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Yes, I'm still bewildered by the EW article on Fifty Shades...and the hype surrounding it
So I'm reading The Fifty Shades of Grey, El James interview in this week's issue of marketing of big pop culture trends that you sort of wish you didn't know, were most likely better off not knowing about, otherwise known as Entertainment Weekly. I know, I know...it's a guilty pleasure, and I rarely read the articles anyhow - they don't exactly hire the best writers in the universe. Sort of sparse on the content. Mostly it's like reading a press release. It teases but tells you nothing. I really miss Premiere - now that was a good film and entertainment - that had articles on film making by people such as Ridely Scott and Quentin Tarantino and Nora Ephron. EW is sort of a poor pulpy version of Premiere and it really does pander to Hollywood.
At any rate - this is the description of Fifty Shades of Grey:
Modeled from the clay of Twilight's Bella Swan and her vampire sweetheart Edward Cullen, James' novel presents Anastasia Steele, a virginal 21 year old college senior, who meets devilishly handsome Christian Grey - who in his late 20s is already a billionaire, humanitarian, and corporate mogul. (As with Twilight, the story is set in the Pacific Northwest). Christian's sexual tastes are specific and high-maintenance (ugh), that of a Dominant in search of a Submissive for vigorous sessions that incorporate spanking and bondage, sometimes with the gentleman's own distinctive silver-grey necktie. [Oh look, we have a pic of a twentysomething naked model's chest wearing just a silver-grey necktie.]
But something about Ana's innocence - or maybe it's the fetching manner in which she bites her lip - arouses emotions in Christian that confuse him. [This is pretty standard in these types of books - female erotica novelists and romance writers seem to think that men are turned on by women biting or licking their lips. Is this true? It doesn't pop up in books written by men - usually those are more focused on the women's bust and legs. But in books written by women - they guy is obsessed with how she bites her lip.] Under his sexual tutelage, Ana blooms, and his own need to dominate turns into a desire to love. [Also typical.] Not without difficulty: the fellow had a terrible, abusive childhood, and the couple struggle to achieve emotional equanimity through all three books.
Oh, but never mind about Christian's screwed-up childhood. The point is, the sex scenes are graphic, and hot - hot at a temperature that feels particularly exciting to adult women who may be wives, mothers, and/or business professionals in positions of power and responsibility.
This bit is actually interesting:
James: When I was working in London, I used to have to commute. I have about 800 or 900 novels - erotic romance novels. I used to read them on the tube bending the covers right back. Ooh I love them. Good times.
I always wanted to write, but I never had the time or inclination. Then I saw Twilight - the film - in November 2008 and I loved it. I said to my husband, 'Will you buy me the books?' And he did. I got them for Christmas. And in five days I sat down and escaped into the wonderful world that Stephenie [Meyer] had created, and I absolutely loved it. I'm a huge Twi-hard. No other books ever inspired me. She just flipped a switch."
Unhappy in her job at the time, the fledgling writer sought escape - "I came up with a story and I wrote it. I read an interview with Stephanie - where she said , 'You've got to start at the beginning.' So I did that. " The stuff she wrote before Fifty Shades was, by her own admission, "terrible. But I thought it was God's gift! I just had to sit down and get it out of me."
That was in January 2009. Along the way, the student writer discovered the online world of Twilight fan fiction, with its passionately involved writers and readers. She began a yarn she called "Master of the Universe" (that's MotU to insiders), taking Snowqueens Icedragon as her nom de plume (that's Icy to the cognoscenti). Later James changed Bella and Edward to Ana and Christian and, with her new Fifty Shaes concept, made a print on demand arrangement with The Writer's Coffee Shop. ...
A certain population of the voluable fan-fiction community is currently miffed that the former Icy took material once available online for free and spirited it offline for sale. James doesn't mind their harrumphs: 'I never expected the books to be popular, I never expected the fan fiction to be popular; it's just, I don't know, it is what it is.
Word of mouth buoyed Fifty Shades from the beginning - James agent, Valerie Hoskins, singles out goodreads.com, whose users nominated the novel for Best Romance. And vox pop excitement led to coverage on Today and the Huffington Post, and in The New York Times.
Apparently Focus films has bought the rights and the author has input on who will be cast.
Criticism according to the article:
* rough literary structure. The heroine thinks "oh my", "holy cow" or "holy crap" alot.
* the sex isn't considered really BSDM. The relationship is actually more abusive. (This actually the case with most romantic fiction or 'bodice rippers' of this specific trope. I've read enough to state this. ) "He tells her when to eat, he stalks her and goes into jealous rages every time she's talking to her male friends." [This interestingly enough is a major trope in romantic fiction. Joss Whedon actually played with it quite a bit in the Buffy series. That's why Buffy's boyfriends were all a bit controlling, manipulative, and jealous...Whedon was playing with the trope. He's not the only to play with it. Male writers tend to criticize this trope and mock it. But dudes? It's no different than the black widow trope you love to pieces in your noir pulp fantasy fiction. Hello? Wes and Lilah Morgan? Or how about Catwoman and Batman? The stalking, seductress female? John Cricton and the villianous female commander of Farscape? Both genders appear to have this in common - fantasizing about their mate (regardless of gender) being controlling, stalking, jealous, and dominant. They don't really "want" it. They just want to fantasize about it. Fantasy isn't reality. Fantasy is playing with things in your head. And in your head...what would be painful and hurtful in reality, is not.]
