Addiction to Escape

I think I can safely say that by now everyone in this class has realized they're addicted to some form of pop culture, if they hadn't already. Like we all discussed, our addictions can drive us to do some crazy things such as memorize entire scenes of movies, rename weekdays in honor of our favorite shows, and dub the inanimate objects in our lives after our favorite TV characters. Although we love the things we're addicted to, we rarely are asked why we love them. What is it about Jersey Shore and other reality shows that has people tuning in every week? Why do shows with laugh tracks like Friends or Seinfeld still have so many viewers? Why do we love the way hospitals are over dramatized on shows like House or Grey's Anatomy? Why do we now see high school as a musical and glee filled place? Besides TV shows, why do we enjoy certain movies like chick flicks or superhero stories? Why do we love following celebrities in magazines or on Twitter and learning useless information about their lives?

By this time in the class, maybe you're saying, "Ok. I know I'm addicted...but can't I just leave it at that? Do I always have to be analyzing the things I watch and figuring out why I want to watch them? Can't I just enjoy?" Well, yeah, but where's the fun in that? Even in the few things we've learned thus far in the class, you can start to see why the shows and movies we love are so successful. Some take us away from reality and let us live along side people we love and admire as they fight crime, solve mysteries, and save the world one episode at a time. Others let us compare our lives to that of the unfortunate characters and think, thank God I'm not them. Some fill that void in our lives with humor, drama, singing on tables, or anything else we wish our lives could be. As for following celebs, why wouldn't we be fascinated with an individual who has money and fame as well as no clue you're sitting at home reading through pages of their tweets?

I think we all would say we love the stories shows and movies present to us because we all long to get away from our own boring, almost "too real" lives. In TV shows we can treat horrible situations such as a grandma dying as a funny plot line. Or the realization that your family is bankrupt as a perfect situation for some sarcastic and witty comment. Rather than waking up, going to school, coming home, and repeating the next day, in action movies we can wake up, have our school attacked, fight off a bad guy, win the heart of our crush, and return home safe as the credits roll. You rarely see shows or movies about normal, everyday life, and if you do, it's a safe bet they won't be around for too long. People want to escape and see a new version of reality. We envy the Jersey shore gang living the perfect life of leisure, albeit somewhat trashy, that we don't have. We see the cast of Friends thriving in NYC without fear of debt, even if they have been unemployed for a whole season. We watch heroes get thrown down only to rise against the dominating force of evil and save their city when all we do is go with the flow. Thanks to the media, we can stand the mediocrity of our lives. Just as long as we can watch someone do and be the things we wish for. 

So. Media is our escape. We all desperately need an escape. What do we call it when we desperately need something? Yes, thats right. Addiction.