After hearing about all the fuss that's going on about E.L. James' 50 Shades of Grey, I decided to give it a go. What I heard about this novel was that it was a ground-breaking piece of erotica, BDSM was involved, a piece of work that was revolutionary in the sense that women were open for once about the fact that they enjoyed reading something pornographic.
So yes, I had my expectations on these books. And oh my, what a major dissappointment they were.
I will not dwell on the actual story line here but start off immediately with my noble opinion.
First of al, one of the critics was that these books were considered to be porn. Apart from the 'yes it's porn, so fucking what?' argument, let's get a closer look on the concept of porn. Personally, I think porn is about explicitness. That's why it is called porn and not erotica. My question here is; how the hell can a novel that desperately tries to avoid calling the male genitalia by it's name be considered porn?! When you have to urge to indulge in the consumption of pornographic material, and all you get are descriptions like 'his excitement' or 'his hardness', how satisfying is that? Indeed, zero.
Point two. Before I started reading I hoped this book would be a bit different from the doctor-nurse-paperback romances one can buy in the local supermarket. Another disappointment; it is not. Including a whip or a rope in the story does not suddenly make it a revolutionary work. The gender roles in the books are still hilariously stereotypical. He occiasionally nibbles on Her toes but apart from that He is still the rich handsome dominant man with a lot of influence and She is the slightly vulnerable insecure girl. An army of feminist zombies might rise from the grave if this book is called 'revolutionary' once more.
Point three, BDSM. Okay, let's start this off nicely. We cannot say that the author didn't do her research. This is a buttplug, this is a ballgag, this is a cane and this is a riding crop. Well done, mrs. James, applause for your elaborate research of sextoys. Even our brave little heroine in the book comes to the point where she shyly admits that she enjoys the occasional spanking. So why is the BDSM- community still so upset about this trilogy? First of all, the roles of dominant man and submissive woman are quite stereotypical. But hey, that's a 50/50 chance, so fair enough. The point the BDSM comminuty rightfully makes is that the male main character, our dominant, is portrayed as a highly disturbed childhood which sadistic tendencies have risen from a horrible childhood. As he claims himself: I like to hit girls who look like my crack-whore-mum. But hey! Luckily enough for our unfortunate Dom, a sweet girl with normal sexual preferences comes along. He falls in love with her. And hooray, because 'he loves her, he does not want to hurt her'. Because that's it right? After all, sadism is sick, and when the sadist finally gets involved in a healthy relationship, he will be cured from his sadist tendencies. Happy sugar-coated ending.
Isn't this great? All the housewives finally have their piece of 'literature' which tells them that it is all fine when you like to be blindfolded, but anything that goes further than a smack on the buttocks is sick and disturbed, but bless the Lord, there is hope for these people when a cute normal girl comes around to marry those fucked-up men.
It makes me so mad to see how BDSM again does not get a fair chance. I could go on and on about it but I won't. There are so much more things I did not liked about the trilogy that I can enlighten you about, but just let's come to a final conclusion.
For those who, like the main characters in this book, are ridiculously easily excited and pleased, go for it. You'll love it.
I did not like it. So why the hell did I read all three books? I don't really know. Maybe it's like watching a bad series, although you don't like it, you keep watching it for no reason.
Or maybe I kept reading because I secretly hoped that once, E.L. James would have the guts to actually say the word. Please, E.L., you can do it. Peeenis. It's a peeenis.
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