Movies? Escapism?

With the ever-increasing numbers of movies being produced, viewed, purchased, and seen in theaters, I ask myself, "Why?"  Why are there more and more movies "consumed" by the public?  Is it because they just keep getting better and better?  Graphically and cinematographically speaking, maybe...

It's not because there just aren't any new ideas out there and we must turn to the next set of cinematographic muses to inspire us; or is it?  Are we that pathetic?

I believe that movies have become a new drug, or better put, movies allow anyone watching to live in a different world, a different relationship, with different cars, homes, toys, and jobs than we have right-now in the present world--the real world!

Is that bad?

I guess it's better than self-medicating...  Or is it just another form of self-mecation?

Remember the "feelies" from Aldous Huxley's Brave New World?  Or the place where I originally heard "The New Drug," which was talking about pornography.  It's all the same thing, though, if you think about it.

The difference, though, would be my wife and I don't sit down to watch a movie to get high and there is not the same repercussions, in coming down off the high.  I can get addicted though, just like the new drug or watching feelies.  My brain could still go through similar changes.

Originally, I was thinking of a soft-drug called leaving reality for two hours for a small vacation.  Is this bad?  What do I mean by, "bad"?  Is it harmful?  The answer to this question is: No, it is not.  How can I respond so quickly?  Well, is it bad to escape in your head while you read a book?  No.  Is it bad to lose yourself in thought?  No.   It (watching movies) can become harmful, however, if the movies that are watched

I guess I just answered my own question, and it's not the answer that I originally anticipated: movies or the "escapism" that accompanies watching a movie, is not harmful, in and of itself.  Like most other things, though, it can become harmful if taken to an extreme.

JPS