Fifty Shades of Grey

I'm hoping people will get over these things in a few years.

Hard to believe how quickly things change. I mean, I remember my mother telling me that when she was a girl, they would hide in a corner to read The Decameron, because at that time it was considered an apocryphal and "naughty" book, so just a few of the older students actually managed to get permission to take it from the library.

When I went to high school, The Decameron was actually one of the obligatory books we had to read and study. Boy, that was a real laugh, especially when we had to discuss it at school. No wonder everyone liked it.

Now I'm thinking people won't even consider it controversial anymore, as so many books seem to have taken the erotic parts and blown them out of proportion, while sacrificing the humor and absurdity that would actually go well with such a story. Fifty Shades of Grey could have made a great satire book, if it was written that way. But from what I hear, it tries to be serious about something absurd and actually utterly fails at it, just like Twilight did.

edited 16th Nov '12 1:13:33 AM by whataboutme

How on earth did that book become so successful?

Yeah I know. Someone hyped it.

But that doesn't quite answer it. I mean, how does one clever guy realize that a poorly written, trashy piece of fanart porn might become THE smash hit of 2012? Does the fact that someone had the (obviously good, from a marketing perpective) idea to sell this book mean that this someone took a large risk? Were there fights among the editors?

I don't get it.

And how did it pass legal, given it is so blatantly based on Twilight but with terrible sex?

Because Stephanie Meyer's lawyers aren't as good as the ones that work for the writer of Fiddy? That's my guess, anyway.

Fiddy's author gets an interview on the BBC News Channel, conducted by Will Gompertz. Fawning over her. Sickening really. I pay my license fee for this shit?

That's kinda weird. They briefly talked about this book on World Service and the consensus there was that it's badly written nonsense, and the person who was there to defend the book said that the reason why it sold well is BECAUSE it's so badly written. As in, your average reader just wants a stupid book that doesn't even remotely challenge them in any way whatsoever. (I wouldn't give so little credit to the average reader, but maybe she was right.)

Also, they read an excerpt from the book in the program, and it was so bad that it made me burst into laughter. From the comments I heard about this book, I just though it was your average run-of-the-mill best-seller sort of stuff, I had no idea it was so bad it would make me laugh. That definitely makes its popularity puzzling.

Really? I know why it sold well, to me the question is why it sold well when there are so many much better written (or even equally poorly written) and yet similar pieces of fiction available on the internet for free. What's the magic formula for this one? How can I make lots of money by writing sexy fan fiction and then just changing the names?

I think the people who are snapping this shit up aren't really aware of how much better free porn there is on the Internet. A lot of these older women think of Internet porn as...well...entirely for men. They don't know the vast amount of free written erotica available to them.

It's rather pathetic, really.

Thing is, aren't a lot of massmarket romance novels like this as well? Incredibly rich and powerful guy (because then he can perform the functions of dildo and ATM; heaven forbid that the heroine have to be the breadwinner in the household), bland supposedly-innocent female character that we're supposed to identify with as she stumbles and swoons and is taken advantage of by the hero, badly-written explicit sex. Yet this one novel made it big and all the others didn't. Weird.

For the record, I'm 1/5 into Fifty Shades Darker. So far, it's actually better written than the first part, which admittedly isn't saying much. The occasional description even felt well-written. Christian is showing a bit more heart, and Anastasia isn't afraid to snap at him or simply discuss things with him, which makes it feel less creepy and more like your average romance. Shame it's still boring as all hell, and I actually like Anastasia less than before. If your boyfriend has deep-seated psychological issues about being touched (that somehow don't involve sex or kissing, but touching his torso is right out), how about you, idunno, just respect his boundaries? He's already seeing a psychiatrist; stop trying to single-handedly fix him.

edited 29th Nov '12 4:19:34 PM by DoktorvonEurotrash

It made it big because it rode on the heels of Twilight. Also, it had something "different" in the badly-written BDSM. Most people think of BDSM (if they know what it is at all) as some hot chick in leather beating a guy with a whip. What James portrays is different enough from conventional sex that it caught the curiosity of the market.

Also, like I said, the story is literally Twilight but with terrible sex and lacking vampires. And we all know how idiotically popular Twilight is, even though I've yet to understand why my gender is so damn obsessed with it.

Someone wrote an essay on that, I think. Something about how it's shameless wish fulfillment. Every girl wants a powerful, attractive man who she can fall instantly for and who will fall instantly for her, without any actual problems in their relationship like lack of trust, etc. And Edward, being inhumanly attractive, insanely rich, and blessed with superhuman strength and speed, well... Bella's just bland and average enough for your average teenage girl or dissatisfied housewife to pretend it's them, sucking face with the unrealistic expectation of a man.

