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| Focus Features |
There I was, setting a
reasonable distance from a big screen. The movie occupying that screen: Fifty Shades of Grey. The experience:
unfamiliarly bizarre. I won’t go as far as to say an out of body experience but
there were several moments when I found myself realizing that I could not grasp
what was happening in front of me. Not because it was confusing, not because it
resembled characteristics of something you can view at midnight on Cinemax or
not even because it was so bad. Because what was being said, what was being
done and how it was done felt as if it was all just a joke, not just on me or
the others in the audience but even the people on the screen. This feeling, as Fifty Shades of Grey went on and on, had
me asking over and over in my head, is this really happening?
Just think, the events
in Fifty Shades of Grey never happen
if a roommate does not get sick. When Kate (Eloise Mumford), a journalist
student at Washington State University Vancouver, becomes ill just before she
is to interview successful businessman Christian Grey (Jamie Dornan) in Seattle
for the school newspaper, she ask her roommate Anastasia (Dakota Johnson) to do
the interview for her. The interview starts off rough but as Anastasia goes off
the script and begins to question Christian like never before, she makes a
lasting impression, causing him to pursue a relationship after the interview.
I haven’t read the book
series so I’m not sure how much the film varies from the book but this big
screen adaption is a point A to point B kind of thing with nothing in the way
of A getting to B. I’m sure that their relationship gets a little deeper in the
second book, ‘Fifty Shades Darker’ but in this first film installment,
Anastasia meets Christian, then Christian pursues to make her his ‘submissive’.
That word ‘submissive’
is what the story uses as its foundation. Who is this the submissive? Anastasia.
This makes Christian Grey the dominant and he won’t let anyone forget these
roles. There is a contract and everything. As the wording in this contract is
being read out loud or even the type of language and words Christian uses when
talking about his style of sexual encounters, is when my head started spinning,
wondering if this was all a joke. Phrases, using words such as submissive,
pleasure and punish are said by Grey as if everything is completely normal. It
was a strange feeling not because I couldn’t believe what was happing on screen
but because I couldn’t figure out why it was happening. Poorly written is an understatement
and as you find yourself giggling at it you will also be feeling sorry for
everyone involved.
Adding to this bizarre
experience was how sexy and lucrative this relationship Christian wants with
Anastasia is supposed to be. Though, this is no joke when it is realized. Using
the terms used in the film, is a dominant’s relationship to a submissive abuse?
Is it abuse if it is consensual? Consensual or not there is a level of physical
harm being done. Is that ok? Is it worth pleasure? The film answers these
questions in a way that makes the type of relationship presented as one to be
desired. It’s not my place to say if this type of relationship is right or
wrong, everyone’s psyche is different but I can say that it would not be a
positive experience for everyone, the film though put’s a polished spin on it.
Gender roles also come
into question with control being a huge theme in Fifty Shades of Grey. Christian wants full control over Anastasia
for personal pleasure. Of course in this situation it is man wanting control
over woman but in any relationship, control is up for grabs at some point. My
question becomes, and maybe I am totally off, but given that the majority of
the audience watching this film or reading the books are women, how many will
let the man be in full control, not just sexually but in other aspects of a
relationship after seeing how a seductive man in Fifty Shades of Grey takes full control in a seductive way. If so,
is this a good thing? Like I said, I could be off with this thought but it’s no
secret that sex sells and Fifty Shades of
Grey is literally and figuratively sex.
With all this said, I suppose if you were to
question Fifty Shades of Grey’s effectiveness
according to the goals it sets out to accomplish; it would be difficult to say
that it didn’t reach that mark. It wants to be a different, sexy way to show a
relationship and that’s exactly what it is. It’s nothing more nor is it
anything less. But if we viewed things this way, based on what they wanted to accomplish
then there would be a lot of bad getting a pass. With Fifty Shades of Grey, giving it a pass because it did what it set
out to do, could not feel more wrong.
Grade:
F
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