What strikes me as odd about the media response to Fifty Shades...is they act like this is new. It's not. This is a standard romance novel trope. There's a 1000 novels with this storyline and plot on Amazon. Seriously, it's not hard to find.
EW does to give it credit list a number of historically controversial erotic novels, many better written and more interesting than this one, some even won awards:
* Fanny Hill: Memoirs of a Woman of Passion - by John Cleland (1749) - it was banned until 1966 when the US Supreme Court ruled that because it had some redeeming social value, it could not be deemed obscene.
*Lady Chatterly's Love by DH Lawrence (1928)
* Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller (1934) - It's 1938 US government ban wasn't lifted until 1961.
* Story of O by Pauline Reage (1954) - won literary prize in France but is still slammed by feminists for being a story about rape and savage submission.
*The Happy Hooker by Xaviera Hollander with Robin Moore and Yvonne Dunleavy
* Fear of Flying by Erica Jong (1973) (my parents had this one...it was boring, lots of time ruminating about what it would be like to have sex with a stranger and whether she should or not). She got lambasted because she received a $5,000 NEA grant to write it.
* Forever by Judy Bloom (1975) - oh I remember this one. It and Slaughterhouse Five were the books we were sneaking peeks at in grade school. I actually read a spicier book in the 7th grade by a French writer about a Parisian student who has an affair with an older man.
Can't remember the name of it.
* Damage by Josephine Hart (1991) - that's the one that spawned the movie with Jeremy Irons and Johanne Whalley.
*The Crimson Petal and the White by Michael Faber (2002)
* How to Make Love Like a Pron Star by Jenna Jameson (2004).
Apparently we've gone down hill...to Fifty Shades. Sad but true.
At any rate - this is the description of Fifty Shades of Grey:
Modeled from the clay of Twilight's Bella Swan and her vampire sweetheart Edward Cullen, James' novel presents Anastasia Steele, a virginal 21 year old college senior, who meets devilishly handsome Christian Grey - who in his late 20s is already a billionaire, humanitarian, and corporate mogul. (As with Twilight, the story is set in the Pacific Northwest). Christian's sexual tastes are specific and high-maintenance (ugh), that of a Dominant in search of a Submissive for vigorous sessions that incorporate spanking and bondage, sometimes with the gentleman's own distinctive silver-grey necktie. [Oh look, we have a pic of a twentysomething naked model's chest wearing just a silver-grey necktie.]
But something about Ana's innocence - or maybe it's the fetching manner in which she bites her lip - arouses emotions in Christian that confuse him. [This is pretty standard in these types of books - female erotica novelists and romance writers seem to think that men are turned on by women biting or licking their lips. Is this true? It doesn't pop up in books written by men - usually those are more focused on the women's bust and legs. But in books written by women - they guy is obsessed with how she bites her lip.] Under his sexual tutelage, Ana blooms, and his own need to dominate turns into a desire to love. [Also typical.] Not without difficulty: the fellow had a terrible, abusive childhood, and the couple struggle to achieve emotional equanimity through all three books.
Oh, but never mind about Christian's screwed-up childhood. The point is, the sex scenes are graphic, and hot - hot at a temperature that feels particularly exciting to adult women who may be wives, mothers, and/or business professionals in positions of power and responsibility.
This bit is actually interesting:
James: When I was working in London, I used to have to commute. I have about 800 or 900 novels - erotic romance novels. I used to read them on the tube bending the covers right back. Ooh I love them. Good times.
I always wanted to write, but I never had the time or inclination. Then I saw Twilight - the film - in November 2008 and I loved it. I said to my husband, 'Will you buy me the books?' And he did. I got them for Christmas. And in five days I sat down and escaped into the wonderful world that Stephenie [Meyer] had created, and I absolutely loved it. I'm a huge Twi-hard. No other books ever inspired me. She just flipped a switch."
Unhappy in her job at the time, the fledgling writer sought escape - "I came up with a story and I wrote it. I read an interview with Stephanie - where she said , 'You've got to start at the beginning.' So I did that. " The stuff she wrote before Fifty Shades was, by her own admission, "terrible. But I thought it was God's gift! I just had to sit down and get it out of me."
That was in January 2009. Along the way, the student writer discovered the online world of Twilight fan fiction, with its passionately involved writers and readers. She began a yarn she called "Master of the Universe" (that's MotU to insiders), taking Snowqueens Icedragon as her nom de plume (that's Icy to the cognoscenti). Later James changed Bella and Edward to Ana and Christian and, with her new Fifty Shaes concept, made a print on demand arrangement with The Writer's Coffee Shop. ...