Also something about how women have to be the safekeepers of their own virginity, but Edward takes that responsibility off Bella's hands by refusing to actually sleep with her - supposedly freeing for women who are afraid of being seen as promiscuous. But I'm not sure how true that one is. At any rate, it makes you wonder why there's so many teenaged females who don't care for the book. I'd hate to jump to the conclusion that it's tied to one's intelligence, but... well, I can't imagine any other explanation, other than "they read more, and know what a novel should and shouldn't be." Or personal preference.

I actually enjoyed Twilight and I'm male. :T Though, mainly because I thought Meyer's take on vampires was insanely cool, minus the sparkling (which, obviously, is stupid...)

I greatly dislike Twilight for similar reasons to why I greatly dislike Fifty Shades of Shit. Both present an abusive, controlling relationship between two unspeakably selfish people as the epitome of romance and true love. That and both come across as the authors wanking furiously over their characters without bothering to give the audience any reason not to want to set them on fire.

Even the neutering of vampires in Twilight (they strike me as more similar to the Fey than anything else, given their sparkling, extra powers, and lack of fangs) didn't bother me as much as the incredibly unhealthy stalking-based behavior of Edward and Bella's blatant selfishness and lack of concern for others. All portrayed as TWU WUV. Blech. And it's just carried over into Fifty Shades. When I read through it, I felt that Grey read more like a serial killer than the ideal man James frantically tries to make him appear.

Yeah, somehow I didn't really pay attention to the romance much, or the protagonists really. Even though that took up the books. :T I was just mainly fantasizing about how cool it would be to be a vampire. <_< The one character I did like though, was Alice, for some reason.

That's basically how I feel any rational human should think about them, plus the prose makes it all but impossible to get into and even ignoring the flaws the narrative itself is below average.

It is regrettable. Even being what it is Twilight should have opened up greater fictional doors to better things.

Instead we have a bunch if knockoffs, vampire craze exploitation and well, this, which isn't so much an imitation as a blatant rip off.

edited 30th Nov '12 4:37:45 PM by UltimatelySubjective

Yeah, somehow I didn't really pay attention to the romance much, or the protagonists really. Even though that took up the books. :T I was just mainly fantasizing about how cool it would be to be a vampire. <_< The one character I did like though, was Alice, for some reason.

The books did have potential and Alice is indeed awesome, but the problem is that they got bogged down in the romance. And the romance is the "main point" of the story, so all the good parts are just side characters. Have you considered reading Luminosity? It's takes the same setting and glosses over the romance in favor of epic vampire fights, making everything infinitely more interesting.

Seconding that Luminosity recommendation.

Thirding it. If you want Twilight fanfiction, you aren't going to get much better than that. Having read both the books that Alicorn wrote, I see no need indeed to read the original series books. I have found my Bella and Edward. I don't need Meyers' version.

Yep, actually I'm reading it right now. Still in the beginning though. I was at the part where Bella became a vampire, but decided to restart since I hadn't read it in a while. It's good so far, love the idea, and liked HPMOR too (which I read all of). Though, maybe it's because I'm still in the beginning, but nothing much has happened yet. :T Also, reading it on pdf is nice. :3

Initially, I was curious what all the hype was about and did want to acquire a copy of the book, but now, after reading and knowing a) what the book was about and b) that it's a blatant rip off of Twilight that Ms. James vehemently denies, I'm puzzled as to how it sold so well and as to how Ms. James wasn't sued yet by Ms. Meyer. I am ordinarily the type of person who thinks the best of people, but after learning that there are women who get their information about BDSM from this-this terrible excuse at prose, which depicted the lifestyle in a horrifically inaccurate manner, I am rendered completely speechless. I want to direct them to Fetlife, with the caveat: only practice in a risk-aware, safe, sane, and consensual manner with a partner you trust completely.

My faith in humanity has been restored by reading your intelligently written responses to each other's posts. As for those girls whose goal in life is to be married to Christian Grey, I worry for their intelligence and sanity. How could they not see his actions are abusive?

My puzzlement as to how 50 Shades of Grey sold so well, or was even published in the first place is now extended to its' parent series, Twilight. This, after reading the beginning few questions and answers found in Twilight's Headscratchers section on here. That section is LOOOOOOOOOOOONG!

edited 19th Feb '13 11:59:16 AM by zephyrchan

Friends don't let friends do intravenous drugs use, listen to the Beatles or read Twilight.

For the latter, do a keyword search on google for "Alicorn", "Radiance" and "Luminosity" and read the books that those give you as they are much better.

As for the subject of this thread? Heheheheheh

Times is doing a poll to see if they should include E.L. James on their list of influential people.

Anybody else want to spam no? You probably don't need to; no is in the upper 90 percent.

I love the internet right now.

I voted yes. As crappy as her books are their massive influence on society should be respected.

I feel dirty now

Uh, no. Don't give her any recognition, because her achievement isn't worth recognizing. Besides, it was only a thing for a little while, anyway.

50 shades of grey may be appallingly written but it was massively influential both on women's literature and society's view on sex in general, just you know in a bad way.