Very interesting post - thanks for writing this up. I suspect I'll be pondering the idea of deathfic, etc as escapism for a while. I think probably it has something to do with what one is escaping from. There's definitely times when I appreciate a good sad story (I own Fried Green Tomatoes - it's one of my favorite films, and the death scene makes me cry every single time), but there's other times when I'm wanting to escape from strong emotions & so avoid sadfic like the plague.

As an aside, I adore this phrasing: with the zeal of a newly converted vegan. Such a great image, and so true! :)