Essay on Escapism
The best thing about popular literature is that you don't have to think about it: popular literature is pure escapism.
Popular literature is often praised for its apparent lack of demand on the reader, and its wondrous ability to provide pleasurable reading while transporting the reader into a fantasy realm untouched by the stresses of "real life" and the dreaded "thought". Despite the apparent praise, however, there are underlying negative value judgements behind comments like these. Why do so many people seemingly accept that reading for pleasure, and reading popular fiction, precludes thoughtful engagement with a text? The term "escapism" also has negative connotations, due to the supposed "irresponsibility" of reading for pleasure while denying the far more important duties of the "real world". To understand whether popular literature is, as it would seem, being praised, or if it is being devalued, it is important to recognise what it is about certain texts that designate them as "no-brainers", and why it is that escapism, seen as an irresponsible and negative trait in a text, is associated primarily with popular literature.
Popular literature is often praised for its apparent lack of demand on the reader, and its wondrous ability to provide pleasurable reading while transporting the reader into a fantasy realm untouched by the stresses of "real life" and the dreaded "thought". Despite the apparent praise, however, there are underlying negative value judgements behind comments like these. Why do so many people seemingly accept that reading for pleasure, and reading popular fiction, precludes thoughtful engagement with a text? The term "escapism" also has negative connotations, due to the supposed "irresponsibility" of reading for pleasure while denying the far more important duties of the "real world". To understand whether popular literature is, as it would seem, being praised, or if it is being devalued, it is important to recognise what it is about certain texts that designate them as "no-brainers", and why it is that escapism, seen as an irresponsible and negative trait in a text, is associated primarily with popular literature.
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The most commonly used measure for a text's literary worth is the basic literary structure of the text. The most obvious and general example of this is the language - for the most part, we can recognise a Shakespearian drama or a piece by James Joyce as having literary merit because of the erudite language and complexity of the grammar, syntax, and general structure. So what does this mean for a popular fiction text, written in a more conversational tone, using slang and technically incorrect grammar? The fact that we do not have to think about the language used does not mean we do not think about the content. Janice Radway describes the traditional view that the only literature that can provide nourishment for the mind is that which refuses to be immediately comprehensible, that which forces the reader to create new codes with which to decipher its simple signs and complex structures. (Radway, 1986: 8)
If this is the case, then Helen Fielding's Bridget Jones's Diary cannot provide "nourishment", and will not provoke thought. With sentences like "Ah well, time for a little drinky" (Fielding, 1996: 123), not let us think about what is going on? Radway mentions "the notion that all human activity, including pleasure reading, should engage all of an individuals faculties all of the time" (Radway, 1986, 7) - if this is the ideal for all literature, then it does not provide much room for "easy access" texts like Bridget Jones's Diary. This quality of most popular literature is, however, a useful tool for allowing us to think, because we are not estranged and distanced by complex and unfamiliar language or structure, and we are not alienated by unsympathetic or erudite attitudes. It is precisely because the structure of the text does not actively engage our consciousness (that it, make us think) that we are able to think about the issues raised within the text, and provokes a thought process deeper than - but what does that word mean?".
To charge a text with being "escapist" is an interesting judgement - is it not a feature common to most fiction that it transports us to another dimension, however close to reality or far from it that may be? Why then, is valued more highly to escape to Shakespeare's Verona than Helen Fielding's London suburbs with Bridget and her friends? Most commonly, the effect of traditionally high-value texts is described as something akin to a transformation, which enlightens and enriches the reader's life, while popular fiction is a distraction from the responsibilities of everyday life. According to Ursula Le Guin, if it cannot be justified as "educational" or as "self-improvement", then, in the Puritan value system, it can only be self-indulgence or escapism. (Le Guin, 1979:40)
It is important to note that here, Le Guin uses "escapism" in the negative sense, with connotations of uselessness and triviality. The implications of this are that the worlds created in popular fiction, whether they are science-fiction novels depicting far-off planets or romance novels set in modern-day England, are irrelevant and fanciful, bearing no significance for our own, real, world. Le Guin's statement that the use of imaginative fiction is to deepen your understanding of your world, and your fellow men, and your own feelings, and your destiny (Le Guin, 1979:43) helps to foreground the importance of supposedly "escapist" texts, such as those labelled popular fiction, have a purpose beyond "mere enjoyment" (so often degraded as worthless), and even if they do not provoke confrontational internal debate, they may stimulate our thought processes in other ways, for example, in our interaction with the world around us.
