It's more my feelings that "escapism" is getting dragged down by an obsession with 'realism' because people are just too cynical to sit back and ENJOY things. nothing can just go RIGHT: someone has to die, or get mauled, or possessed, or a 'things get worse and don't get better" thing going on, and it really is just getting to the point where no one's going to be SHOCKED by anything anymore because everything that's horrible about the world is just "routine."



If RWBY had ended with Season 2, it would have been a perfect reversal of this trope: bad guy is stopped (but not without a fight) heroes win, everyone lives. just because we need HOPE in our lives right now. and i have no problem with a series ending on a cliffhanger, because I like thinking about AU's and so forth (which has been giving me a lot of emotional troubles about MM! AU: do i keep going? do i wrap it up and let it go?)



A world of Bulletproof soul shields and superpowers, eldritch abomination shadow monsters, deus-ex-Dust-ina, and little girls twirling sniper-scythes like cheerleader batons did NOT need any realism added.



and you're preaching to the choir, man. i feel the same way with my family.