Posted on 02/18/2015 9:08:48 AM PST by C19fan
EL. James’s novel Fifty Shades of Grey is now the best selling book in British history, has sold more than 100 million copies globally, and has spawned two sequels, along with an upcoming film adaptation. This success has been surprising, in that the books are unabashedly pornographic, arising out of erotic Twilight fan fiction. Moreover, they are targeted at women, an audience often ignored in discussions on the effects of pornography.
Beyond surprise, the series’ success has generated a good deal of alarm, as the book glorifies a sado-masochistic relationship containing rape and sexual violence against women. The series’ popularity testifies to something quite at odds with the traditional Christian vision of love and sexuality. While these concerns are well-founded, there’s another dimension of the phenomenon to consider: What accounts for the series’ sudden popularity? If Fr. Smith, the titular character in the Bruce Marshall novel, is right that “the young man who rings the bell at the brothel is unconsciously looking for God,” what are fans of the Fifty Shades series seeking?
(Excerpt) Read more at firstthings.com ...
This book had more sales than Harry Potter books? Hard to believe.
That’s what I was thinking. Let’s not overstate the book’s actual success. Even still, this sends a message that something which the book alludes to remains absent in most women’s lives. Some miss that quality of relationship, other’s, not at all.
Just show how sick the world has become.
The Bible has sold at least 25 times as many copies as “50 Shades of Porn”. “Harry Potter” has 500 million copies (5 times as many as this dreadful porn), but that is for all seven volumes. I wonder if the “50 Shades” total is the first volume or combined.
“Far from the Madding Crowd”
Others. It isn’t possessive. It is even more awkward thatn pluralizing a noun by using an apostrophe.
Women love being dominated.
I must have ‘mis-typed’. I didn’t realize that stroke was in there.
Won’t lesbians complain that they were not included?
I think the Lesbians are more likely to create their own versions of this story. Bet you five Canadian Dollars that there already are several such projects underway at this moment. Those that get produced immediately, say before the end of March, will be available for the next Cannes Film Festival in France from May 13 to 24. Others will come out next year at the Sundance Festival run by Robert Redford.
Somehow, I don’t expect there to be a black version of this story, where both main characters are black.
It’s important to remember that we have a few generations that have been schooled to believe that masculinity = abuse. They don’t know the difference between “strength” and “malice” as they have been indoctrinated to believe they are one and the same.
The title of the film refers to the duration of a relationship between Wall Street arbitrageur John Gray (Mickey Rourke) and divorced SoHo art gallery employee Elizabeth McGraw (Kim Basinger). John initiates and controls the various experimental sexual practices of this volatile relationship to push Elizabeth's boundaries. In doing so, Elizabeth experiences a gradual downward spiral toward emotional breakdown.
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