50 Shades of Grey: violent sex or kinky fairy tale love story

Patty here…

Consider me Switzerland. I haven’t read the E.L. James 50 Shades of Grey trilogy and until this weekend, I had only the sketchiest idea of what the books were about. Somehow the words “mommy porn” and atrocious writing that have been used to describe the books were a deal breaker for me. But the studio’s marketing campaign for the film—Curious?—worked. I was curious. So, when the opportunity arose to see the movie at a screening, I went. I did not expect to like the film, but I did like it, mainly because of Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan, and I found myself routing for them.

Um...yes.

Everyone has varied opinions about this film. Mostly negative. Here’s Dave Barry's funny essay about the book. Some of the other criticisms:

It was the worst movie ever made: These people have obviously never seen Anaconda. It may not have been the best movie I've ever seen, but it was far from the worst.

Jon Voight inside the belly of a snake. Need I say more?

Bad acting: I found Dakota Johnson to be charming, funny and authentic as the college student who, because of a twist of fate, meets her kinky Prince Charming. The first part of the film rolled out as a romantic comedy. The audience laughed in all the right places. 

Some fans of the books objected to Jamie Dornan as Christian Grey. One person said Dornan didn’t display the depth of emotions that Grey had in the books. As introduced in the film, Grey is a man who is wounded by his past, which keeps him from having “normal” relationships with women. He is guarded and emotionally unavailable. Dornan’s performance was subtle, but I felt his inner pain and conflict.

There was no chemistry between the characters: Switzerland disagrees. There was chemistry. Casting characters from books that have a 100-million fan base must be a challenge. Some fans will be happy. Some—not so much. I’d never seen Johnson act before, but she was perfect for the part of Ana. I’d recently watched and loved Dornan’s sexy performance in the wonderful BBC series The Fall, with Gillian Anderson. I also enjoyed his performance in 50, but let’s face it, I could be happy watching Dornan watching wheat grow.

Misrepresents BDSM (bondage, discipline, sado-masochism): I can’t evaluate this criticism, because I’m not part of the community and don’t know anybody who is, but the movie has raised my awareness. From what I’ve read, this practice involves erotic sex between two consenting adults. It should be pleasurable and fun. If you’re not laughing, you’re doing it wrong. Ana isn’t exactly yucking it up when Christian sweeps the tip of a whip over her body but she seems to be enjoying it. Good thing she’s not ticklish.

The film promotes violence against women: This is the criticism I find the most difficult to understand, especially since there are so many serial killer books and films that show or describe in nauseating detail the torture, rape, murder and dismemberment of women. Occasionally, I’ll read that a violent video game or a book inspired murder, but I haven’t noticed an uptick in crimes against women by readers of the 50 Shades trilogy. The books have been out for a while. One hundred million copies have been sold. If these books inspired that sort of violence, wouldn’t we have heard about it? I suppose one could argue that films reach a wider audience, but I still don’t buy the argument.

The bottom line: The film features erotic sex between consulting adults. Maybe it’s not my cup of tea, but the agreement between Ana and Christian was clear and it was written. Either could say stop at any time and that request would be honored. And it was. Some people argue that young women might engage in S&M with people they don’t know well enough to trust. Come on. Give women some credit. We’re not a bunch mindless nincompoops. Ana may have been inexperienced sexually but she was a college graduate who knew how to set boundaries. She wasn’t a pushover. She negotiated with Grey to alter the terms of his contract. And she was free to walk away at any time.

Women and the emotionally wounded men they love and try to save: Christian Grey is a typical character found in story telling. We’ve seen him a million times before, i.e., the strong silent type, so intent on protecting his dark secrets and the wounds from his past that he comes off as wary and sometimes cruel. Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights wasn’t exactly Mr. Nice Guy.

One summer when I was maybe 13-14, I powered through about twenty formulaic romance novels, many set in gloomy manor houses in the English countryside. They were romantic fairy tales and always unfolded with an ingénue who encounters a handsome but brooding man who sends mixed signals about who he is (bad guy or just misunderstood?). In the end, our heroine discovers he’s the love of her life and they end up together.

50 Shades of Grey (the film) is a variation of this fairy tale love story. It taps into a woman’s desire to mend wounded hearts through the shear force of her love. This is what Ana attempts to do. It works to some degree. Grey lets down a few of his guards, giving us hope that she will succeed: he invites her to dinner with his parents, something he’s never done before; he introduces her as his girlfriend, even though he's told her he doesn’t do the “boyfriend thing;” he travels to Savannah and meets her mother. At its core, the film is about a woman who falls in love with a man and tries to make him love her back.

The film pulled in over $80 million over the weekend. An estimated 68% of audience members were women, and 58% were older than 25.

HAPPY MONDAY!