Browsing in a bookstore in the Montreal airport
during an extensive travel delay this week I noticed the French title of Fifty Shades of Grey: “Cinquante nuances
de Grey.” There’s something about the translation, and the
use of the word nuance, that really
highlights the sheer range of reactions to the phenomenally popular book
trilogy and, now, the first film.
While reacting to Fifty Shades in a 2012 blog post was actually the writing experience that got me interested in critical blogging, I’ve been reticent to immediately chime in on the renewed surge of chatter and criticism related to the film’s release. I’ve deliberately let my thoughts and observations simmer and percolate, while trying to read widely what others have been writing (without going cross-eyed – there is a saturation point, even for voracious Internet readers).
What interests me most about Fifty Shades of Grey as a fictional
entity (literary and filmic) is how it prompts us to think about how and why
fiction matters.
Having studied English literature, I’m the first to say that fiction matters. Fiction, evidently, teaches us a lot about ourselves and what we desire, what we value, what we fear. If fiction didn’t matter, no one would care whether or not Fifty Shades glamorizes unhealthy relationships, for instance. Certainly, I think caring about what Fifty Shades depicts and the themes that emerge from the works is valid and valuable.
Having studied English literature, I’m the first to say that fiction matters. Fiction, evidently, teaches us a lot about ourselves and what we desire, what we value, what we fear. If fiction didn’t matter, no one would care whether or not Fifty Shades glamorizes unhealthy relationships, for instance. Certainly, I think caring about what Fifty Shades depicts and the themes that emerge from the works is valid and valuable.
But I also wonder what we expect from fiction and if it has any value if it only depicts the world as it should be. I’m thinking not. And when I look to the books, films, and television series that have captivated and provoked audiences in different eras, I think we can agree that it is often the dark, deviant, or pessimistic depictions of life, society, and human nature that we crave.
Since I have no resolved, neat and tidy position on the books, their content, and their reception, and since I haven’t yet watched the film, I’d rather blog some questions I think the Fifty Shades franchise elicits. I think focusing on one’s own questions can sometimes be more helpful than focusing on taking a strict, unambiguous position. If there’s one thing I feel the books can provoke us to discuss, it is ambiguity.
So, for the love of nuance,
here are 50 questions.
here are 50 questions.
1. Is
Fifty Shades so controversial because
it’s low/popular culture?
2. Imagine
a similar set of books, content wise, executed with exemplary prose, fewer
repetitive clichés, and less popular with adult women and “moms”
(notwithstanding the fact that moms can belong to a wide variety of age groups,
let’s face it: the fact that older adult women have apparently liked the books
has been used to invalidate the books
as legitimate cultural products). Would this hypothetical book be treated the
same way?
3. How
does it impact our critical reception of the book when we see it called “mommy
porn?”
4. Albeit
inaccurately (according to many experts and community members) Fifty Shades has apparently introduced a
lot of people to the concept of BDSM who previously couldn’t break down the
acronym. Is that good?
5. What
are the harms and pitfalls of inaccurately depicting BDSM?
6. Christian
Grey is depicted simultaneously as a sexy anti-hero portrayed positively and
alluringly and pathologized as ill and “fucked up.” Mental health implications?
Implications for how we view practitioners of BDSM and kink? Might people
misunderstand and thus believe that all BDSM practitioners had traumatic
childhoods, can’t have emotional intimacies, and are control freaks?
7. Anastasia
Steele – setting unrealistic expectations for otherwise average college
graduates. OK that was a statement but the previous one was multi-part.
8. E.
L. James depicts female sexuality as latent and dormant until awakened by a
sexually experienced man. How does this reify misconceptions about gendered
sexuality and women as passive and passionless until initiated into sexdom by a
man?
9. How
does James potentially royally mess up girls’ and women’s views on their own
orgasm?
10. Why
do you think she chose to write Christian Grey as all kinds of things AND a
billionaire? Why the connection between wealth/power and sexual power?
11. What
might young women learn about sex from the books? Young men? Are there any
positive takeaways?
12. If
you read Fifty Shades, did you find
it arousing or not? In other words, did it fulfill a practical function as
pornography?
13. Does
the fact that Christian was introduced to BDSM and dom-sub relationships by an
older woman change the gender dynamics? Does it impact how we view his relationship
with Ana?
14. Is
Fifty Shades of Grey even about sex?
15. What
is the genre of the book(s)? Romance? Erotica? Porn? Science Fiction? Dystopia?
16. What
would the book have been like if Ana was assertive, experienced, and into it
from the start?
