Escapist fiction continues, in our day, to have a bad reputation. Is that reputation deserved?

[Hannah L]

Explain, please. Tnx

[KG]

Is this for school, or do you just want an intellectual debate?

[447]

Does it? Isn't all fiction escapist? Do you mean Fantasy. LOR and Harry Potter and Twilight are all fantasy and all are big sellers.

[787]

It does?

I rarely find that statement made by people who do actually read fiction. It is often made by the "I only read" biographies/history/newspaper columns/self-help people of the world. Most often I run into it from the type that reads one book a year and proclaims from it as if it is holy scripture.

Within the realm of fiction/non-fiction and their own logic, They are right.

Anyone who reads fiction tends to recognize that "escapist" serves the same purposes as "realistic" fiction. No different than representational and abstract art.

[Kari]

I don't believe it's so much Escapist fiction as it is Escapism in general these days. MMORPGS, Hollywood Obsessions and other Internet outlets like Twitter provide far more time consuming forms of Escapism than most literature now. True, there have been trends in literature lately back along the Sci-Fi/Fantasy genres, particularly in the YA category. But I think that more people remove themselves into the realms of what Lindsey Lohan is doing or slaying internet dragons than are actually removing themselves from daily life through picking up a book.

The world isn't an ideal place. People deserve a break whether it be immersing themselves into music, literature, fandom, gaming, meditation, exercise, etc. As long as they are able to keep it within a healthy range, the outlet should not matter. If you notice a friend trying to open a locked door by shaking a stick at it and chanting "Alohamora" over and over, they may be going a bit overboard. At the same time, people who can't spend 5 minutes without consulting their iPhones for something, or who catalog every caloric intake they have probably need some help too.

I had a sociology professor once, Dr. Jim Fargher, who had created what he called "Fargher's Laws." Fargher's Law of Science Fiction stated that "It's always happening now." He explained this by showing how "Enemy Mine" is a fabulous example of overcoming inherent racial bias. Basically, Sci-Fi forms an outlet to reflect current events and issues through an abstract form. So, though it may be considered a form of Escapist Fiction, it is also a way for people to understand things happening in real life by putting a different perspective on them. This may not be true of each and every piece of Escapist Lit, but I'd dare say it is of quite a few.

Hope this helps to answer your question.