be able to cope.
Please don't misunderstand, I am not implying that we can't achieve, in actual reality, everything and anything we want out of life. What I am saying, however is that in escapism we can achieve these things without the hassle, embarrassment, hard work and other obstacles that occur within real
life.
This is why I am addicted to anything with a happy, slightly soppy ending and a storyline that runs on the basis that boy meets girl, there is one slightly rocky patch, they realise that they are made for each other, there's a happy ending and roll credits. Predictable and cheesy but they give me hope.
But, really the questions are why has this idea of escapism become such an integral part of our coping mechanisms? Does everyone need a form of escapism or am I generalising to much? And how does such a wide range of 'escapism genres' come about? How does escapism created by the popular genre of horror work? Are we just kidding and distracting ourselves? Are we, by spending so much time in escapism ignoring the fact that we could actually be creating our own film, TV storyline, song or book because actually escapist conclusions do have a place and could exist in the real world?
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