If the figures are correct, E. L. James’s book “Fifty Shades of Grey,” has been purchased by more than a hundred million people, out of which only twenty million were under the delusion that it is a paint catalogue. That leaves a solid eighty million or so who had to read something like – “He strokes his chin thoughtfully with his long, skilled fingers,” and had to go ogle off for a while and let the creamy waves of ecstasy die down. And now, after an enticing buildup in which the art of peekaboo was taken to extreme proportions, here is the film to the book.
For the Jamesians, to put them in a convenient and striking conceptual outline, there has been perhaps nothing else that has worked for them quite like the question of who the real players ought to be. For instance, just how would one think of casting Christian Grey who is an exceedingly rich yet socially dense almost reclusive budding tycoon pretend to do justice to even Ms Steele – English literature student who is also gasp – one of the Pocahontas woman in Washington ever? There were many suggestions along those lines including Jim Carrey and Carole King as Walters’ sweethearts from the book while my ideal candidates would be Nick Nolte and Barbra Streisand who were such a wonderful pair in ‘The Prince of Tides’ but Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson clinched these roles eventually. Good choices I guess, Johnson especially who being the grand daughter of Tippi Hedren should know a thing or two about stare and swoop predators.
As most people would say, Ana as first meets Christian Grey in an office called Gray House, which is the headquarters of Gray Enterprises in Seattle. (Rich men’s do not seem likely to come out of their shell and show themselves, don’t you love that?) She is sent on the mission instead of her collegehaus roommate who was supposed to do an interview with Grey regarding the college newspaper but is not is sick. Ana witnesses Christian for the first time and in her own words, she says that, she stumbles first at the door, choked over her words and tongue at the sight of his handsome form but gets into the zone as he goes on emphasizing his many positives. He says such as ‘I have always been good at people’ as though people were some competitive games such as Scrabble, or squash. He is curious about ‘the people win; why do people join or what are their jelly-disks?’ It is any woman worth her salt who would quantify the use of the verb ‘incentivize’ from a man, but there is I suppose worse that could be done. He could have said “monetize.” She even borrows a pencil with the inscription on Jeff Grey pencil, of course. The end that holds the pencil tip, she uses it to wipe her lips. Either that is a cold sore, or these people are getting ready to fight.
When Ana next meets Christian, it is in a hardware shop as he purchases rolls of masking tape, cable ties and rope. “You’re the complete serial killer,” Ana says. What a lovely proposition. We know Ana is a fan of Jane Austen novels. At this point, however, she sounds like a carbon copy of the frights and fascinations of the heroine of ‘Northanger Abbey’ (for which she is ridiculed), who always believes the worst of everyone — or at least the most outrageously romantic. Plus, Dornan is not an innocent saint either. He is a sociopath in the BBC television series ‘The Fall,’ now on Netflix. Burke, the character has a gruff beard and a drunken Irish accent, and about ten times more sex appeal than his fifty shades of gray. Is it possible that Ana’s fears may not be unfounded at all? Does Christian turn into a killer in some version? No. He is lots of things – a pianist, an aviator, a lewd man and a great bore, but not an evil one. “Are you a builder?” Benedek inquires with no hint of menace. That would fill in many gaps.
As it turns out, Christian, to my surprise, has a hidden secret, which is the reason James refers the tale as “his unusual I have a big dainty secret’ look on his face. A little further down the apartment hallway, where there is no entry except a chain, lies his Red Room. It is furnished with an ample collection of domestic instruments suitable for torture and is supposed to exude a dizzying desire, though the outcome looks more like a photo shoot from House Beautiful. Here, within these crimson walls, our hero interacts as a “dominant”, not a musician whose fifth note of a diatonic scale is quite hot, but a man who restrains and spanks women who wish to be treated the way he does. Well, at least that is what he tells himself. Mostly he sounds like your basic stalker: “I am unable to give up on you and walk away from you”, he tells Ana – a thought which seems to excite her but quite clearly warrants a call for 911, ‘Sir please I need Shield’ ascii b imb chronically evil. but she gives in a fair bit, only that her inconsistent fears force Christian to serve her, one of those age old no means yes , which feminism has fought for how many years, Yassine ‘Oh so you desire to depart? What I interpret is your physique argues otherwise.’ “ pass the butt plug.
What is the difference in the movie Sam Taylor-Johnson directed from the book? And what’s in it for non-Jamesians? The first thing and quite possibly the most important thing that we notice is the lack of Ana starting fellatio in the bath tub; similarly, we liberate the breakfast in very cute form that she has with Christian at International House of Pancakes. Most importantly, we are deprived of their imaginary writers’ parts, which make their dull characters look so vivacious: ‘Finally my sleepy subconscious has one last swipe at me.’ ‘yes! my inner goddess is quite pleased.’ ‘no! my mind says.’ Why couldn’t someone have hired Sarah Silverman to portray psyche?
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