A certain population of the voluable fan-fiction community is currently miffed that the former Icy took material once available online for free and spirited it offline for sale. James doesn't mind their harrumphs: 'I never expected the books to be popular, I never expected the fan fiction to be popular; it's just, I don't know, it is what it is.
Word of mouth buoyed Fifty Shades from the beginning - James agent, Valerie Hoskins, singles out goodreads.com, whose users nominated the novel for Best Romance. And vox pop excitement led to coverage on Today and the Huffington Post, and in The New York Times.
Apparently Focus films has bought the rights and the author has input on who will be cast.
Criticism according to the article:
* rough literary structure. The heroine thinks "oh my", "holy cow" or "holy crap" alot.
* the sex isn't considered really BSDM. The relationship is actually more abusive. (This actually the case with most romantic fiction or 'bodice rippers' of this specific trope. I've read enough to state this. ) "He tells her when to eat, he stalks her and goes into jealous rages every time she's talking to her male friends." [This interestingly enough is a major trope in romantic fiction. Joss Whedon actually played with it quite a bit in the Buffy series. That's why Buffy's boyfriends were all a bit controlling, manipulative, and jealous...Whedon was playing with the trope. He's not the only to play with it. Male writers tend to criticize this trope and mock it. But dudes? It's no different than the black widow trope you love to pieces in your noir pulp fantasy fiction. Hello? Wes and Lilah Morgan? Or how about Catwoman and Batman? The stalking, seductress female? John Cricton and the villianous female commander of Farscape? Both genders appear to have this in common - fantasizing about their mate (regardless of gender) being controlling, stalking, jealous, and dominant. They don't really "want" it. They just want to fantasize about it. Fantasy isn't reality. Fantasy is playing with things in your head. And in your head...what would be painful and hurtful in reality, is not.]
What strikes me as odd about the media response to Fifty Shades...is they act like this is new. It's not. This is a standard romance novel trope. There's a 1000 novels with this storyline and plot on Amazon. Seriously, it's not hard to find.
EW does to give it credit list a number of historically controversial erotic novels, many better written and more interesting than this one, some even won awards:
* Fanny Hill: Memoirs of a Woman of Passion - by John Cleland (1749) - it was banned until 1966 when the US Supreme Court ruled that because it had some redeeming social value, it could not be deemed obscene.
*Lady Chatterly's Love by DH Lawrence (1928)
* Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller (1934) - It's 1938 US government ban wasn't lifted until 1961.
* Story of O by Pauline Reage (1954) - won literary prize in France but is still slammed by feminists for being a story about rape and savage submission.
*The Happy Hooker by Xaviera Hollander with Robin Moore and Yvonne Dunleavy
* Fear of Flying by Erica Jong (1973) (my parents had this one...it was boring, lots of time ruminating about what it would be like to have sex with a stranger and whether she should or not). She got lambasted because she received a $5,000 NEA grant to write it.
* Forever by Judy Bloom (1975) - oh I remember this one. It and Slaughterhouse Five were the books we were sneaking peeks at in grade school. I actually read a spicier book in the 7th grade by a French writer about a Parisian student who has an affair with an older man.
Can't remember the name of it.
* Damage by Josephine Hart (1991) - that's the one that spawned the movie with Jeremy Irons and Johanne Whalley.
*The Crimson Petal and the White by Michael Faber (2002)
* How to Make Love Like a Pron Star by Jenna Jameson (2004).
Apparently we've gone down hill...to Fifty Shades. Sad but true.
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We didn't have a copy at work so we interloaned it for a patron, her Mother caught her with it, threw it in the trash and refused to pay the replacement cost to the owning Library.
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And hee...just wait until her daughter gets a hold of an e-reader or on the internet.
It does however explain the popularity of the Twilight and Fifty Shades books out there...too many repressed women with repressed and puritanical upbringings.
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The Library policy was cost of the book plus $5.00 processing charge but if a patron refused to pay their account was frozen until they paid up. But she didn't care so I'm sure the money was never paid.
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Curious what said Daughter's relationship is with mom, now? Guessing not what mom would like it to be.
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Most likely. Reminds me of another rather sad tale. I took a call from an elderly woman who was complaining about our keeping Danielle Steel books on the shelves (this was at the high of her popularity). I explained that we wouldn't be removing them just because she didn't care for them. Then she asked if we could put a note on her Daughter's account forbidding her from checking them out. I enquired how old the Daughter was and was told something like 25-27. I pointed out that she was an adult and we hardly could refuse to check out materials to an adult (actually we wouldn't refuse a child either). Then the true problem came out - said Daughter was dating a married man and Mom decided it was the fault of reading those trash Danielle Steel novels.
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Seriously these nitwity people need to read more and watch less television. Actually, said Daughter could have gotten it from tv shows.
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Seriously...fanfic can be a mind-blowing experience.
That said? There is some really good Farscape fic out there. Read one that was post Peacekeepers which dealt with Aeryn having a child and Crichton afraid of losing her, it was better than you'd think. Vivid description and great dialogue. I wanted more when it was over.
Why can't the good fanfic writers get published?