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Some time ago, I had the occasion to connect with Michael Chapman, filmmaker and creator of the movie The Ledge. Because of that connection, he started following me on Facebook and has seen me rant about the 50 Shades of Grey pieces of shit er, I mean novels. Now, it turns out that the actor who played the lead in his movie, The Ledge (alongside Liv Tyler), has been positioned to play the lead character in 50 Shades, Christian Grey, in the upcoming movie version of the book. So Chapman has even more of an interest in the new movie. And he asked me my opinion on whether or not the new movie has any hope of being good.
Flattered that an actual filmmaker would seek me out for my opinion on the subject and kind of shocked that he was even aware I had one, I thought about it, and wrote him a long response, trying to summarize my feelings for this book and its sequels into a single email. It's a lengthy response, but I still think I only barely scratched the surface of what I was trying to convey.
Nevertheless, he liked my response so much that he asked if he could publish it on The Ledge's Facebook page. Naturally, I said, of course! I hadn't written it with a public post in mind, so it's clearly an email response to a question, but he was welcome to post it if he wanted. So, he did, and it has now been read by over 6,000 people all around the world (The Ledge apparently has quite the international following, considering it's a movie with an atheist protagonist and a Christian is the bad guy, and theism vs. atheism is a big part of the conflict). This is the largest platform I've ever had for one of my opinions. So I'm pretty stoked! If you're on Facebook, you can see the post and like it and offer your own perspective: https://www.facebook.com/theledgemovie/posts/598254666879883. If you're not on Facebook, here's what I wrote:
I think the only way a good movie can come out of that book is if it keeps just the title in common and basically becomes a whole other movie, without the author's "creative" input. There are no redeeming features of that book.
Now, whether it will make *money* or win the cast and crew some acclaim is a different story. But the very premise of the story is that it romanticizes abusive relationships and reinforces the "if you love him he will change" trope, all with very boring, unkinky sex and a lot of really bad writing. It's Twilight fan-fiction for fuck's sake.
It's very premise is flawed, and if the story foundation is bad, there's nothing you can do to dress it up and make it better. Keeping the title and changing everything else about it is common in Hollywood, but it might piss off the book fans. The best thing that anyone in the kink community can say about that book is "at least it got mainstream people talking about BDSM, and maybe, because of their interest, they'll research the healthy ways to do kink." I think my favorite criticism I've heard so far was "It angered both the librarian and the pervert in me", but I don't know who said that.
I think anyone involved in filmmaking as an artform would do well to pay attention to the BDSM community's view on the book. If they are part of a film for the art of it, then 50 Shades is not a good choice. But anyone wishing to earn a little notoriety and be shocking would probably get something worthwhile out of being affiliated with the movie, because it will get attention.
The "big strong domly man trains a submissive woman who just doesn't know she's submissive yet" storyline is one of the most common kink storylines ever. There are hundreds, perhaps thousands of books with that same plot. Any of them is going to be better written than 50 Shades, and at least some of them are going to be written by people who actually have some experience in the kink community, unlike the author, James.
In fact, I'll recommend one right now. It's called The Training of Eileen and it's available on Amazon - Elicitation is the first book in the series. It's the same plot - rich guy finds innocent young wife and trains her to be his sex slave. But the difference is that he wasn't abused and raped as a child and who now takes out his sociopathic rage towards women on his partners. This main character is caring and loving - he does what he does because *the submissive likes it*.
It uses the "she just doesn't know it yet" trope, but in this case, it's not a rapey excuse, it's that he paid attention to her early on and detected submissive tendencies in what she revealed about herself. In this story, it's all about giving the submissive what she wants and giving her permission to want it. In 50 Shades, it's all about what the dom wants (to beat women) and the power struggle between him and his girl who wants to "fix" his broken kinky ways.
So, my opinion is that there is no salvation for this movie. It cannot, by virtue of its source, ever become a good movie without doing the Hollywood bait-and-switch - capitalizing on the name but completely rewriting it from the ground up. But it *can* become a money-maker and it *can* catapult the cast and crewmembers into some measure of fame by association. The question is, is that the kind of association one wants to be known for? The kink community does not support the book, except to for those who welcome *any* conversation-starter, even bad ones. Since I have enough trouble getting trapped by men (as I am a single heterosexual female) who think that "coercion" is merely another word for foreplay, to say that I am not one of those who even welcomes it as a conversation starter is an understatement.