If Bridget Jones's Diary really is an "escapist" text, what does it mean that a reader would choose to escape to the world of a somewhat neurotic thirty-something woman on a seemingly endless emotional roller coaster? It may be the familiar "at least that's not happening to me" scenario, but it is just as possibly something more. Amy Sohn's article, referring to the film version of Fielding's novel, expresses a kind of relief at a refreshing female characterization, saying that despite the recognisable romantically happy ending, it "gives [Bridget] a rich character, a sense of humor (sic) and a brain" (Sohn, 2001). This is perhaps an example of escape from tired representations of women, who seem to either be romantic heroines or super-women, both of whom Sohn describes as never having a hair out of place (Sohn, 2001). The focus shifts, then, from what we are escaping from, towards what we are escaping to. This allows a more positive connotation for "escapist" texts, where the emphasis is on creating a constructive environment within the text, where it is a world in its own right rather than just an alternative to this one.
The virtues of popular fiction, it seems, are just as often its vices, as popular texts are both praised and criticised for being "thoughtless" and "escapist". It is, however, important to recognize the difference between a complex and erudite text, requiring active and conscious engagement with the literary techniques, and a text which may appear simple at first but which provides avenues to deeper thought and understanding. In this way, texts like Bridget Jones's Diary can provide pleasurable, relatively non-taxing reading, while still making the reader think about issues such as everyday life-crises, love, and the meaning of life. They also provide an escape - possibly an escape from the stresses of everyday life, but also possibly an escape from stale, stereotypical representations, as popular literature often provides new role models and different viewpoints, as it lacks the restriction of traditional conventions and attitudes. By relieving us from the stress of literary comprehension, popular literature can provide the means for a wider, more socially relevant thought process, hence making us "think", while allowing greater access to (by means of escape from), the "real" world.
The most commonly used measure for a text's literary worth is the basic literary structure of the text. The most obvious and general example of this is the language - for the most part, we can recognise a Shakespearian drama or a piece by James Joyce as having literary merit because of the erudite language and complexity of the grammar, syntax, and general structure. So what does this mean for a popular fiction text, written in a more conversational tone, using slang and technically incorrect grammar? The fact that we do not have to think about the language used does not mean we do not think about the content. Janice Radway describes the traditional view that the only literature that can provide nourishment for the mind is that which refuses to be immediately comprehensible, that which forces the reader to create new codes with which to decipher its simple signs and complex structures. (Radway, 1986: 8)
If this is the case, then Helen Fielding's Bridget Jones's Diary cannot provide "nourishment", and will not provoke thought. With sentences like "Ah well, time for a little drinky" (Fielding, 1996: 123), not let us think about what is going on? Radway mentions "the notion that all human activity, including pleasure reading, should engage all of an individuals faculties all of the time" (Radway, 1986, 7) - if this is the ideal for all literature, then it does not provide much room for "easy access" texts like Bridget Jones's Diary. This quality of most popular literature is, however, a useful tool for allowing us to think, because we are not estranged and distanced by complex and unfamiliar language or structure, and we are not alienated by unsympathetic or erudite attitudes. It is precisely because the structure of the text does not actively engage our consciousness (that it, make us think) that we are able to think about the issues raised within the text, and provokes a thought process deeper than - but what does that word mean?".
