Escaping

We often use the media as means of escaping and forgetting our problems of everyday life. How is this possible and why do we do it? What is the appeal? The answer will vary from person to person, but the simple answer is that every form of media be it movies, TV, video games, Broadway productions, comic books, novels, etc posses the abilities to capture our imaginations and bring them into another world. But what is it about this other world that makes it so interesting? Often these worlds can be larger than life with characters that embark on epic quests or take part in desperate struggles. Other times they can be grounded in realism with characters that have believable but unique abilities. Some times they can be very similar to our own world with characters that are average and unremarkable, but humanistic and relateable. What the media does is give us a situation or set of circumstances that we know are not real but imagine could be real. It then presents a limited, but physical manifestation that allows us to further suspend our disbelief. I know there is no such thing as Superman, I know a man cannot fly, but I can imagine what would be like if there was such a person. Seeing someone portary Superman on screen finishes the work my imagination started.