I'll leave you with some chapter-by-chapter reviews of the book, if you're interested to hear exactly what is so wrong with it and why:
http://collegeatthirty.blogspot.com/search/label/fifty%20shades%20of%20grey
http://jennytrout.blogspot.com/p/jen-reads-50-shades-of-grey.html
http://zephyrscribe.tumblr.com/tagged/50+Shades+of+Grey
http://theramblingcurl.blogspot.com/2013/02/need-more-evidence-that-50-shades-is.html
Flattered that an actual filmmaker would seek me out for my opinion on the subject and kind of shocked that he was even aware I had one, I thought about it, and wrote him a long response, trying to summarize my feelings for this book and its sequels into a single email. It's a lengthy response, but I still think I only barely scratched the surface of what I was trying to convey.
Nevertheless, he liked my response so much that he asked if he could publish it on The Ledge's Facebook page. Naturally, I said, of course! I hadn't written it with a public post in mind, so it's clearly an email response to a question, but he was welcome to post it if he wanted. So, he did, and it has now been read by over 6,000 people all around the world (The Ledge apparently has quite the international following, considering it's a movie with an atheist protagonist and a Christian is the bad guy, and theism vs. atheism is a big part of the conflict). This is the largest platform I've ever had for one of my opinions. So I'm pretty stoked! If you're on Facebook, you can see the post and like it and offer your own perspective: https://www.facebook.com/theledgemovie/posts/598254666879883. If you're not on Facebook, here's what I wrote:
I think the only way a good movie can come out of that book is if it keeps just the title in common and basically becomes a whole other movie, without the author's "creative" input. There are no redeeming features of that book.
Now, whether it will make *money* or win the cast and crew some acclaim is a different story. But the very premise of the story is that it romanticizes abusive relationships and reinforces the "if you love him he will change" trope, all with very boring, unkinky sex and a lot of really bad writing. It's Twilight fan-fiction for fuck's sake.
It's very premise is flawed, and if the story foundation is bad, there's nothing you can do to dress it up and make it better. Keeping the title and changing everything else about it is common in Hollywood, but it might piss off the book fans. The best thing that anyone in the kink community can say about that book is "at least it got mainstream people talking about BDSM, and maybe, because of their interest, they'll research the healthy ways to do kink." I think my favorite criticism I've heard so far was "It angered both the librarian and the pervert in me", but I don't know who said that.
I think anyone involved in filmmaking as an artform would do well to pay attention to the BDSM community's view on the book. If they are part of a film for the art of it, then 50 Shades is not a good choice. But anyone wishing to earn a little notoriety and be shocking would probably get something worthwhile out of being affiliated with the movie, because it will get attention.
The "big strong domly man trains a submissive woman who just doesn't know she's submissive yet" storyline is one of the most common kink storylines ever. There are hundreds, perhaps thousands of books with that same plot. Any of them is going to be better written than 50 Shades, and at least some of them are going to be written by people who actually have some experience in the kink community, unlike the author, James.
In fact, I'll recommend one right now. It's called The Training of Eileen and it's available on Amazon - Elicitation is the first book in the series. It's the same plot - rich guy finds innocent young wife and trains her to be his sex slave. But the difference is that he wasn't abused and raped as a child and who now takes out his sociopathic rage towards women on his partners. This main character is caring and loving - he does what he does because *the submissive likes it*.
It uses the "she just doesn't know it yet" trope, but in this case, it's not a rapey excuse, it's that he paid attention to her early on and detected submissive tendencies in what she revealed about herself. In this story, it's all about giving the submissive what she wants and giving her permission to want it. In 50 Shades, it's all about what the dom wants (to beat women) and the power struggle between him and his girl who wants to "fix" his broken kinky ways.
So, my opinion is that there is no salvation for this movie. It cannot, by virtue of its source, ever become a good movie without doing the Hollywood bait-and-switch - capitalizing on the name but completely rewriting it from the ground up. But it *can* become a money-maker and it *can* catapult the cast and crewmembers into some measure of fame by association. The question is, is that the kind of association one wants to be known for? The kink community does not support the book, except to for those who welcome *any* conversation-starter, even bad ones. Since I have enough trouble getting trapped by men (as I am a single heterosexual female) who think that "coercion" is merely another word for foreplay, to say that I am not one of those who even welcomes it as a conversation starter is an understatement.
