I started to read 50 Shades of Grey when it was big news but couldn’t get all the way through it. I knew I wasn’t having the appropriate response. It wasn’t the kinky S&M sex I took issue with – the book started kinda hot. As I kept reading though, despite having a nonviolent nature, I wanted to smack the dominant male protagonist, Christian. And not in a sexy way either.
The relationship with the less experienced Ana, begins consensually, but when he truly hurts her – beats her really – without her consent, I was done. I stopped reading. The kink-capades lost their sizzle.
I believe that the pair goes on to attempt a more mainstream relationship in a following book(s) while addressing his “issues.” I don’t give a flip about his issues. Work your problems out with a nice therapist, not sexually on a gullible young woman. I’m of an age and experience where instead of relating to Ana and living vicariously through her, I felt protective toward her. I’m not the target audience, not when I feel like popping Christian upside the head.
Not sure if I’ll see the upcoming movie. I know I won’t see it in the theater but maybe later. However, I might well get to the non-consensual beating scene and no further.
WriterInSoul 
Great post! Very well-written!
💗
Emory
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Hey, thanks!
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definitely not my taste in literature either!
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The deal breaker for me, Colette, with such McLit as 50 Shades is the “style” rather than the content. I haven’t yet glanced at that gem, but typically such “daring” shlock lit is niche lit targeting a certain age or gender or race. Such crapola has a prejudged consumer in mind and never varies from its simpleminded preconception. ergo there is actually no real character development or genuine plot surprise. The manufacturer – notice I avoid the word “author” – has to stay in the mold, the rigid formula.
Such products – notice I avoid the word “books” – usually inflict short, choppy simple sentences on the reader,lest she inadvertently be exposed to complex emotion or a nuanced moral dilemma. For an erotic charge,an elegant ball described by Flaubert or Tolstoy sure beats anything in 50 Shades or Valley of the Dolls. (Can anybody out there remember that chestnut?)
Stephanie Meyer’s simple(minded) prose in her Twilight series can’t convey the complexity of Bram Stoker’s far superior vampirism, if I may put it that way.
What’s missing in mass marketed niche lit is polish, complexity, refinement, nuance, sheen, irony – literary virtues which respect the reader enough to expect an appreciative response. McLit is inherently insulting to the hapless reader, in my opinion.
So ends today’s sermon, or rant ,if you prefer…….
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The only good I can see coming out of this “product” is – if a hapless reader recognizes any similarities in his/hers life, and it is an Oh My God moment! A catalyst for significant change or action.
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I don’t only go in for highbrow culture, and can appreciate books, movies, etc., that have a broad target audience. In this case, however,I couldn’t get past non-consensual abuse in what was supposed to be an erotic romance low-brow or not. The kind of literature you’re talking about is reflective of the times, yes? I mean even movies have become noticeably shorter, no doubt because a 2.5 or 3 hour film is unlikely to draw/hold an audience any more.
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Colette, I thought about reading them, but the reviews put me off. And a 24 year of friend told me that she threw the first book in the trash. Enough for me! Thanks for a good, honest post.
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Hate those typos! It’s… a 24 year old friend….
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Sometimes I just want to know what all the buzz/fuss/hoopla is about (for anything) so I can judge for myself.
Ahh, it helps to have someone whose opinion you trust go first!
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