To charge a text with being "escapist" is an interesting judgement - is it not a feature common to most fiction that it transports us to another dimension, however close to reality or far from it that may be? Why then, is valued more highly to escape to Shakespeare's Verona than Helen Fielding's London suburbs with Bridget and her friends? Most commonly, the effect of traditionally high-value texts is described as something akin to a transformation, which enlightens and enriches the reader's life, while popular fiction is a distraction from the responsibilities of everyday life. According to Ursula Le Guin, if it cannot be justified as "educational" or as "self-improvement", then, in the Puritan value system, it can only be self-indulgence or escapism. (Le Guin, 1979:40)
It is important to note that here, Le Guin uses "escapism" in the negative sense, with connotations of uselessness and triviality. The implications of this are that the worlds created in popular fiction, whether they are science-fiction novels depicting far-off planets or romance novels set in modern-day England, are irrelevant and fanciful, bearing no significance for our own, real, world. Le Guin's statement that the use of imaginative fiction is to deepen your understanding of your world, and your fellow men, and your own feelings, and your destiny (Le Guin, 1979:43) helps to foreground the importance of supposedly "escapist" texts, such as those labelled popular fiction, have a purpose beyond "mere enjoyment" (so often degraded as worthless), and even if they do not provoke confrontational internal debate, they may stimulate our thought processes in other ways, for example, in our interaction with the world around us.
If Bridget Jones's Diary really is an "escapist" text, what does it mean that a reader would choose to escape to the world of a somewhat neurotic thirty-something woman on a seemingly endless emotional roller coaster? It may be the familiar "at least that's not happening to me" scenario, but it is just as possibly something more. Amy Sohn's article, referring to the film version of Fielding's novel, expresses a kind of relief at a refreshing female characterization, saying that despite the recognisable romantically happy ending, it "gives [Bridget] a rich character, a sense of humor (sic) and a brain" (Sohn, 2001). This is perhaps an example of escape from tired representations of women, who seem to either be romantic heroines or super-women, both of whom Sohn describes as never having a hair out of place (Sohn, 2001). The focus shifts, then, from what we are escaping from, towards what we are escaping to. This allows a more positive connotation for "escapist" texts, where the emphasis is on creating a constructive environment within the text, where it is a world in its own right rather than just an alternative to this one.
The virtues of popular fiction, it seems, are just as often its vices, as popular texts are both praised and criticised for being "thoughtless" and "escapist". It is, however, important to recognize the difference between a complex and erudite text, requiring active and conscious engagement with the literary techniques, and a text which may appear simple at first but which provides avenues to deeper thought and understanding. In this way, texts like Bridget Jones's Diary can provide pleasurable, relatively non-taxing reading, while still making the reader think about issues such as everyday life-crises, love, and the meaning of life. They also provide an escape - possibly an escape from the stresses of everyday life, but also possibly an escape from stale, stereotypical representations, as popular literature often provides new role models and different viewpoints, as it lacks the restriction of traditional conventions and attitudes. By relieving us from the stress of literary comprehension, popular literature can provide the means for a wider, more socially relevant thought process, hence making us "think", while allowing greater access to (by means of escape from), the "real" world.
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Warning!!! All free online essays, sample essays and essay examples on Escapism topics are plagiarized and cannot be completely used in your school, college or university education.
If you need a custom essay, dissertation, thesis, term paper or research paper on your topic, EffectivePapers.com will write your papers from scratch. We work with experienced PhD and Master's freelance writers to help you with writing any academic papers in any subject! We guarantee each customer great quality and no plagiarism!
___________________________________________________________
Warning!!! All free online essays, sample essays and essay examples on Escapism topics are plagiarized and cannot be completely used in your school, college or university education.
If you need a custom essay, dissertation, thesis, term paper or research paper on your topic, EffectivePapers.com will write your papers from scratch. We work with experienced PhD and Master's freelance writers to help you with writing any academic papers in any subject! We guarantee each customer great quality and no plagiarism!
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