A movie was released on the 13th - the film version of the novel 50 Shades of Gray. Now, I have the books, I've read through most of them - I know the books, their characters, content and themes. I've seen the video clips, heard interviews, know about the craze. My opinions and thoughts are also based on what I believe when it comes to film as an art form, as a teaching tool and as entertainment. I believe I have more than a passing curiosity about psychology, character development, human behavior and motivation. I have engaged in more than one discussion about the books and their subsequent film(s?) and have read my share of comments and opinions on both sides. In other words, I'm not casually throwing my thoughts out there with no weighing of all sides. The content of the story is BDSM - and the popularity of this novel is like wildfire. Not only the books (which have outsold almost every other book out there), but it has turned into a franchise. The woman, who wrote the books as an offshoot of a Twilight fan-fiction, who wrote it as a mid-life crisis for the "fairy tale romance" is raking in the money like no one's seen. I acknowledge everyone has their opinion on this and so do I. Simply - there are things that once seen cannot be unseen ... and I'm not talking about the BDSM components of the book and film.
I am very concerned as to how this is going to affect us as a society in the long run. There is so much in the novel, and the movie, that is damaging and harmful and yes, destructive. With everything that has gone on in my family, in the past and now recently, this is far from a "fairy tale romance". And I'm not even going to get into how atrociously it is written. They say we are advancing as a civilization? I call bullshit.
There is a movie out there American History X - a very good movie. It is like night and day to FSoG, but there is a similarity. It is good (unlike FSoG) - it is well-written, the message is hard and solid, it is well-acted, well-executed and well-presented. It contributes to a knowledge and understanding in the viewer that promotes a healthy awareness of self and world. But there is a scene in it - 'curb-stomping' - that I refuse to watch. I know what it is, I know what happens. And I will watch the entire movie but not that scene. It, like the movie FSoG, can never be unseen once seen. And, though the action is difficult (or odd, in the case of FSoG), but it is the intent behind the action, the utter hatred, the complete lack of care for humanity, the power, the vile cruelty that I do not want to see. What I find interesting, for me, is that I will read the books but I will not watch - I wonder what that's about? Something about seeing - I do not want to see the power, the using for self-gratification, the control, the absence of ... of ... something fundamental to humanity. In FSoG, the main character is a narcissist in the beginning, and as far as I can tell, he never deals with the psychopathology he exhibits. As she, the female lead, does not either - and this is what we are holding up as something to aspire to?? Everyone talks about how good the novels are, how liberating, how promoting self-awareness, but they never talk about the illness and how sick these characters are. Oh, I could get into it much more but I won't. I would rather fill my viewing with something with a message to make me a better person.
A fantastic article that captures my concern perfectly - here
And an article on the pathology of the phenomena (again, voicing perfectly my concerns) - here
Gratitude Moments for Today
1/ Today, I'm grateful for getting my place clean to the point where I am no longer anxious! It's not perfectly clean, but I am no longer irate with where it is at!
2/ Today, I'm grateful for having a nice, clean bed to crawl into!
3/ Today, I'm grateful for the cheap table I found at Ikea ... it's a perfect fit!
4/ Today, I'm grateful for one more week of pay ahead of me! Let's make every day count!
5/ Today, I'm grateful for FINALLY getting my wash bucket cleaned out! Why I don't do it right away, I don't know. At the instant of completing that, I felt the tension completely leave me!
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