The Sandbox

Is escapist media and maybe just the media and stuff in general distracting us from partaking in social issues or making our world better for us and these distractions are set up the the classes(ruling class mostly) who want to keep the world the way it is so that they can profit the most. Its this the intent of mass media or is it just an effect. On one hand, people can partake in escapist entertainment and tackle prominent world issues at the same time. They can balance the time they spend thinking about/consuming mass media and other escapist things and the time they spend addressing social and world issues. I’m sure any prominent thinker or social voice committed to change has spent some of their time just taking a break and flipping through the channels. Sometimes the world( and by that I probably me, myself, and the space I occupy) just feels stuck. Like I just sit there cuz I want to and don’t want to at the same time. I feel bored watching a lot of the same things over and over again, but there is some part of me that desperately wants to do that above everything else. Maybe its a little OCD. Escapist entertainment is not necessarily a bad thing, I think, but too much of it mixed with too little time spent focusing on real issues(be it large world issues or problems specific to you) becomes a problem. I keep thinking about Wall-E, and the people who have become so entranced by escapist entertainment that when one of them stand up its a celebratory and rebellious moment. I also find it kinda funny that it’s a Pica-Disney movie, which crank out or own a lot of the escapist entertainment today.

So after this brainstorming and just writing my feelings and thoughts down so they don’t make my head explode, do I think escapist entertainment is used to keep the masses “docile” and prevent serious social change to be discusses, let alone implemented?

No. The way I see it, (and I emphasize this) is that media can both be escapist and make a statement or be about serious issues of the time. Movies like Joker and Smallfoot(yes, really) can give both a sense of escapism and make people think, despite being made by major studios with a giant marketing team. The mere existence of media can be, in some way, addressing a serious issue( see everything with good representation of traditionally marginalized groups). Even when a piece of media is pure escapism,(sure there may be some commercially friendly message about being yourself or being nice to others but, come on) it can still be beneficial for humans to turn their brain off for a while and get away from everything wrong in the world(and I say this as a human). Just make sure at some point you turn it back on and take time to focus on important things, instead of spending all your time watching people on the internet yell at video games(As a fan of people screaming at screens, I in no way mean these things are bad, just that I shouldn’t take up your whole day. Looking at you, me.)