I'll leave you with some chapter-by-chapter reviews of the book, if you're interested to hear exactly what is so wrong with it and why:
http://collegeatthirty.blogspot.com/search/label/fifty%20shades%20of%20grey
http://jennytrout.blogspot.com/p/jen-reads-50-shades-of-grey.html
http://zephyrscribe.tumblr.com/tagged/50+Shades+of+Grey
http://theramblingcurl.blogspot.com/2013/02/need-more-evidence-that-50-shades-is.html
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Date: 9/28/13 05:11 am (UTC)From: (Anonymous)no subject
Date: 9/29/13 04:35 am (UTC)From:Horny Boo-Boo: Fifty Shades of Grey, by E.L. James
Cue Eric Bogle...
Now, when I was a young man, I carried my pack
Full of books across fields full of clover
And from Lois Bujold to Honore de Balzac
I would Hardy my Thomas all over.
Then in 2012, without naming names
Some fans of my Bookposts were playing mind games
And suggested a book written by E.L. James.
They said, “Trust us. It’s such a best-seller”
And the book quoted from Thomas Hardy
About Alec, and Angel, and Tess.
But with each page I turned, my stomach just churned
My eyes widened in shock at the mess.
Oh well I remember that terrible day.
When the storyline got more alarming.
As I read of that asshole she called Christian Grey
Like Mitt Romney, but not quite as charming.
By chapter 18, I’d collapsed in my bed
And when I gained consciousness, holding my head
And saw what James had done...I wished they were undead.
Never knew there were worse things than Twilight.
And the book quoted from Thomas Hardy
As Christian assaulted his prey
And with every slap, she’d just say, “Holy crap.”
While my sentiments ran the same way.
Where do I start? Probably with weeping for my country that of all the books in print, *this* abomination of human endeavor, *this* noxious, putrescent, foul stinkbomb of a book, *this* is what all the world chose to read over the past year. I put a request for it at the local library back in May, and was number 163 on the waiting list, that’s why I’ve only gotten to it just now. Thankfully, I can honestly say I didn’t feel a shred of impatience waiting for it.
Much has been written about the toxicity of the relationship in Twilight, and how Edward meets every one of the red flags that identify a classic sociopathic, predatory personality. (Holy crap--why are all these stories set around Seattle? Leave the poor Northwest alone; we’re not like that!). Stephanie Meyer has nothing on E.L. James, who writes Anastasia in a way that makes Bella Swann look like Lisbeth Salander. She approaches the phallic, chrome-and-steel corporate headquarters of Grey Enterprises like Jonathan Harker approaches Castle Dracula, only with fangirl squees, constant faux pas, and more self critical exasperation than Chris Farley used to display in his SNL interview schticks, beginning with--Holy crap--the stock trip and fall in front of him as she enters his office for the first time. Exactly the low self-confidence, poor self-image type that a predator thrives on, and with no other redeeming qualities. And Christian Grey is exactly the kind of monster to select her for a victim. While Ana is stammering and blushing and making a fool of herself, he cancels appointments to get to know her better. This will end well.
James tells us now and then that Grey is young and handsome and hawt; but the description is never convincing. The unrealistic amount of wealth and corporate power he has; the ruthless controlling behavior that defines his entire personality; the sadism; the army of servants; the cultured, ironic politeness he affects as he taunts those under his control—all this paints an overwhelming image of a much older man somewhere between Count Dracula, Mitt Romney and a James Bond villain. This impression is not conducive to erotic interest when--holy crap--they start having steamy sadomasochistic sex. Just imagine Mittens with a silk bathrobe and a riding crop, telling some poor intern that he’s going to treat her like the American working class, and you’ll have some idea of the revulsion these scenes inspired in me.
Silly character limit...
Date: 9/29/13 04:36 am (UTC)From:And--holy crap--Ana (who Grey insists on calling by her full name ‘Anastasia’ even after she tells him how much she dislikes it) initially resists the bondage, the spankings and the stalking behavior, but over time, she comes to like it, after Grey has taken a firm enough hand with her.
And, even worse--holy crap—she tames and civilizes him, learning about his dark past and helping him change. Somewhere, there is a young, impressionable woman, reading this “romance” and deciding that maybe the right man for her is a controlling ‘bad boy’ who she can change with her love. Somewhere there is an impressionable young man reading it and deciding that the way to treat women is to seize control and not take no for an answer, and, after their initial protests, they will worship him as a god.
And the worst part of all? It’s #1 in a trilogy.
Holy crap.
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Date: 9/29/13 04:43 am (UTC)From: