Event

Caetlin Benson-Allott

On Escapism: Redemptive Readings of a Deeply Disparaged Pleasure

In the first years of the Great Depression, the reactionary poet and literary critic John Crowe Ransom coined the term escapist to decry romanticism, political progressivism, and industrialization, not to the mention mass media. Even among those who reject Ransom’s conservative beliefs, escapist remains a popular term of derogation for film, television, and other media whose artistic merits a critic finds insufficient to their popularity. Yet despite the enduring discourse around media escapism, few film theorists address this viewerly pleasure, and none have historicized its relation to personal or geopolitical crisis. My talk takes escapism seriously as a spectatorial mode and argues that escapism isn’t a property of specific genres or audiences but a misunderstood way of engaging with the world. As Emmanuel Levinas observes, “with escape we aspire only to get out,” to find reprieve from the responsibility of being. Escapism is not inherently a withdrawal from the world, however; it is rather a temporary form of self-care that can encourage further engagement with pressing social concerns. By historicizing how viewers experience escapism and what escapism offers them, we can better understand how media helps its audiences survive their environments.

Caetlin Benson-Allott is Professor of English and Film & Media Studies at Georgetown University and author of The Stuff of Spectatorship: Material Cultures of Film & Television, Remote Control, and Killer Tapes & Shattered Screens: Video Spectatorship from VHS to File Sharing. She writes a regular column for Film Quarterly and edits JCMS: Journal of Cinema and Media Studies.