Escapism

3 Credits · Level: Undergraduate

Everything you think you know about escapism is probably wrong. Escapism isn’t selfish or a waste of time; it is actually a worldbuilding form of self-care that provides relief from stress, time to recharge, and energy to imagine and pursue brighter futures. In this class, we will seek to understand what philosophers have said about the morality of escapism, why escapism has such a bad reputation, and how people have practiced escapism historically and at present. In addition to philosophy, we’ll study media and media theory to understand why some films, TV shows, and novels get called “escapist” and how that label reinforces specific ideologies and taste cultures. We’ll approach escapism as personal, subjective, and dynamic, and we’ll experiment with different forms of escapism, including activities like napping, reading, and watching TV. We will consider escapism’s political potentials and whether and why it can become dangerous. We’ll watch films like I Saw the TV Glow and Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song and read works by Tricia Hersey, Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, and Yi-Fu Tuan, not to mention Plato, Immanuel Levinas, and Ursula K. Le Guin.