Bibliography: Anthropology

Evans, A. This Virtual Life: Escapism and Simulation in our media world. London: Satin

Publications, 2001.

Evans views Escapism from all view points but I will just be mentioning his anthropological view.

He states that since human existence we have resorted to Escapism. He notes that man took

time off from hunting to make cave paintings. He believes that cave painting has taken over the

culture. However instead of cave painting we are: watching TV, playing video games, reading

and many other things to take our minds off of reality.

Love, D.J. “The Reality of Escapism.” The Sabattarian Network. (2001).Web. March 20, 2011.

http://www.sabbatarian.com/Content/Escapism.html

In this article Escapism is viewed from an anthropological viewpoint- specifically from a

religious one. The author who is a Christian minister points out Biblical references of Escapism.

The author also points out that Escapism is general does very little good and very much harm.

While I think many would agree with Love’s thesis his approach to the subject comes off as

biased. He attacks all those who resort to Escapism and blames this problem on society.

Tuan, Y. Escapism. Baltimore, Maryland: The John Hopkins University Press, 1998. Tuan begins

his book from an anthropological viewpoint; which is my main focus. He implies that it is human

nature to not want to face the facts. Tuan points out that everyone escapes; it actually makes
up the majority of what we do. He notes that in prehistoric times our ancestors built shelters to

escape nature’s harsh realities. Tuan believes everyone suffers from loneliness and alienation

and that both these factors are the root causes for Escapism. Another important argument

Tuan makes is that, human beings have been and continued to be profoundly restless. This

reminds me of Nietzsche quote, “Man would rather have void as purpose than to be void of

purpose.”