17. If
Christian is so rich and famous, how is it remotely plausible no one knows his
secrets?
18. What
did you think of the fact that Ana doesn’t have an e-mail address at the start
of the book (in 2011) but plans to pursue a career in publishing?
19. Does
Christian have 50 shades? Or one?
20. Is
there an argument for the book(s) as positively depicting female sexuality and
freedom?
21. Is
there an argument for the book(s) enforcing a restrictive, hegemonic view of
male sexuality?
22. Would
the book have been less successful/ popular if it was more moderate and less
over the top?
23. Why
do you think so many people read it and liked it?
24. How
does the knowledge that James’ writing started as Twilight fan fiction play into our perceptions?
25. Why
is Christian depicted as having such a disconnect between sex/physicality and
emotional intimacy? Is this in any way realistic?
26. How
do you think the books treat consent?
27. Doesn’t
Ana technically (and deliberately) consent? Does the argument that she was coerced deny her agency?
28. How
do we read the book critically somewhere between assuming Ana’s character is
coerced and has no agency on one hand, and assuming sex equals liberation on
the other?
29. Yes
James attempts to neutralize the critique of gender dynamics (man = dom, woman
= sub) by ensuring we know (over and over and over again) about Christian’s
previous relationship with Elena Lincoln, but still, she chose to write the
actual story depicting a young, virginal woman and older, experienced, powerful
man. What would a book be like with the genders swapped?
30. Would
you REALLY not even tell your best friend if you were having a secret, kinky
affair with a famous dude?
31. A
lot of critiques about the fictional relationship depicted focus less on the
dynamics within the Red Room of Pain and more on Christian’s attempts to
control all other aspects of Anastasia’s life. Implications? What could this
tell us about sexual violence and domestic abuse in real life?
32. A
lot of critiques talk about the risk of pathologizing and reinforcing stigma of
BDSM, while other critiques declare Christian and Ana’s relationship to be
“unhealthy.” If we don’t want to pathologize certain ways of being as deviant,
and consent is given (coerced or not), how can we decide what is healthy or
unhealthy?
33. Is
it easier to talk about sex generally and sexual preferences, specifically,
since the publication of Fifty Shades?
34. Where
did E. L. James get all her info / ideas to write the (again, wildly
misrepresentative according to many critics) Moby-Dick of BDSM?
35. Writing:
“My inner goddess is doing the merengue with some salsa moves” – what.
36. I
saw a tweet that suggested Fifty Shades
is not promoting sexual violence and control over women any more than The Hunger Games is promoting the
slaughter of innocent children (paraphrased). While I think it’s abundantly
clear within the logic of The Hunger Games trilogy that the characters we are
meant to empathize with are rejecting and rebelling against the Capitol, and
thus are against the violence, whereas we are meant to empathize with Christian
in Fifty Shades, it is an interesting
idea. What does Fifty Shades promote?
37. Does
Breaking Bad promote / endorse drug manufacturing
and killing people? Or do I feel less inclined to start cooking meth based on lessons
learned from the series?
38. Does
depiction = promotion and endorsement?
39. Does
this argument matter more or less depending on the depictions in question and
their connection to real world systemic issues of inequality and oppression?
40. While
it’s been called a fantasy based on its sexual content, “fantasy” is not the
genre of the books (see question #15). If it was written as a fantasy or
science fiction text set in an alternate world or time, would that cause a
different reading?
41. If
the books are so bad (and I do think they are poorly written, in terms of
content, diction, style, and narratology) then why do so many people like them?
Do people like bad books? Who gets to say they are bad? Can we not trust the
opinions of so many readers?
42. Does
Fifty Shades promote women’s
submission to men, sexually or otherwise?
43. Many
have pointed out that the narrative itself is old and often told – we see
similar tales everywhere throughout literature (Beauty and the Beast is an interesting connection). So why all the
fuss about THIS incarnation?
44. Do
we treat high culture better in terms of moral accountability?
45. Does
fiction have a responsibility to promote behaviour and ideals? Does it, rather,
have a responsibility to show alternatives?
46. Is
E.L. James a feminist? Should we even be able to deduce that from fiction
writing?
47. Thought
experiment: Maybe James wrote the books to show girls and women all the reasons
NOT to get caught up with a rich, powerful, control-freak billionaire dude bro.
Do you think aspects of the book may serve to caution against certain kinds of
relationships?
48. Does
the author’s intentions matter? Her morality? Her gender?
49. What would happen if people cared as much about real-life examples of sexual violence and domination of women as they do about fictional ones?
...
50. Should
I see the movie?
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