History Main / Escapism

* In ''VideoGame/OMORI'', Sunny creates headspace, an imaginary dream scape where his group of friends are still together, as a coping mechanism for his AccidenticalMurder of his sister.

* In ''VideoGame/Omori'', Sunny creates headspace, an imaginary dream scape where his group of friends are still together, as a coping mechanism for his AccidenticalMurder of his sister.

* In ''VideoGame/OMORI'', Sunny creates headspace, an imaginary dream scape where his group of friends are still together, as a coping mechanism for his AccidenticalMurder of his sister.

* Discussed during the credits of ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' episode "[[Recap/GravityFallsS2E13DungeonsDungeonsAndMoreDungeons Dungeons, Dungeons, & More Dungeons]]"; Soos, Blues, Durland and Toby Determined are doing a LARP when Durland (Of all people) posits that they're just using fantasy to ignore their real-life problems, and should use the time to better themselves. [[IgnoredEpiphany Blubs just tells him that "Fortresses can't talk"]] (Durland's role) and the subject is forgotten.

* Discussed during the credits of ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' episode "Dungeons, Dungeons, and More Dungeons"; Soos, Blues, Durland and Toby Determined are doing a LARP when Durland (Of all people) posits that they're just using fantasy to ignore their real-life problems, and should use the time to better themselves. [[IgnoredEpiphany Blubs just tells him that "Fortresses can't talk"]] (Durland's role) and the subject is forgotten.
** In "Weirdmageddon Part 2: Escape From Reality", Dipper realizes that this is why Mabel doesn't want to leave the personal LotusEaterMachine; it lets her avoid the GrowingUpSucks trope that's been her character arc for the series.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' episode "Make Love, Not Warcraft", there is a nerd that is depicted as completely obsessed with ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' and completely out of touch of reality. He is described as having "no life" by the characters.

* Rikka Takanashi, the female lead of ''Literature/LoveChunibyoAndOtherDelusions'', is constantly under the delusion of a ElegantGothicLolita fighter, so as to cope with her trauma arising from ParentalAbandonment.

[[folder:Web Original]]
* This trope was referenced in ''WebVideo/PotterPuppetPals'' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tI7FkF3Z6ms in one of Harry Potter's nightmares]]. He dreamed that he was a {{Muggle}} that created a fantasy world in order to escape the guilt of seeing his wife die. [[PlayedForLaughs Played for the lulz]].

* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' gives us "Normal Again" where Buffy gets venom from a demon that convinces her she is really in a mental hospital and that her life as a Slayer is just escapism fantasy.
** And the season this takes place in has Buffy trying to escape from her depression by having torrid rough sex with Spike.
* The ''Series/{{Charmed|1998}}'' episode "Brain Drain" has The Source create an elaborate spell to trick Piper into giving up the sisters' powers. He makes Piper imagine that she is really in a mental hospital where Prue, Phoebe and Paige aren't really her sisters and she doesn't have powers. The doctors in the hallucination claim she created her life as a Charmed One to cope with the death of her grandmother. The chilling part is that the hallucination is well timed to Piper regretting becoming a witch so she almost believes the hallucination.

* In an episode of ''Series/RedDwarf'', the crew discovers a long-lost VR game called "Better than Life". It's ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin.

* In ''Series/WandaVision'' Wanda is shown to have fixated on sitcoms as an escape from the tragedies of her life [[spoiler: and her creation of the Hex is the same thing on a grand scale, a RealityWarper able to generate her own little world where Vision isn't dead and every conflict is resolved by the end of the episode]].

* Rikka Takanashi, the female lead of ''LightNovel/LoveChunibyoAndOtherDelusions'', is constantly under the delusion of a ElegantGothicLolita fighter, so as to cope with her trauma arising from ParentalAbandonment.

* ''LightNovel/MyNextLifeAsAVillainessAllRoutesLeadToDoom'':

For an in-depth analysis of this trope, go to Analysis.{{Escapism}}. Compare to AntiEscapismAesop. When an evil government uses escapism to keep an entire society compliant, it's BreadAndCircuses.

* In ''ComicBook/TheSandman1989'', nightmares Brute and Glob [[PoweredByAForsakenChild exploit the dreams of an abused foster child]] to carve out a little corner of the Dreaming for themselves. They make him the sidekick of a superhero named Sandman, who is really a brainwashed spirit of someone recently deceased, only anchored to the living world by pregnant widow who lives in the dream with him. Thus, their plan is facilitated by the desires of two miserable victims who wish for a better reality than they have.

