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...
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