{"id":873,"date":"2015-02-20T17:43:11","date_gmt":"2015-02-21T01:43:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wou.edu\/westernjournal\/?p=873"},"modified":"2015-02-20T17:43:29","modified_gmt":"2015-02-21T01:43:29","slug":"873","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/873\/","title":{"rendered":"FIFTY SHADES OF WHAT\u2019S THE BIG DEAL?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"By<\/a>
By Haunani Thomas
Managing Editor<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

IT DID NOT OCCUR TO ME<\/strong><\/p>\n

THAT\u00a0there still existed\u00a0people who do not know the gist of \u201cFifty Shades of Grey\u201d until I overheard a couple of guys talking about Christian Grey\u2019s Red Room.<\/p>\n

While at the gym a couple of days ago, I heard two very brawny men talking about their feelings after watching the movie. More specifically, Christian\u2019s \u201ckinky play room\u201d and how they \u201cnever saw that coming.\u201d<\/p>\n

For those who do not know, (I am speaking to the male population) \u201cFifty Shades of Grey\u201d is based on E.L. James\u2019 New York Times best-seller \u201cFifty Shades of Grey,\u201d which is the first installment in the Fifty Shades trilogy. Known for its descriptive and intense sex scenes, \u201cFifty Shades of Grey\u201d has earned a reputation among women.<\/p>\n

Released on Feb. 14 for publicity reasons, as anticipated, \u201cFifty Shades of Grey\u201d debuted at No. 1 in the box office and grossed roughly $94 million worth of ticket sales.<\/p>\n

And, much like my Valentine\u2019s Day, there was nothing romantic about \u201cFifty Shades of Grey.\u201d<\/p>\n

In short, English student Anastasia Steele meets a young and very attractive business tycoon that is Christian Grey. Fast-forward through a bunch of awkward encounters and Christian becomes spellbound by Anastasia.<\/p>\n

The sexual tension between the two increases to the point where Christian draws out a contract asking for Anastasia\u2019s consent to become his submissive, which is the huge curveball of the story.<\/p>\n

However, it becomes apparent the duo wishes for two different things: Anastasia wants Christian to be her boyfriend but Christian wants Anastasia to be his submissive. Anyway, they have lots of crazy, wild intercourse while in this limbo of deciding what to make of their maturing relationship.<\/p>\n

The whole thing is confusing yet intriguing to the female populace.<\/p>\n

So, being female and all, I was curious to see what all the hype was about. If you know me, you know I make a habit out of reading a book before it becomes a major motion picture. This was no exception.<\/p>\n

Upon cracking the spine into my paperback edition while waiting to board my flight at the Portland airport, I received what I felt were judging and disapproving looks from those who saw what I was reading.<\/p>\n

Although I feel obliged to admit that reading erotica is somehow superior or more accepting than viewing it, I might as well have been casually flipping through a Playboy magazine. I\u2019d say both meet the same reading level requirement. Unlike other best-selling books, \u201cFifty Shades of Grey\u201d did not require any analysis or discussion of extended metaphors.<\/p>\n

According to Business Insider, \u201cFifty Shades of Grey\u201d has become the first e-book to sell one million copies on Amazon\u2019s Kindle; most likely because people wanted to avoid the same disdain-filled looks that I received for publicly reading erotica — an amateur mistake on my part.<\/p>\n

For those who did not like the book (or the \u201cTwilight\u201d saga for that matter), there is a 100 percent chance that you will not enjoy the movie. The same can be said for any novel-gone-Hollywood.<\/p>\n

The movie completely adheres to the plot of the book. But yet, it fascinates me to learn that people expect the movie to somehow make better the storyline, as follows:<\/p>\n

Guy meets girl. Guy likes girl. Girl likes guy. <\/p>\n

Guy pushes girl away. Guy pulls girl back in.<\/p>\n

(Repeat this process two or more times.)<\/p>\n

Girl is confused. <\/p>\n

Girl doesn\u2019t like this. <\/p>\n

But guy is hot. <\/p>\n

So, girl keeps going back.<\/em><\/p>\n

Here, we have what has become the standard millennial relationship consisting of awkward interactions (at first), dining-out expenditures, sexual tension, fighting and disagreements.<\/p>\n

Despite the fact that reality television exists, why would anyone want to watch a movie about a normal (or rather dysfunctional) couple? Insert vampires and werewolves and\u2013 voila!\u2013\u201cTwilight\u201d! Subtract wildlife, add millionaire status and one BDSM contract and \u2013 voila! \u2013 \u201cFifty Shades of Grey\u201d!<\/p>\n

Although I will gladly admit that I know nothing about BDSM (Bondage and Discipline, Sadism and Masochism), there is much controversy surrounding the portrayal of the BDSM community at large. \u201cFifty Shades of Grey\u201d creates speculations that BDSM-ers are clearly offended by.<\/p>\n

You didn\u2019t see angry vampires and werewolves complain to the Huffington Post when \u201cTwilight\u201d stereotyped their lifestyles. Not every Native American is part of a wolfpack and vampires don\u2019t actually sleep in coffins. In fact, they don\u2019t sleep at all.<\/p>\n

Similar to how Stephenie Meyer was not inspired by vampires and werewolves to write Twilight, James did not write \u201cFifty Shades of Grey using the BDSM community as her muse. To be clear, James did not dedicate the Fifty Shades trilogy to the BDSM-ers. If that was the case, then, yes, be pissed.<\/p>\n

Anyway, Fifty Shades is a highly unrealistic story about a millionaire abused as a child \u2013 who doesn\u2019t actually exist, which is why it is fictional. Being a CEO, 27 years old AND attractive is already an impossible feat. If someone is that attractive, they have to be crazy or have had traumatic experiences as a child that highly influences their adulthood.<\/p>\n

So, yeah, fictional.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s about as practical as Harry Potter: once you remind yourself that Daniel Radcliffe is not the chosen one and can\u2019t actually cast a Patronous Charm, it\u2019s easier to understand that Jamie Dornan is not a dominant and doesn\u2019t actually own that many gray ties.<\/p>\n

After reading unsavory movie and book reviews, ranging from nitpicky to LOL-worthy<\/a>, I don\u2019t know how else to say that \u201cFifty Shades of Grey\u201d is just another craze developed for our entertainment purposes. We pay to be immersed in a world that isn\u2019t ours for a couple of hours out of the day.<\/p>\n

So, honestly, what\u2019s the big deal?<\/p>\n

I saw more nudity in \u201cWolf of Wall Street.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

IT DID NOT OCCUR TO ME THAT\u00a0there still existed\u00a0people who do not know the gist of \u201cFifty Shades of Grey\u201d until I overheard a couple of guys talking about Christian Grey\u2019s Red Room. While at the gym a couple of days ago, I heard two very brawny men talking about their feelings after watching the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":367,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-873","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-entertainment"],"modified_by":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/367"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=873"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}