Fifty Shades #3 - The Discussion Continues

janet w · Joined: 11 May 2007 Posts: 363

I keep thinking this little amusement I wrote a few months back will be woefully out-of-date ... after all, surely folks aren't still reviewing and blogging and opining on Fifty Shades without having read it (or skimmed it at the speed of sound). But it's still happening Sad

But hey, it's a free country, so without further ado and thanks to Jeff Foxworthy, here's my guide to spotting non-readers of Fifty Shades -- please feel free to add on or disagree! Enjoy! Tell me what you think Smile

If you say x, y, z about Fifty Shades of Grey, you might be an all talk, no reading member of the #50 Shades of Get a Clue!

Number One Clue! If you spell it Fifty Shades of Gray, you might be a non-reader!

If you say Anastasia signed a contract to become Christian Steele’s latest submissive, you might be a non-reader. NOT!

If you say rape or forced sex ever took place in the relationship, you might be a non-reader. (Edited & added ~ thanks Xina)

If you say readers who love Fifty want to move on to Doms and Dungeons, you might be a non-reader who couldn't see a love story between a private twosome if it hit you with a suede flogger.

If you say Fifty Shades doesn't have an HEA, you might be a non-reader who needs to .... drumroll ... read the trilogy.

If you say Anastasia cured Christian of his BDSM "illness" with her magic sparkly bits, you might be a non-reader.

If you say Ana didn’t have a safe word, you might be a non-reader. STOP non-reading before you pundit up!

If you say Fifty Shades of Grey is BDSM Erotica, you might be a non-reader. Here’s a clue – E L James calls it a Love Story with Kink.

If you say people who read Fifty only read one book a year, you need to spend some time at Amazon or Barnes and Noble!

If you say Ana is two-dimensional, you might be a non-reader and I’m a-gonna club you with Middlemarch!

If you say a love story with kink can’t have tampons and Depo Provera, you might be a non-reader ...

If you say Ana is a stupid twit, you might be a non-reader. Go away, negotiate a s’mexy lifestyle with a billionaire and say that again.

xina · Joined: 22 Mar 2007 Posts: 6628 Location: minneapolis

LOL! You hit the nail on the head Janet! Love this. For those of us who enjoyed this series, it is easy to spot the non reader. In the past month or so, I've seen every point you've listed blurted out by someone who didn't like the book(s). In my mind I'm thinking, ha! You didn't read it! Gotcha.
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Linda in sw va · Joined: 27 Mar 2007 Posts: 4708

xina · Joined: 22 Mar 2007 Posts: 6628 Location: minneapolis

Want to add on more to that list....

If you say rape or forced sex ever took place in the relationship, you might be a non-reader.
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xina · Joined: 22 Mar 2007 Posts: 6628 Location: minneapolis

Something funny...or at least I think it is. My 23 yr. old daughter has been invited to a Fifty Shades Of Grey party, with 15 other young women, most of whom work in her office. The wine will flow. Sounds like fun!!
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Linda in sw va · Joined: 27 Mar 2007 Posts: 4708

Linda in sw va · Joined: 27 Mar 2007 Posts: 4708

Marlo Thomas: Fifty Shades of ...Buzz

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marlo-thomas/fifty-shades-ofbuzz_b_1506572.html

I couldn't get away from it. My girlfriends were talking about it; columnists were writing about it; Saturday Night Live was spoofing it. It was all I heard about.

Then I was getting my hair cut in the quiet sanctuary of the salon I go to, but there was an unusual buzz all around me -- and it was unmistakably those same four little words.

"Fifty Shades of Grey..."

What is going on?

Erotica has been alive and throbbing since the days of Ancient Greece and Rome, when someone scrawled those first steamy, toga-ripping words on a piece of papyrus. But in my lifetime, I've never seen a public reaction quiet as breathless (as in panting) as the collective sigh inspired by E.L. James's erotic S&M series. Is it possible for an entire nation to have a simultaneous orgasm? Apparently so: the "Fifty Shades" trilogy now occupies the number one, two and three spots on the New York Times Bestseller List. Even Henry Miller never scored that threesome.

So I buckled under and bought the damn books. I finished the first one yesterday, and I have to tell you: I get it -- though I went into this with my antennae way up. My long-held passion for women's issues made me very wary about anything that puts women and violence on the same page -- literally.

But Ms. James is smarter than that. Following the lead of Anne Rice and her neck-baring vampire series, she builds a love story between an unlikely, surreal couple, then proceeds to throw every conceivable obstacle in their path -- primarily a damaged, abused and abusive, secretly vulnerable, seemingly incurable sadist as her leading man. Suddenly the question becomes: Can love tame this baddest of bad boys? That, I believe, has a lot to do with why "Fifty Shades of Grey" has successfully made millions of women's knees wobbly across the country.

As for the sex parts, yes, the series shines a white-hot light on mysterious places in the human sexual psyche. But the secret sauce in this book -- and, I'm presuming, the entire series -- is that it's also about power, specifically how one woman's power proves to be the perfect checkmate for her man's power.

When Anastasia Steele first meets Christian Grey, the relationship could not be more imbalanced -- she's a recent college grad and a virgin in all interpretations of the word; and he's a gorgeous, brooding billionaire, so practiced in the dark arts of domination and bondage that he actually asks Ana to sign a contract of slavery.

But 500 pages later, the tables have turned. Refusing to sign on to a game in which her pain is his pleasure, Ana cuts Christian off with defiant indignation. In no unclear terms, she tells him that "vanilla sex" (his term for any kind of sex that doesn't end in the word "ouch") is what she wants -- and besides, she loves him. And unless he's willing to play it her way, she's gone.

Does Anastasia ultimately lose this battle of the boudoir? Does Christian storm off in search of some other dungeon-worthy babe, only to discover that Ana has imprisoned his heart? I don't know yet -- I just started Book Two last night.

Meanwhile the debate goes on. Some mock the writing as pulpy and purple, while others find the story demeaning to women, while still others don't care about any of that -- they're just using the book to put some spice back into their love life.

But in any case, we've been here before. Love it or hate it, every generation has had its "Fifty Shades of Grey" -- from "Lady Chatterley's Lover" to "Tropic of Cancer" to "The Story of O" and "Fear of Flying" -- and it's been fascinating to witness the heated conversations and online parodies this book has ignited across the country:
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xina · Joined: 22 Mar 2007 Posts: 6628 Location: minneapolis

xina · Joined: 22 Mar 2007 Posts: 6628 Location: minneapolis

RRRJessica · Joined: 18 Aug 2008 Posts: 16

JanetW that is so awesome. I love it!
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erika · Joined: 26 Mar 2007 Posts: 290

Its good to see a love story where neither the hero or heroine dies at the end resonates with so many none romance readers!

xina · Joined: 22 Mar 2007 Posts: 6628 Location: minneapolis

Carly Phillips blogs about attending a luncheon with E.L. James

http://www.plotmonkeys.com
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"As you wish"
~The Princess Bride