STORY BY LAUREN STANTON
On Feb. 13, the movie adaption of the erotic novel Fifty Shades of Grey, by E.L. James, was released in the U.S.
Following the release, the movie and novel has received a public uproar of criticism due to the questionable relationship of the main characters,
Anastasia Steele and Christian Grey. Christian Grey enjoys the sexual practice BDSM which involves dominance and submission, roleplaying, restraint and other interpersonal dynamics.
Ana Steele is a recent college graduate who is sexually inexperienced but becomes Christian Grey’s “submissive.” Many groups have negatively interpreted the dominant and submissive relationship between Ana and Christian. Domestic violence has been a prominent issue in today’s society, specifically on college campuses.
I recently finished reading the novel Fifty Shades of Grey and saw the movie version as well. I originally had no interest until several of my classmates told me how much they enjoyed the trilogy. When I was reading the book, I personally did not see the domestic violence aspect people had been talking about.
When I saw the movie, I was shocked at how violent the film actually came across. I was “Fifty Shades of irritated.” People always say “the book is better than the movie” and in this case I believe the statement to be true but in a different way.
In the print version of Fifty Shades of Grey the reader has the inner monologue of the main character Ana Steele as well as email exchanges between her and Christian Grey. Author E.L. James uses Ana’s inner monologue and the email exchange to explain what BDSM is and the way Ana and Christian would practice it.
I interpreted the monologue and emails by James as a way to show that BDSM was not meant to actually hurt someone but as a way to build trust between two people during sexual acts.
The movie version did not have Ana’s monologue or the email exchange that goes into deeper detail of BDSM and their relationship. Without this depth, on screen, it looks like Ana is being manipulated and controlled by a billionaire psycho who wants to beat the crap out of her.
A domestic violence group called #fiftyshadesisabuse says the Fifty Shades of Grey franchise “advertises it as a love affair and erotic sex — what it’s really about is abuse and violence, and the grooming of a young girl into sadistic sex.”
Recently, a freshman at the University of Illinois-Chicago has been accused of sexually assaulting his 19-year-old female classmate during what prosecutors said Monday was a reenactment of the movie Fifty Shades of Grey without her consent.
Domestic violence and rape are serious crimes occurring far too often to people all around the world. I can see how #fiftyshadesisabuse believes the media glamorizes sex but whether BDSM is “sadistic” or not is up to an individual’s personal interpretation.
In the end, this book should not have been made into a movie. There are so many different parts that make the whole it is hard to turn it into something a person can watch and understand in two hours.