* ''DiscoElysium'' is about a man retreating into his own world to avoid facing his personal problems.

* In ''ComicBook/TheSandman'', nightmares Brute and Glob [[PoweredByAForsakenChild exploit the dreams of an abused foster child]] to carve out a little corner of the Dreaming for themselves. They make him the sidekick of a superhero named Sandman, who is really a brainwashed spirit of someone recently deceased, only anchored to the living world by pregnant widow who lives in the dream with him. Thus their plan is facilitated by the desires of two miserable victims who wish for a better reality than they have.

* "[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Escapist]]" by Music/{{Nightwish}}.

* ''Fanfic / FortuneLoverTGSBetaSaruRipTPlusEng0Point75SincereDotZip'': This is the reason why [[CharacterNarrator Parasite_Ib]] downloaded a pirated copy of ''[[FictionalVideoGame Fortune Lover]]'' of unknown provenance. While she played the game to completion previously and knew its endings, at the time the story happened she was forced to dump her boyfriend and felt rather "bummed" for it, so she "decided to lose myself in ''Fortune Lover'' for the umpteenth time."

** Sophia's interest in romance novels comes from her {{Hikkikomori}} years, as she seeks solace in stories of popular people as she [[AllOfTheOtherReindeer is shunned by everyone]] due to her {{albin|osAreFreaks}}ism. She says it best in her POV segment below. [[spoiler:Does the fact that Sophia is Atsuko's {{reincarnation}} has anything to do with [[HistoryRepeats this]]? [[AmbiguousSituation It's one of the bigger mysteries of the series.]]]]

Escapism is basically a mental diversion or "escape" from the perceived unpleasant or banal aspects of daily life. Everything that makes us escape from RealLife can be considered a form of Escapism. Common forms of Escapism are {{Fiction}}, {{Video Game}}s, {{Game Show}}s, drugs, gambling, and [[JustForFun/TVTropesWillRuinYourLife TV Tropes]].

Escapism is basically a mental diversion or "escape" from the perceived unpleasant or banal aspects of daily life. Everything that makes us escape from RealLife can be considered a form of Escapism. Common forms of Escapism are {{Fiction}}, {{Video Game}}s, {{Game Show}}s, drugs, gambling, and [[TVTropesWillRuinYourLife TV Tropes]].

* ''LightNovel/MyNextLifeAsAVillainessAllRoutesLeadToDoom'':
** Sophia's interest in romance novels comes from her {{Hikkikomori}} years, as she seeks solace in stories of popular people as she [[AllOfTheOtherReindeer is shunned by everyone]] due to her {{albin|osAreFreaks}}ism. She says it best in her POV segment:
--->''In my quiet room, I read book after book. The wondrous, beautiful stories within transported me away from my cruel reality. When I was reading, I could forget all my troubles.''
** Back in Catarina's previous life, her best friend Atsuko also used fiction to cope with her own FriendlessBackground:
--->''If I imagine myself slipping into these stories as I read them, I can forget all about my loneliness. I pretend that I’m the protagonist of these stories. That way, even someone who is lonely, shy, and unhappy like me can become a popular girl who everyone loves.''

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTacticsAdvance'', and its sequel ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTacticsA2'', although the sequel focuses on it less.

For an in-depth analysis of this trope, go to Analysis.{{Escapism}}. Compare to AntiEscapismAesop.

* Quentin Coldwater of ''Literature/TheMagicians'' is in the habit of using the ''Fillory And Further'' series of children's books in order to escape from the disappointing aspects of his life. The land of Fillory remains the target of Quentin's obsessions even after he becomes a student at [[WizardingSchool Brakebills]], as he believes that the setting to be a place where happiness never leaves. Later in the novel, he discovers that Fillory is a real place and journeys there in order to [[HeroicWannabe play at being a hero]] - only to find out the hard way that treating a real place with ''real'' inhabitants as a fantasy world is not only unhealthy, but downright dangerous.

-->''In my quiet room, I read book after book. The wondrous, beautiful stories within transported me away from my cruel reality. When I was reading, I could forget all my troubles.''

-->''If I imagine myself slipping into these stories as I read them, I can forget all about my loneliness. I pretend that I’m the protagonist of these stories. That way, even someone who is lonely, shy, and unhappy like me can become a popular girl who everyone loves.''