February is halfway over. It’s Valentine’s Day weekend — and yes, that means “Fifty Shades of Grey.” The first book within E.L. James’s No. 1 New York Times best-selling trilogy, “Fifty Shades of Grey,” tells the story of business magnate billionaire and 27-year-old Christian Grey (Jamie Dornan), who reluctantly falls in love with Anastasia Steele (Dakota Johnson), a 21-year-old Washington State University (Vancouver, Washington) senior.
Published in 2011, this exotic love tale’s adaptation has stepped into the movie scene and premieres in theatres today. While many novelists have considered the story too “hot” for the big screen, apparently the book’s story is indeed just what consumers want to see.
Deadlinetoday.com quoted RelishMix, stating the movie’s trailer pulled in 600,000 views on Feb. 2, accumulating a total of 193 million views on YouTube alone.
The website reported that upon the release of ticket sales on Jan. 11, 2015, the film has “fueled boom times for advance ticket sale operators like MovieTickets.com and Fandango.” Screenrant.com also reported the explicit story has been given an “R” rating for the big screen — not for sexual explicitness, but for “unusual behavior.”
“Fifty Shades” describes the supposed past inner demons lead character Christian Grey battles, leaving him an emotionally scarred and internally troubled individual.
The story goes as follows: shy, virginal “Ana” meets handsome, intimidating Christian Grey — both are infatuated by each other. The two quite astonishingly go on to develop an awkward, sexual relationship with toys and gear, but with a catch. Christian wants Anastasia to sign contracts for their sexual escapades first. This is because Christian can only enjoy sex accompanied with a form of submission from his partner. Unusual? Maybe, but not for Christian.
While the contract sentiment completely throws Anastasia out of her element, eventually Christian is swayed into forgetting about having her sign the contract (the first time he has ever skipped making a woman sign a contract), and he falls for her very painfully.
Although the story has been brought to life on the big screen (and it seems everyone is eager to watch), the book itself has been numerously criticized for its “sick” love story, and its “glamorization” of sexual violence and domestic abuse.
Fox News’ Dawn Hawkins described the story as a “twisted love story.” In an article, Hawkins said, “Christian uses manipulation, jealousy, intimidation and violence to control the naïve Ana.” Other sources such as vanityfair.com say the “Fifty Shades of Grey” film adaptation is “a lot tamer than it could have been.”
While there are multiple perspectives on the story, “Fifty Shades of Grey” is undoubtedly a hot topic movie selection, whether the topics have been positive or negative in response. Deadlinetoday.com reported Fandango’s analysis of state-by-state presales data, ranking Mississippi, Arkansas, West Virginia, Kentucky and Alabama in the top five states performing the highest ticket sales (Mississippi being number one). Way to go Mississippi, right?
Originally a “Twilight” fan fiction titled “Master of the Universe,” “Twilight’s” Edward Cullen and Bella Swan inspired “Fifty Shades of Grey’s” two main characters, Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele. Due to the explicit nature of the stories, James removed “Master of the Universe” from Stephenie Meyer’s official “Twilight” fan webisite and began her own website where the “Fifty Shades” trilogy was born.
