The Theme of Escape and or Escapism Essay

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So what do a couple of people like you have to run away from?” (John, Revolutionary Road)

Discuss the theme of escape and/ or escapism as it relates to representations of everyday life in Revolutionary Road.

Sam Mendes’s movie titled ‘Revolutionary Road’ examines routine and routineness, which makes people go to great lengths in order to escape it and enjoy freedom within a structured society. This movie is a fitting representation of the dynamics of daily life that make one feel manacled to societal expectations, standards, domination, structure, repetitiveness and direction. Through the movie, Mendes delves into the ideas of escapism and escape via its two key characters. The first is the movie’s male protagonist, Frank Wheeler, who, although, terrified of change, is simultaneously not entirely satisfied with routine life and wishes to escape it. In the movie, the escapism concept has been utilized to express Frank’s fulfillment of his need to escape. The other key character is the movie’s female protagonist, April Wheeler, who also feels suffocated by her daily routine, and wishes to lead a different, independent life.

Several instances within the movie serve to express the ‘escapism’ idea. The movie reveals how monotonous routine activities and tasks cause Frank and April to attempt to seek solace in interludes in their routine. They attempt to find relief in an assortment of entertainment and leisure activities and bank on fantasies in their attempt at avoiding the real world. Frank wishes to traverse the limitations of his suburban personal and work life. In the words of Ben Highmore, an employee “craves a sharp break” or compensation; leisure activities and entertainment serve as a welcome distraction from everyday life. The above remark is a strong indication of the escapism concept inherent in the movie. [footnoteRef:1] Frank’s job is described by Frank himself as being the dullest possible job ever. This indicates his boredom and dissatisfaction with it[footnoteRef:2].

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He feels trapped in his role – the movie aptly illustrates this in Frank’s obscurity among innumerable other workers surrounding him, who follow an identical direction, dress in identical uniforms, carry out identical work tasks with machines, and go over an identical routine day after day. Such a job fails to provide any stimulation to Frank, who perceives society to be nothing but a huge, obscene “delusion”. However, when he considers leaving it all behind, the great risk involved serves to terrify and deter him.[footnoteRef:3] His qualms come to the surface whenever April attempts to talk him into jumping ship to a job better suited to his interests. She claims that once he quits his existing job, he will have the time to identify and follow his dream freely. His qualms are overpowered by her keenness.[footnoteRef:4] Nevertheless, as the movie proceeds, audiences see Frank choosing to accept a promotion at the same company, giving up his dream of escaping to Paris to seek a satisfying job better suited to his interests. Frank finds solace only in fantasizing escape but when it comes to actually doing so, he is not as eager as his wife. He merely humors his wife and is not as serious about moving to Paris as she is. [1: Lefebvre, “Work and Leisure In Everyday Life”,233] [2: Mendes, Revolutionary Road] [3: Ibid ] [4: ibid]



April clearly suffers the most because of the Wheelers’ dull, repetitive everyday life. The previously lively April has become an empty shell, a victim burdened by responsibilities and duties utterly uninteresting to her; thus, she aims at escaping this monotony and leading a free life. According to Lefebvre, females are most affected by the routine life they’re subject to.….....

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