Escapism in Entertainment and Religion
by MW Cook
Ever notice how similar religion and entertainment can be? I bet if you thought about it, you could come up with a list.
I think about the religion I was raised in; fundamentalist evangelicalism. Nice people, more or less. All my life I heard stories about how much our human society sucked and how great it was going to be when Jesus burned everyone else up and took us away to live happily ever after. The gospel was like one of those escape route maps you find in the back pocket of the seats on airplanes. Go from A to B then C to avoid burnination.
Alas, during my formative years, I never really heard about any of the amazing things I could do to make the world a better place. The entire focus was on abandoning ship. My religious education never encouraged me to take an interest in politics (except for being sure not to vote for people who supported gay marriage). I was rarely encouraged to care for the environment or social justice. Instead of trying to fix and redeem the world, we were content to sit back and let it burn as we wore our asbestos suits and neckties.
Not that this is a problem specific to fundamentalism. Every religion I’ve had relationships with leans this way.
But I’m optimistic. I think that our religious climate is starting to look at the human experience in a much more holistic way. Yay for that.
But I fear that this obsession with escapism has trickled down into how we view our entertainment.
Why do you read books? Why do you watch TV? Most people will say, ‘To get away for a while.’ To unplug. To let go. To escape.
Let it never be!
A human being, carved from dirt into the image of the divine, has poured their creative energy, inherited from God, onto a page or a screen or a canvas. They have, in their own weak and fledgling way, become a creator of worlds and stories and lives and people. With ten fingers tapping they have called something from nearly nothing. And you want to use their world as a place to escape?
No!
Stories are not a place for you to escape the real world. They are images of the real world. They are not idealized life, but elevated life. Through stories we see our own world ever more clearly. And through their invented wonders we more clearly see the wonders of our own world and characters and societies. Stories ‘make rivers run with wine only to make us remember, for one wild moment, that they run with water (G.K. Chesterton).’
I beg you, friends, do not escape! Do not run away. Not to religion and not to stories. Because both of them are such mind-bogglingly powerful things that to use them only for escape seems as trite as using a jackhammer to kill a butterfly. Not only is it a supreme waste of energy, it begs the question as to why you want to kill something so beautiful as a butterfly in the first place.
Matt W Cook 
Interesting point, Matt. I’ve often explained to people that my love for Fantasy novels (LE Modesitt jr, Tolkien, etc) is based on my love to escape and live in that world that has been spun for me. I believe that you are quite correct that I am only giving them part of the reason, and leaving out the most compelling reason, at that! I recognise how I have learned something about all that is actually around me, and think your GK Chesterton quote nails it. Elevated life indeed.
Thanks for taking the time to share
All stories relate back to His story: Creation, Fall, Redemption, Justice. That’s why it’s important for us to listen to what others are saying… as it’s always connected, given we are created in his image.
Yay for stories. Yay for creativity – in the image of the creator – reflecting that image.
“The consolation of imaginary things is not imaginary consolation.” – Roger Scruton
Thanks for this post, Matt. Tolkien makes a distinction in one of his essays between “the escape of the prisoner” and “the flight of the deserter.” I’ve found that useful when I look at my own behavior.
At times we “escape” so that we can return refreshed by a vision of better things, or by a world in which brave or good characters call on the divine. This is different from refusing our responsibility for the tasks before us, and running away to avoid work or struggle or risk. That’s desertion. Of course telling the difference is not always so clear-cut!
In fact, even if we think we’re running away — deserting — we’re brought face to face with our own world in stories. Because, as you say, “Stories are not a place for you to escape the real world. They are images of the real world. They are not idealized life, but elevated life. Through stories we see our own world ever more clearly. And through their invented wonders we more clearly see the wonders of our own world and characters and societies.” So what looked like escape can at least potentially become an education, an inspiration to return and act with grace and power.